414 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



day life. The language must be simple and easy to com- 

 prehend. How often we hear the expression, "I do not 

 understand a single thing in that paragraph," yet when 

 the paragraph is explained the idea is simple and clear. 



When subjects are studied in which formulas occur, 

 concrete examples must be used and the real relation dis- 

 covered before the algebraic statement is made. All 

 laws should be developed by the same process. "When 

 the chapter on any subject is finished, summaries should 

 be made, as they help the student to focus the mind on 

 the points of importance. In new subject or advance 

 assignments, all new words of importance should be 

 pointed out or written on the board. If the student is 

 required to complete a regular dictionary of these words 

 and their definitions, he will more likely fix their mean- 

 ing in his memory. 



Special reports and themes furnish an excellent oppor- 

 tunity to introduce new and interesting material not 

 found in the regular text. As a rule these should be 

 brief and definite. Longer papers will nearly always be 

 more profitable to the student if the teacher gives an 

 outline and names references for wider reading. The 

 reason for giving the outline is the elimination of irrele- 

 vant matter that might otherwise be used. The note 

 book may also be used with profit to keep articles of 

 special interest on the things studied in connection with 

 those used in the text. The writer required each mem- 

 ber of the class to make a collection of 25 different things 

 involving the use of electricity. Comments were made 

 on each thing and the electrical principle stated. 



Field trips bring the classes into direct contact with 

 the applied principles studied in the class or those to be 

 studied. In nearly every case these prove to be more 

 valuable than the more formal exercise of the laboratory. 

 During the present semester the writer has taken his 

 classes on three different field trips to study various 

 phases of electricity. 



In trying to get away from the more formal methods, 

 one laboratory exercise in each class was devoted to the 

 practical study of labor and time saving lamp socket 

 devices. The Superintendent and three employees of the 



