314 REPORT—1883. 
SHEFFIELD. 
Extract from a letter of Mr. John F. Moss, Clerk of the Sheffield 
‘School Board :-— 
‘Object lessons form part of the course of instruction m all the schools 
of the Board, and in addition to the ordinary small collections we havea 
few simple appliances, geological specimens, &e., got together by teachers 
and scholars. But “Hlementary science” is not yet very extensively 
taken up as a class subject, and we have no visiting lecturers on science. 
At the Central schools, however, Chemistry, Machine Construction, &e., 
are taught to large classes with very marked success. . The scholars 
-are drafted from the other public elementary schools of the town, and we 
have a good laboratory, suitable apparatus, &c. Specially biomes 
teachers are engaged in this department of the work. 
‘ Besides, we have a workshop in which the upper class boys. are taught 
the use of tools. They make models in wood and iron, requiring’ accuracy 
of measurement and nicety of manipulation. They also do other prac- 
tical exercises under the direction of a skilled workman and the science 
master.’ 
LIVERPOOL. 
Extract from a letter of Mr. E. M. Hance, Clerk of the Liverpool 
School Board :— 
‘For Standards V.-VII. we carry on the instruction in ‘‘ Mechanics,” 
a subject which, in the manner if is treated here, is almost equivalent to 
‘** Klementary Physics,” previously given in Standards IV.-VI.! | For 
Standard IV. we are having a preliminary course in the “ first stage”’ of 
the subject. In the lower standards we are about to commence, in con- 
nection with the class-subject Geography, a systematic course of instruc- 
tion in the simpler truths of Physical Geography. Mr. Hewitt, the 
Board’s Science Instructor, is on the point of giving a course of illus- 
trative lectures to the Board’s teachers (Head and Assistant) as to the 
best mode of demonstrating those truths by experiment; and it is in- 
tended to supply each teacher with a simple collection of apparatus. 
For the Infants’ Schools, Mr. Hewitt is preparing, and expects to have 
ready at least the first part by the end of next month, a series of object 
lessons upon things or phenomena of which the children have experience 
in their daily life, and near their own homes. The series is designed to 
prepare the way for, and to lead up to, the instruction given in the lower 
standards.’ 
BirMINGHAM, 
Systematic instruction in Elementary Science has been introduced 
into all the schools connected with the Birmingham School Board, and 
‘the results have proved as remarkable as they are satisfactory. 
The staff consists of a Science Demonstrator, with two assistant 
demonstrators. 
A Laboratory has been built at the Icknield Street Schools, and well 
furnished with scientific appliances. 
The Science Demonstrator and his assistants are employed in visiting 
each school in rotation, and giving lessons, which are PACER EMI well 
illustrated by apparatus and experiments. 
1 An account of this system of instruction is to be found in the Report of the 
meeting at Sheffield in 1879, p. 477. 
