THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD WITH CHILDREN. 65 



siderable uniformity but is very deceptive. A small proportion 

 of the pupils most responsive try to answer as they think the 

 teacher wishes, and a large proportion wait to hear what the others 

 say and try to remember that. The questions are in a way an- 

 swered by observations of the specimens in hand, but the " lead- 

 ing " process is so powerful that practically it amounts to indirect 

 telling. Information much disguised is the staple material of the 

 lesson, although it is not intended, and the giving of it is simply 

 transferred from the teacher to a few responsive pupils. As a 

 whole the pupils do not " take hold/' and the disposition to make 

 independent investigations is not cultivated. 



A principal of a training school on hearing such a lesson com- 

 ments thus : " This brought us to the end of a very logical lesson, 

 but one which was at the same time one of the most mechanical, 

 most wooden, most stupid and profitless lessons to which I ever 

 listened. It was all right according to the letter of the law, but 

 where was the spirit of education ? I need not tell you of the 

 unrest, the inattention, the new channels of activity that the chil- 

 dren opened up for themselves, the imitation, the lack of spon- 

 taneity, the utter inability to hold the mind to this dreary 

 treadmill/' 



Isolation tends to exaggerate variation. The normal school 

 has not been connected with the scientific school, and neither has 

 been closely connected with the elementary schools. Only within 

 a very few years have city normal pupils had somewhat regular 

 practice in teaching in elementary schools ; and even now the 

 practice must be very limited in city schools, since the latter must 

 do regular and efficient work and not be interfered with much by 

 novices in teaching. Pupils of the scientific schools have not had 

 the meager opportunities for teaching which have been furnished 

 normal pupils. If they attempt to teach science in elementary 

 schools, they are obliged to experiment with children, not only to 

 find out what the children are prepared to do, but what they them- 

 selves can and can not do ; and their experiences, as well as those 

 of their pupils, are full of surprises and disappointments. Some 

 graduates of scientific schools take charge of the science work in 

 normal schools, whose special work is to instruct teachers in nat- 

 ural methods. It is fair to ask whether such graduates, who have 

 the opportunity of influencing so many teachers, are helping or 

 hindering the cause of elementary science. Neither the normal 

 schools nor the scientific schools, although they differ widely in 

 methods and seldom touch common ground, consider the possi- 

 bility of graduating pupils who are more than likely to prove un- 

 scientific teachers of elementary science. 



The correlation of the normal school, the scientific school, and 

 the elementary school, practically carried out, would give us a 



VOL. XLIV. 6 



