6 NATURE STUDY REVIEW |9:1— Jan., 1913 



Sells vegetables and keeps the money. Class "experiments show osmosis, 

 conservation of soil moisture, etc." 



Probably most of the instruction in agriculture in the rural 

 schools has been by text-book with little or no illustrative ma- 

 terial. This practice is defended on the ground that it is too 

 difficult in the average school to secure facilities for any other 

 kind of instruction. The second group of questions (4-10) refer 

 to methods used by successful teachers to present the subject 

 concretely by dealing directly with the material upon which the 

 subject matter is based. That such a procedure is feasible is 

 indicated in the answers to questions of this group. 



The problem of apparatus necessary to perform simple ex- 

 periments was solved by teachers in various ways. Very little 

 purchased apparatus is possible in the rural school even if it 

 were desirable. One teacher says : *T believe if the pupil can 

 make his own apparatus, much of the unnatural coloring is 

 eliminated from his results. He is likely to be influenced unduly 

 by the fact that he is using a fine piece of apparatus and un- 

 consciously feels that somehow a large portion of the results 

 come from the apparatus rather than from operation of the 

 natural law which is being investigated." Forty-two of the one 

 hundred and forty-six teachers responding to this question (4) 

 used home-made apparatus, sixty used school-made, thirty-nine 

 used both, and five used some purchased. The use of home- 

 made apparatus seems to have had two advantages, one in sav- 

 ing school time, the other in carrying school interests into the 

 home. The school-made apparatus brought more children in 

 contact with the work, and gave the pupils the benefit of the 

 teacher's suggestions. A few of the answers will be of interest: 



"Both should be used. In this connection we have constructed an 

 unusually successful "go-devil" for diking land for irrigation, drawing 

 plans in school and having the boys construct the machine in the home 

 shop. Hot beds and cold frames have been built and used in the school. 



"Home-made, mostly, except the Babcock test, for which we use a 

 small portable outfit. Home-made saw-dust seed corn tester. Home- 

 made apparatus for soil experiments; models of chicken houses, silos, 

 barns, etc." 



"In all cases when possible I use home-made apparatus — e. g. illustrat- 

 ing tile draining, irrigation. Pupils make necessary apparatus." 



"Both are used : Corn tree ; corn germinating box ; model chicken 

 house; soil and sand table, on which is fastened a top to be used for 

 various purposes, as holding a milk tester, seeds, etc.; milk cabinet, as a 

 model to be used in barn to hold records, etc." 



"Home-made corn tester, brooder, nest builder." 



