1 6 LEISURE-TIME STUDIES. 



be, for a single hour vide, the idea of a long sermon, and 

 we cannot wonder that a boy or girl should grow listless 

 and fagged under the uninterrupted flow of scientific talk in 

 a science-class. Before long, however, I managed to vary 

 the routine of the science-lectures by lecturing for forty or 

 forty-five minutes only, and by devoting the remainder of 

 every lecture-hour to an oral examination on the subjects 

 under explanation. I found that this plan not only relieved 

 the tedium of the lecture, but awoke a healthy interest and 

 stimulated the attention of the pupils ; whilst another and 

 very valuable result of the examination consisted in its afford- 

 ing the teacher, through the answers of the pupils, sure 

 information regarding the points which they individually 

 seemed to have appreciated best or least. And in the 

 latter event, he could by a few hints set the pupils right r 

 and advance their knowledge of the more abstruse parts- 

 of the subject. 



The subjects of books, note-taking, and definite examina- 

 tions as tests of the knowledge of the pupils, are naturally 

 included in the consideration of the methods of teaching. 

 Note-taking is a labour I have seen every reason to en- 

 courage, from its ' practical bearings on the progress of the 

 pupils. From the mere employment of the eyes and 

 fingers that note-taking involves, the practice would com- 

 mend itself to the favourable notice of the teacher ; but he 

 should not, in my opinion, neglect to show his pupils the 

 most suitable way in which their notes should be taken. 

 The practice of taking very frequent notes, each, however, 

 of limited extent, is the true principle on which note-taking 

 in schools should be conducted. The notes should be 

 copious as to numbers, but short in their individual extent. 

 The nearer the notes approach in character to mere jottings, 

 the better will they fulfil the true end and aim of the 

 practice. For if the notes be each of very copious extent, 

 the pupil must of necessity lose, as he or she writes, many 

 of the succeeding remarks of the lecturer ; whilst a series of 

 mere jottings, will, if attention be paid to the lecture, serve 



