ON THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 311 
Uniformity in Administration of the New Code,’ bearing date August 6, 
1883. The references to the teaching of natural knowledge are as 
follows :— 
* Infant schools or classes—In order to satisfy fully the requirements 
-of Art. 106 6 2, the mistress early in the school year should draw up, and 
enter in the Log Book, a course of thirty or forty collective lessons, e.g., 
on animals; on such objects as coal, glass, and salt; on common employ- 
ments, as paper-making, cotton mill, house-building, one of the trades of 
the district being chosen in preference ; on form and colour, food, plants, 
and clothing; on simple facts in nature, as rain, frost, the seasons; on 
familiar scenes in common life, as the post-office, a shop, a railway, wash- 
ing, or harvest. Each of these should in the course of the year be given 
two or three times, and on the day of inspection the Inspector may select 
-one or two lessons to be given by the teacher in charge of the class; then, 
‘at the point of the lesson where questioning begins, he may himself inter- 
vene, and ascertain how far the lesson has had intelligent effect. 
‘Tt is desirable to recommend teachers (especially assistants and 
pupil-teachers) to preserve in a book the notes of such lessons for future 
expansion and reference. 
‘ Olass subjects.—The following variations are allowable in the second 
class subject. 
*(.) Elementary science in lower division (Standards I.—III. or I-IV.) 
‘and geography in upper (Standards IV.—-VII. or V.-VIL.). 
‘(i.) Geography or elementary science in Standards I.-IV. and his- 
tory in V.-VII. 
‘The course of object and elementary science lessons in the lower 
‘standards should, when possible, be preparatory to the specific subject— 
af any—intended to be taken up in the Fifth Standard. 
‘ Specific subjects—Any Inspector who desires aid in the examination 
of a specific subject with which he is not acquainted should apply to the 
‘senior Inspector of his Division.’ 
The only matter arising out of the working of the New Code which 
your Committee feel justified in bringing forward at present, is the pro- 
vision which is being made by the larger Boards for the extended teach- 
ing of natural knowledge. Special reports have been drawn up as to 
these arrangements in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, and 
Liverpool, and are given in the Appendix. 
Your Committee would draw attention to two or three points. 1. 
The largely extended meaning given to object lessons, and the endeavour 
to supplant the unintelligent and dry teaching which has often of late 
years passed under that name. 2. The appearance of systematic schemes 
of elementary science as a class subject. 3. The methods by which the 
scientific specific subjects are taught at Liverpool and Birmingham. 4. 
The increased attention paid to science in the pupil-teachers’ centres, 
which are now being established in the large towns. This point is con- 
‘sidered: as one of special importance, inasmuch as the pupil-teachers are 
‘now generally expected to give object lessons in the Infant schools, and per- 
haps elementary science lessons in the boys’ and girls’ departments ; while 
at the same time there is no provision made in Schedule V. for securing 
‘their getting any instruction whatever in the rudiments of natural know- 
ledge. It is true that marks are given to any candidate for admission to 
the training colleges who passes successfully in one of eight scientific 
subjects recognised by the Science and Art Department; but this fails to 
