TRANSACTION'S OF SECTION E. 809 



The following Papers were read : — 



1. AUempls to iinprove the Teaching of Geography in Elementary Schools, 

 especially in the West Biding. By T. G. Roofer, If. M.I. 



IJeforms were begun through the Royal Geographical Society, whose collection 

 of foreign maps was lent for exhibition in Bradford in the year 18S7. The display 

 of maps, models, and various devices for illustrating the instruction in geography 

 in the elementary schools of Germany, France, and Sweden attracted special 

 attention. Conferences were held in connection with the exhibition, cue of which 

 was attended by Dr. Scott Keltic, who made the collection. 



One immediate result of these proceedings was the commencement of a series 

 of local maps and models, a collection of which is exhibited. The conferences 

 discovered the chief defects in the existing instruction : (1) Lessons in geography 

 were not based on object teaching, nor on the observation of local features and 

 scenery. (2) The art of ' reading ' maps was not taught, nor was the construction 

 of a map led up to by making plans of short walks and diagrams of the neighbour- 

 liood. {?>) The study of political and commercial geography was not based upon 

 the study of physical geography, neither were the details of geographical study 

 connected as cause and eHect. There was no attempt to present a country to the 

 scholar as a connected whole, and the lessons consisted of lists of names and 

 figures, at the most arranged in groups. Of such details many were wholly un- 

 suited to the elementary stage. 



The chief reforms consisted in the intelligent study of local geography through 

 local maps and models, and in object lessons which explain the principles of 

 physical geography. The reliefs and models led up to the art of reading maps 

 and to the demand for better maps. Such lessons are an excellent introduction 

 to reasoning, and prove how little there is that is purely arbitrary even in the 

 sites of towns and villages in the neighbourhood, much less in the industries whicli 

 are carried on in them. 



The necessity for good wall-maps is now apparent, and correctly drawn details 

 are demanded in place of vague and inaccurate sketches. Maps must interpret 

 nature, and map reading is the converse of the process of studying home geography. 

 In studying home geography the child begins with a natural feature such as a 

 river or hill, and learns how to represent it on paper. On the other hand, in 

 reading a wall-map the scholar begins with the symbols or representations of 

 natural features which he has not seen, and arrives by means of them at the 

 natural facts which such symbols represent. Hence the extreme importance of 

 the right study of home geography and local models and reliefs. The symbols on 

 the wall-map are vague and meaningless unless a content and significance are 

 given them by previous practice in the building up of local plans and maps. The 

 scholar has to be taught with care how to translate the symbols of the wall-map 

 back into the forms of nature which they, however inadequately, represent. The 

 difference between a good and a bad map is now apparent. As the scholar com- 

 mences geography by the study of nature in a triple process, which consists of 

 observation, description, and representation, so, if the wall- map be accurate enough, 

 he can continue to draw inferences from it much as though he were actually ob- 

 serving the country by personal inspection. 



The value of graphic work in teaching geography is insisted on. The mere 

 copying and colouring maps of various parts of the world is rather an exercise in 

 drawing than in geography. Each map should be drawn to serve some definite 

 purpose. It should disentangle from a complex whole some particular part which 

 analysis brings to light, and illustrate it with precision and simplicity. Further, 

 the aketch-maps should proceed from simpler studies to more complex, and no 

 map should be made of a country as a whole until the leading features have been 

 dealt with separately, and thus the 'constructive' method of teaching geography 

 is introduced. 



The comparison of statistics of various kinds is made much more intelligible if 

 . the scholars learn to express their statistics by the use of square-ruled paper. 



