NA TURE 



589 



THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, iJ 



THE ELEMENTARY TEACHING OF SCIENCE. 

 "pERHAPS the most important event in the Che- 

 ^ mical Section at Newcastle was the presenta- 

 tion of a second Report (the first part of which we 

 print elsewhere) by the Committee ^ appointed "to 

 inquire into and report upon the present methods 

 of teaching- chemistry." It is a remarkable fact that 

 the daily Press in general has made only the barest 

 possible reference to the Report or to the animated discus- 

 sion which followed its reading ; although, as the Times 

 points out, " there is a Committee attached to Section 

 B, the professed purpose of which is to inquire into 

 and report upon the teaching of chemistry ; the truth 

 is, however, that it involves the wide question of science 

 teaching in general. The national importance of such an 

 inquiry is evident, and it behoves all the Sections to take 

 an interest in it." 



At the Bath meeting the Committee reported on the 

 condition of chemical teaching in the principal public 

 schools of Great Britain and Ireland, their Report being 

 founded upon information obtained from the principals, 

 head masters, and science masters of these schools. This 

 Report demonstrated the existence of a most unsatisfactory 

 state of things. It proved unquestionably that physical 

 science still occupies a very subordinate position in most 

 of our public schools, and it appears that this is the result, 

 in no small measure, of the manner in which it is taught. 

 The attempt to cram the minds of boys with a con- 

 glomeration of chemical facts under the name of " science " 

 has reached a crisis ; and head masters, and even some 

 parents, are beginning to feel, and to say in so many 

 words, that science teaching, which has been on its trial 

 for so many years, has failed to produce the educational 

 effect which was expected from it. The teachers, while 

 complaining of the various difficulties which surround 

 their attempts to teach chemistry, ^.^. insufficient time and 

 laboratory accommodation, frankly admit that the methods 

 at present employed in teaching the science are for the 

 most part ineff"ective, and that to this circumstance may 

 be attributed, in the majority of instances, the inferior 

 position which is assigned to the subject in the school 

 curriculum. Partly in self-justification, and partly as an 

 explanation of the continued existence of these abortive 

 methods, teachers have drawn attention to the require- 

 ments of the various examining bodies by which their 

 hands are tied. It is rare to find the science master who 

 is free to break away from conventional lines, and to use 

 chemistry in illustration of the scientific method of ques- 

 tioning Nature, instead of relating to his boys the properties 

 •of all the elements from hydrogen to uranium, and by a 

 system of laboratory drill instructing them how to " test " 

 rare compounds or absurdly complex mixtures. Of the 

 few examinational schedules which are likely to assist the 

 teacher in making his elementary instruction in science 

 most useful as an educational instrument, special mention 



' Consisting of Prof. H. E. Armstrong, F.R.S., Prof. W. R. Dunstan 

 (Secretary), Dr. T.H.Gladstone, F.R.S., Mr. A. G.Vernon Harcourt,F.R.S., 

 JProf. McLeod, F.R.S., Prof. Meldola, F.R.S.. Mr. M. M. Pattison Miiir, 

 Sir Henry E. Roscoe, F.R.S., Dr. W. J. Russell, F.R.S. (Chairman), 

 Mr. W. A. Shenstone, Prof. Smithells, and Mr. G. Stallard. 



Vol. XL.— No. 1042. 



may here be made of the syllabus of physiography issued 

 by the Science and Art Department, having been drawn 

 up by Mr. Norman Lockyer, and of the syllabus issued by 

 the same Department for the " Alternative First Stage in 

 Chemistry " (why should not this be made the " First 

 Stage in Chemistry".'), which was compiled by two 

 members of the present Committee, Sir Henry Roscoe 

 and Dr. Russell. 



The Committee thought that they might be able to 

 do something towards a reorganization of elementary 

 instruction in science ; in fact several teachers had pointed 

 out that the Committee were most favourably constituted 

 for taking such action, and that they would doubtless be 

 able to induce examining Boards to reconsider their 

 present regulations. 



About the middle of the present century two schools of 

 educational authorities were actively engaged in pro- 

 pagating their views. The one school contended that 

 the object of primary education should be to teach 

 those subjects which can be practically applied in after 

 life, while the other asserted that its main object should 

 be to develop the faculties and not merely to store the 

 mind with knowledge. Chemistry, no doubt, was in- 

 troduced into the school curriculum chiefly to satisfy the 

 demands of the first theory, but nevertheless it may 

 equally well serve the purposes of the second. The 

 mental discipline afforded by chemical investigation in 

 developing the powers of observation and inference, and 

 in teaching the correct use of hypothesis, is not less 

 conspicuous than the many applications of which the 

 science is susceptible both in industrial and "common" 

 life. Happily, of late years, a fusion of these two theories 

 has taken place, and agreement has very generally been 

 reached on two important points. First, that the main 

 purpose of elementary education should be to train the 

 intelligence. In this sense " education is a high word— it 

 is nothing less than the formation of mind." Secondly, 

 it is admitted that before a man can apply science to 

 practice he must be familiar with its methods, his mind 

 must be able habitually to perform those logical processes 

 which accurate thought demands. We are now fairly 

 unanimous in the opinion that it should be the endeavour 

 of elementary education to develop habits of correct 

 observation and reasoning, so that in later life the more 

 advanced knowledge of science, which will subsequently 

 have been acquired, may be intelligently applied to the 

 solution of social and industrial problems. 



In the opinion of the Committee, this training of the 

 intelligence can be readily effected by a properly arranged 

 course of elementary instruction in physical science. 

 This fact is, however, not recognized by the majority of 

 educational authorities, since chemical teaching, which 

 represents physical science in most schools, has hitherto 

 been chiefly directed to the acquisition of a vast number 

 of chemical facts. But the "learning of true proposi- 

 tions, dogmatically delivered, is not science," and does not 

 produce any mental effect that cannot as well be reached 

 by many other paths, e.g. the multiplication table and • 

 the facts of English history. So far, the public in this 

 country have had very few opportunities of judging of the 

 educational value of physical science, and it is to be 

 feared that they have not yet sufficiently recognized the 

 truth and significance of Herbert Spencer's definition of 



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