APPENDIX 371 



abilities and enlarged powers of interpretation of language, pupils may 

 be turned more and more from studies of natural forms and phenomena 

 to what is told about them in books. It is the teacher's problem to 

 know when and how rapidly to do this. 



Laboratory exercises constitute in large measure a preparation for 

 the class period. Text requirements and reference readings are made 

 supplementary to the life experiences called forth by the laboratory 

 requirements. Whether the experiments are performed by the indi- 

 vidual pupil, or by the teacher before the class as a whole, is far less 

 important than is an insistent demand for a discernment of the sig- 

 nificant facts, and of their relationships to one another and to previous 

 knowledge. 



It is to be noted in this connection that the pupils are to do the ob- 

 serving, and to the limit of their ability are to be required to interpret 

 the significance of what comes under their observation. It is the 

 province of the teacher to direct in these exercises, to guide in the think- 

 ing, to aid in the expression of thought and in the mastery of a science 

 vocabulary. It is the teacher, too, who so plans and executes that 

 results of largest educational value are secured in the shortest time 

 and in the most direct ways. In the class period when the results of 

 the laboratory exercises are under review, there is opportunity for the 

 teacher to bring into the discussion much closely related matter that 

 is unsuited for study by observation. 



It is at this stage that texts and other books for supplementary read- 

 ing furnish an inexhaustible wealth of information. From the use of 

 these the pupils may acquire a more extended outlook, and may satisfy 

 a growing desire for more definite knowledge. In this use of texts and 

 reference material there is relief, too, for the teacher otherwise over- 

 burdened by the heavy demands of instruction. In the selection and 

 assignment of any reference readings no less care should be exercised 

 with regard to their educational worth, and their adaptation to teaching 

 ends, than in the choice of laboratory exercises. 



Teaching conditions are often such as to make impossible any ex- 

 tended use of reference books in General Science. Provision can 

 always be made, however, for individuals to do much outside reading. 

 The field of General Science is so broad that no one book is at all ade- 

 quate as a text. Some of the books and bulletins listed in this Appen- 

 dix should be provided for supplementary assignments, and the teacher 

 should become thoroughly familiar with their contents. In them and 

 in other like books a wealth of valuable information may be turned to 



