300 REPORT UF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



COURSES lOK TEACHERS. 



The development of courses in a<;riculture for public-school teach- 

 ers, in harmony with the provisions of the " Nelson amendment," 

 pro<;ressed to a considerable extent in diU'erent States. The Uni- 

 versity of Maine announced a one-year course to train teachers of 

 agriculture for secondary schools. The course is open to college 

 gradjiates, to high-school teachers with at least two years' experience, 

 and to normal-school graduates who have had three years' experience 

 in teaching. 



The University of Minnesota established in the college of agri- 

 culture a two-year course in industrial and agricultural education 

 for the preparation of teachers in the agricultural high schools pro- 

 vided for in the Putnam Act, the provisions of which are described 

 under Secondary Schools, page 314. A summer school for teachers 

 was held for three weeks beginning June 21. 



At the North Dakota Agricultural College a department of educa- 

 tion was established in accordance with the Nelson amendment, 

 with Arland D. Weeks as professor in charge. In addition to gen- 

 eral courses in the history of education, psycholog}'^, adolescence, 

 school observation, and administration, it provides a special course 

 in agricultural and industrial education, supplemented with occa- 

 sional lectures by specialists in these subjects. The new department 

 has announced an industrial summer school for teachers during 

 August, 1909. Instruction will be given in the regular public-school 

 subjects and also in elementary agriculture, manual training, nature 

 study, domestic science, agricultural botan}^, and agricultural and 

 industrial education. In addition to the class-room instruction many 

 special lectures have been announced, among which are one by 

 Dr. A. C. True, of this Office, on The Point of View and Atmosphere 

 in the Rural Schools; one by Dean L. H. Bailey, of Cornell Univer- 

 sity, on The Outlook for Country Life; and seven by F. W. Howe, 

 of this Office, on different phases of public-school agriculture and 

 country-life problems. 



The University of Vermont has established a department of teach- 

 ing, the work of recent years in the form of educational conferences 

 and a summer school in elementary agriculture having prepared the 

 way for this larger development. A course of lectures coupled with 

 practical work was given during the year with an enrollment of over 

 100 students; and a summer school for teachers has been announced 

 for the summer of 1910 to include courses in domestic science, manual 

 training, and elementary agriculture. 



Summer schools for teachers were also held in a number of institu- 

 tions not mentioned above. At Storrs, Conn., there was a four weeks' 

 course in June and July, with work in nature study, domestic science, 



