Kind und Libelle: Rückschau auf meine Arbeit in der Schule

In canton Beme, Switzerland, the primary school children, aged 6-8, are conscious of dragonflies even before the subject is treated in school. At this age, the child’s imaginative faculty attributes to the dragonfly certain physical features, behavioural propensities, and an imaginary role in nature, which all are to be utilized by the teacher in the process of creating a realistic, simple and to the child comprehensible biological image of the insect. In the Beme school program, dragonflies are dealt with in the framework of the broader instruction topic, “Water”. The steps in the instruction program, as developed by the Authoi during her 40 yr of teaching experience, are briefly outlined, and the scope and depth of the child’s final knowledge on the dragonfly world are stated.