CMP Review 2024-06-03

June 3, 2024

“To notice and wonder and assure ourselves of facts from our own observations is our chief necessity in the study of Nature. It does not much matter how long our questions remain unanswered, if the answers come to us at last at first hand; because the joy of discovery is greater than the mere satisfaction of knowing how to explain anything and everything. If we try to do that for our pupils, we shall only weary them. We must learn with them, and our attitude towards the marvels of the world we live in might well be that of the poet Tennyson, whose poems tell of his close observation of Nature. When found by a friend contemplating a little muddy pool by the hedgerow, overgrown with duckweed, Tennyson, ‘turned a face, dim with rapt and serious contemplation upon him, saying in a deep tone, “What an imagination God Almighty has!” This exclamation was drawn from him by the sight of the little pool, with its myriad and dainty forms of infusorial life and beauty, all fresh from the mind of God.’” (A. C. Drury, Nature Study, PR24)

@tessakeath