I/O 



NA TURli 



[Dec. 25, 1884 



To be successful in a public elementary school any 

 scheme of instruction must be based upon the conditions 

 of the Code. To these conditions, as they now stand, 

 the following exceptions may be taken : — 



(a) The teacher is forced to choose between geography 

 and science as a class-subject. He may take either, but 

 he cannot take both. As a rule he takes geography. It 

 is to be hoped that in the future this restriction may be 

 removed, and that a simple course of object-lessons on 

 plants, animals, manufactures, &c, which would fulfil the 

 requirements of science as a class-subject, will be given 

 in addition to those lessons on geography which are 

 really indispensable. 



(b) The three years' course in a specific subject is too 

 long, now that the child does not begin the study until it 

 enters the Fifth Standard. Taking the case of the boys 

 and girls presented for examination during 18S3 in the 

 Birmingham Board schools, we find in Standard V. 1864 

 children ; in Standard VI. 482 ; in Standard VII. 85. 



Tracing back the eighty-five Seventh Standard children, 

 we find that they are the residue of 427 Sixth Standard 

 children of 1882, and of 1223 who passed the Fifth 

 Standard in 1 881. It would probably be better to reduce 

 each specific subject to a two years' course, and to allow 

 Seventh Standard children to be examined in the work 

 of the two previous years. 



Choice of Subjects. — In considering what science 



Fm;. i.— Hand-cart us 11 ,v ; :l '"' ' to school. 



subjects to select from those named in the Code, much 

 will depend upon local conditions. Generally speaking, 

 for boys' schools mechanics should be chosen, and for 

 girls' domestic economy. As a second subject in town 

 schools, either chemistry or magnetism and electricity 

 may be recommended for boys, and animal physiology 

 for girls. In country schools, principles of agriculture for 

 boys, and botany for girls, will be found very suitable. 



In the new Seventh Standard School, lately opened by 

 the Birmingham School Board, there is an excellent work- 

 shop, fitted up with carpenters' benches, forge, lathe, &c, 

 for forty boys. For this school I have drawn up a 

 syllabus of a (proposed) new specific subject, entitled 

 "Principles of Tools and Properties of Materials." 



Objections to Science-Teaching. — In time past 

 three principal objections have been urged to the intro- 

 duction of science-teaching into public elementary schools. 

 These objections are : — 



(1) Want of Qualified Teachers. — The ordinary teachers 

 and pupil-teachers of our schools have not, as a rule, the 

 sound knowledge of principles and practised powers of 

 manipulation which are necessary in order to teach 

 science with power and effect. 



(2) Want of Time. — To prepare for a science-lesson, 

 and to properly clean and put away the apparatus, 

 requires more time than our closely-worked school- 

 teachers are able to give. Some have also urged that 



"time" cannot be spared from the study of the " three 

 R's," in which they consider incessant mechanical practice 

 to be necessary. 



(3) Cost of Apparatus. — To teach science practically — 

 and it should be so taught to be of any value — a con- 

 siderable sum must be spent in the purchase of apparatus. 

 Thus the apparatus required for the three stages of 

 mechanics costs about 75/., and for domestic economy 

 65/., and this is a considerable expenditure for a single 

 school. 



The Itinerant Method of Science-Teaching. — 

 A method by which the principal objections urged against 

 science-teaching in elementary schools may be overcome 

 was suggested a few years ago by Col. Donnelly and 

 Prof. Huxley, and it is not the least of the many services 

 which these gentlemen have rendered to science and to 

 education. This method has been carried out on a large 

 scale, and with the most gratifying success by the School 

 Boards of Birmingham and Liverpool, and the object of 

 the present paper is to describe the manner in which the 

 work is done in the former town. 



The principal features of the itinerant method of 

 science-teaching are as follows : — 



(1) A science demonstrator is appointed, who should 

 combine a practical knowledge of school-work and power 

 to teach large classes with a thorough acquaintance with 

 the branches of science which he is to teach. 



(2) A " centre " is chosen in connection with some 

 particular school, where a class-room may be set apart, or 

 (better) a subsidiary building erected, where apparatus can 

 be kept and the experiments prepared. 



(3) A hand-cart must be provided (Fig. 1), into which 

 the boxes containing the apparatus fit, and can so be 

 conveyed from the science-centre to school after school 

 by a strong youth. In this way one set of apparatus will 

 serve for many schools. In each school department there 

 must be a trestle-table, which should be placed in 

 front of the class as the time for the science-lesson draws 

 near. The hand-cart is brought to the school, the youth 

 carries in the boxes, unpacks the apparatus, and places it 

 upon the table. Then the science demonstrator walks 

 in and gives the lesson. Afterwards the youth packs up 

 the apparatus in the boxes, replaces them in the hand- 

 cart, and marches off to the next school. 



(4) A time-table is drawn up showing the exact time at 

 which the science-lesson is given at each school, and its 

 duration (forty-five minutes will be found suitable). A 

 syllabus of each year's course of lessons must also be 

 prepared (which should be distributed to the class- 

 teachers and children), so that the subject may be gone 

 through in a systematic way. As a rule it will be found 

 possible for each science demonstrator to give four lessons 

 per day, or twenty per week. 



Each class should receive a lesson from the demon- 

 strator at least once a fortnight. At each science-lesson 

 the ordinary teacher of the class is present, and takes full 

 notes of the matter given. During the intervening week 

 the class-teacher recapitulates the science-lesson, giving 

 such additional or new illustrations as he or she may be able 

 to provide. The children then either write a general ac- 

 count of the lesson or answer three or four questions upon 

 it, and the papers worked are submitted to the science 

 demonstrator when he next visits the class. 



It is plain that the itinerant system fairly meets the 

 objections which have been urged against the introduction 

 of science-teaching on the grounds of want of qualified 

 teachers, want of time, and cost of apparatus. It also 

 secures systematic and continuous teaching throughout 

 the school year. The teaching is practical, and every fact 

 or law is demonstrated experimentally. Wherever eight 

 or ten schools are within a reasonable distance of each 

 other, this plan may be carried into effect. Voluntary 

 schools may combine with Board schools (as is done in 

 Liverpool) to secure the services of a science demonstra- 



