EDUCATION 



1950 



EDUCATION 



of semi-incorrigibles. Such a school would per- 

 mit its pupils to go home at night. English 

 cities provide such schools, but there are none 

 in America. Special classes must be provided 

 for backward children and for exceptional 

 children. Morons (feeble-minded children or 

 children who are physically or mentally ab- 



normal) are usually sent to special institutions, 

 The republic is on the way to realize the sort 

 of specialization that will take care of every 

 individual child in the best possible way, but 

 there is still much to be desired. However, 

 the child is rapidly coming into its own. See 

 SCHOOLS. A c 



Educational Museums 



Visual instruction has become an important 

 educational factor in the schools. . The use of 

 concrete materials, of objects and pictures, of 

 the lantern slide, stereoscope and moving pic- 

 tures as a supplement to the text-book and the 

 teacher's description of facts and conditions, 

 have found their way into many schools. 



Efficient help in this direction has come from 

 the museums. They have opened their great 

 storehouses of information to the schools, and 

 they ask the teachers to make extensive use 

 of the wonderful things gathered from all parts 

 of the world. Some of the museums send 

 typical loan collections of museum material, 

 mounted specimens of the animal world and 

 soil and industrial products to the schools. 

 Others invite the teachers to bring their classes 

 to the museum and to give their lessons there, 

 aided by the wealth of interesting specimens 

 which are placed at their command. Still 

 others arrange courses of lectures on certain 

 topics of the school curriculum for pupils. 

 Some of the institutions cooperate with tjie 

 schools through two or all three of these activ- 

 ities. 



The museums which make their illustrative 

 material accessible to the schools may be di- 

 vided into four classes: 



(a) Public museums of science. 



(b) Children's museums. 



(c) School museums. 



(d) Art museums. 



The Public Museums. A brief description of 

 the effectiveness of the assistance given public 

 school work by some of the leading museums 

 is given below. The information on public 

 museums and children's museums is derived 

 from a series of articles on Educational Work 

 in American Museums, published in the reports 

 of the Commissioner of Education of the 

 United States (1913-1915), and prepared by 

 Paul M. Rea: 



The American Museum of Natural History. 

 This museum, located in New York City, has a 

 department specially assigned to cooperation With 

 the schools of New York. It has 635 traveling 

 exhibits, comprising more than 10,000 specimens 



which are in daily use in 400 schools having more 

 than a million pupils. Lectures on geography, 

 history and science are given every year at the 

 museums to 40,000 or 50,000 children. Thirty 

 thousand lantern slides, accompanied by full de- 

 scriptions, are sent to the schools for use in the 

 classroom. 



The Commercial Museum in Philadelphia sup- 

 plies the schools of the city and the state with 

 large cases containing about 400 objects and 100 

 photographs which illustrate the peoples and 

 products of the world and are accompanied by 

 all necessary information and instructions. These 

 cases become the property of the schools. 



Fifteen lanterns and collections of slides are 

 circulated in the various parts of Pennsylvania. 

 Free lectures are given in the museum to classes 

 of the schools. The Commercial Museum, which 

 through its foreign trade bureau acquires valu- 

 able information and "material as to commerce 

 and industry, extends its educational work into 

 all parts of Pennsylvania. 



The Public Museum of Milwaukee. This mu- 

 seum loans collections of birds, small mammals, 

 insects, Wisconsin archaeology, geology and com- 

 mercial products to the schools, and- such collec- 

 tions are extensively used. All public school 

 children of the four higher grades of the Mil- 

 waukee schools go to the museum twice a year 

 for a half-day visit to hear illustrated talks on 

 some subject closely related to their class work. 

 Lecture courses are arranged for the general pub- 

 lic, teachers and students of normal, vocational 

 and high schools. The museum has a special 

 department of education, in charge of a curator. 



The Charleston Museum. The Charleston 

 (S. C. ) Museum maintains a department of pub- 

 lic instruction in charge of a curator, who ar- 

 ranges the work of the department with the 

 board of school commissioners. Over seventy 

 traveling exhibits are in regular use in the 

 schools and are delivered by a wagon provided 

 by the museum. Other opportunities offered to 

 the schools are lectures on particular exhibits ; 

 special lectures at the museum to illustrate 

 school subjects ; special exhibits of educational 

 value presented from time to time ; lectures to 

 primary teachers on nature study ; the use of a 

 room and specimens for teachers with classes. 



The Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. This 

 was one of the first to institute a department 

 for cooperation with the schools. Traveling ex- 

 hibits are sent to the schools, and classes of the 

 elementary schools of the city come to the mu- 

 seum for regular lectures and demonstrations, 

 which are an official part of the school curricu- 

 lum. Free lectures are given to the public one 

 evening each week, from November to May. 



