During the past two years various pamphlets and catalogues of colleges and universities have been received in the Office of Education, United States Department of the Interior, showing that some institutions of higher education are endeavoring to provide and maintain. facilities for out-of-door study for students. From the material which has been received it is evident that important practical and experimental work is carried on in institutions in various parts of our country, not only as a part of the required work of certain curricula leading to a bachelor of arts or science degree, but as a special opportunity for research study for graduate students and teachers. In general, it is the opinion of the directors of this work that many courses of study usually taught by lecture and laboratory method in school buildings can be more thoroughly and scientifically taught in a specially selected environment out of doors. This pamphlet presents a brief outline of some of the out-of-door work which is being carried on at this time by a few institutions with the hope that other institutions will be stimulated to provide similar opportunities.

Colleges, universities, teachers colleges, and normal schools are beginning to establish organized summer camps for the purpose of providing students with opportunities for practical experience as a part of the required work of certain curricula; providing for studnts and teachers a means for vacation study which is a combination of recreation and education; and providing professional courses in leadership for camp councilors. Among the various schools and departments of colleges and universities by which the summer camp has been introduced may be mentioned the following: Engineering, geology, science and biology, nature study, education, health education, physical education, recreation, and forestry.

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ORGANIZED SUMMER CAMPS

DEPARTMENTS OF ENGINEERING

Relatively few institutions have established special engineering camps in which to carry on some of the required work of these courses. Among the institutions which have established camps of this kind may be mentioned Yale University, New Haven, Conn.; Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.; and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Yale University, New Haven, Conn., provides a summer camp as a field for practical work in connection with certain courses in engineering. The camp is situated in the town of East Lyme, Conn., on a tract of land of approximately 2,000 acres. In the center of the tract is a lake about a mile long. The equipment includes a building for instruction, a building containing a dining pavilion and a kitchen, and a building in which the surveying equipment is kept. The instruction building contains a large assembly hall, four recitation rooms, four drafting rooms, and rooms for the instructors. Living quarters are provided for about 100 students. Courses of study are conducted at this camp during the summer months and also in September. All students registered in mechanical, civil, electrical, and other engineering courses are required to spend about four weeks of each year in practical camp work.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology provides to some extent for camping in connection with the courses given in civil engineering and mining engineering. Courses in surveying for civil engineering are given in Camp Technology, Technology, Me. Courses in surveying for mining engineering are given at a camp at Scrub Oak Mine, near Dover, N. J. The location of this camp was selected because of its excellent situation with reference to mines and its unusual geologic exposures and topography.

The University of Michigan, in connection with the department of engineering, provides an extensive and well-equipped camp for students enrolled in this department. Camp Davis, as it is called, was first opened with a gift of 1,600 acres. Later it was increased to 3,200 acres of land. It is situated in Cheboygan County between Burt and Douglas Lakes. The camp includes 50 residence buildings. In addition there are buildings for storing supplies, a central power station, a kitchen, a dining room, complete sanitary system with septic tank, a water system, including a reservoir, an instrument room, two steel office rooms, an ice house, and a club building for students. Excellent recreational features have been prepared by the students, including an athletic field and facilities for bathing and

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swimming. The health of the students is carefully looked after by a physician from the university health service.

Harvard University maintains an engineering camp at Squam Lake, N. H. The camp opens on the Saturday after commencement and continues for eight weeks. All work in surveying is given at this time. The work offered includes plane topographic and railroad surveying. This work counts as a full course according to the Harvard rating, which is six semester hours plus the laboratory work.

At present there are comfortable housing facilities for about 125 men. The kitchen, dining room, and drafting rooms are wooden buildings. All members of camp are required to live in tents; each tent accommodates four men. The tents are provided with wooden floors, woven-wire cots, lanterns, pails, tin cups, and tin basins. Students provide their own bedding.

Ohio State University, Columbus, provides what is known as the summer surveying camp as a part of the required work in civil. engineering. Students are required to do six weeks of field practice in camp. "Ordinarily the class is taken into rough wooded country and surveys, plans, and estimates are usually prepared for highways, railroads, or other engineering developments."

DEPARTMENTS OF GEOLOGY

For many years professors of geology in colleges and universities have supplemented their classroom lectures and laboratory work by short excursions and hikes for the students to whatever places of special interest could be found nearby. Recently special geological summer camps and extensive tramping excursions and expeditions have been conducted by the professors of geology in several colleges and universities. Courses of this type consisting largely of travel supplemented by lectures given en route are very interesting to the students and different from the ordinary university courses given largely in classrooms and laboratories.

Since 1923 the University of Colorado, Boulder, has maintained a summer camp on an 80-acre tract of land in the Colorado National Forest about 25 miles from Boulder. While the camp was originally established for purely recreational purposes, special provision has been made for students of geology to do field work. Students taking these courses spend three days a week in lecture and recitation, and three days a week in field work. A special building "Science Lodge," is provided for the class work. Several other buildings, including a library, a recreation hall, and a special dining room, are also provided for the exclusive use of these students. During the past summer 12 students were enrolled for the first term, and 22 students were enrolled for the second term. Three instructors carried on this work.

In the summer of 1926, Princeton University, Princeton, N. J., inaugurated a summer travel course in connection with the department of geology. The course was organized under the auspices of a special council, including leading American, Canadian, and British geologists and educators especially interested in the study of geology. The course was called "The geology and natural resources of North America." The entire course consisted of travel for a period of about four weeks, supplemented by special lectures and study. The party traveled in a specially constructed Pullman car which was the permanent home and classroom of the party. Camping excursions were made from the car as needed. Examinations were given at the

Students of the University of Colorado enjoy a " beefsteak fry at Red Rocks, near Boulder completion of the journey and regular college credits were allowed to those students who successfully completed the course.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, provides for students of geology a special 10-day course in "The highlands of New Jersey." The course begins September 12 and ends September 22. Instruction and practice are given in detailed geological mapping and in field methods of geological work. The areas visited provide unusual geologic formations and special attention is given to the study of the Cambrian and Ordovician sediments conspicuously folded and faulted in this region.

The department of geology of Harvard University provides every summer for a study trip on which the students travel to various parts

of the country under the direct guidance of a Harvard teacher. Different places are visited each year. These trips afford excellent practical experience for the students.

The University of Oregon, Eugene, Oreg., conducts an annual field course in connection with the department of geology. During the summer of 1927 a summer camp in geology and geography was conducted from June 15 to July 15 in the Wallowa Mountains. Students from any accredited college or university who have had at least one full year of general geology, or its equivalent, may enroll for this work. Special provision is made for a limited number of students of advanced standing for field work in either the Cascade Mountains or central Oregon with members of the department staff carrying on research in those areas. Seven term hours of credit are

Students of the University of Colorado crossing the cirque of Arapaho Glacier

allowed for the satisfactory completion of the undergraduate work. For the more advanced work, the number of term hours of credit allowed depends upon the nature of the problem and the academic standing of the student.

DEPARTMENTS OF SCIENCE AND BIOLOGY

The movement for providing research facilities for students of science and biology courses given in colleges and universities began nearly 50 years ago when Louis Agassiz established a zoological laboratory at Harvard University. Agassiz also developed the modern marine laboratory which has led to the establishment of many such laboratories in all parts of the world. Among these may be mentioned especially the marine biological laboratories established