258 THE PI.ANT WORI^D 



Our Teachers' Department. 



Edited by Professor Francis E. I^loyd, 



Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City. 



A STEADY improvement in the teaching of botany is noticeable in the 

 efforts made to use the methods of experimentation. The recognition of 

 the importance of plant physiology as part of the high-school course and 

 the adoption of nature study in the elementary schools are largely respon- 

 sible for this ; and the educational arguments advanced by those who 

 champion the use of manual training in all its phases are in general 

 applicable to the use of experiment in elementary science. 



There can be little doubt that the training received by a student of 

 botany who is compelled to work out simple experiments is much supe- 

 rior to that obtained from simple observation. The qualities of originality 

 and self-reliance are strengthened ; a justifiable pride of accomplishment 

 and a deep interest in one's own creation are felt ; and the determination 

 and power to progress are enlarged. 



Many teachers however are discouraged from trying the method, 

 sometimes because of their own inherent inability to do mechanical opera- 

 tions, or because of lack of experience, and often on account of the total 

 lack of materials and apparatus. If, however, the teacher will assume 

 that many of his pupils can beat him in inventing the means for experi- 

 ment, and, too, will reflect that the real essence of an experiment lies 

 in the fact that it is a means of learni?ig, he will not allow his own lack 

 of gumption or of knowledge to stand in the way of his progress as a 

 leader of his pupils. Those who have not yet ventured to try the method 

 of experiment will find in the brief account given below, by Miss Jean 

 Broadhurst, evidence that with nothing to start with it is yet possible 

 to do really good work. It must be remembered that the end is by no 

 means an indication of the amount of educational good which a pupil 

 gets from such work. 



PLANT PHYSIOLOGY IN THE HIGH SCHOOL. 



The accompanying photographs show some of the experiments set up 

 by a high school (ninth year) class in elementary botany. Plant physi- 

 ology was a new feature in the botany course, and it was not thought 

 wise to give it too much time the first year. The actual time taken was 

 three weeks. The aims were to make the pupils do as much original 

 thinking as possible, and as much of the work as convenient under the 

 room-to-room recitation plan ; all of which is gain over and above the 

 results achieved by the usual methods of conducting plant experiment 

 work. 



