ON TEACHING CHEMISTRY. 265 



IX. Becovtmendations of the Elementary Education Commission Report 

 (1888) affecting chemical teaching. 



The recommendations in the recent report of the Elementary Edu- 

 cation Commission are very favourable to science teaching, as may be 

 seen from the following extract : — 



' If it be true, as we believe it is, that the object of elementary 

 instruction is to give such instruction to the scholars in general as will 

 best fit them to fulfil the ordinary duties of life to which they are most 

 likely to be called, and to enable those who may be endowed with special 

 gifts to rise to still higher callings, then elementary instruction in 

 science — and we lay special stress upon the word " elementary " — is only 

 second in importance to elementary instruction in reading, writing, and 

 arithmetic. But the fact has impressed itself upon our minds that 

 technical training does not exist for boys even to the extent that 

 instruction in needlework and cookery supplies it for girls. "We have 

 had, however, a great deal of evidence showing the educative efiect of 

 science teaching in elementary schools for both boys and girls ; and we 

 think that science, especially mathematical, mechanical, and physical 

 science, is not only the foundation, but an essential part of thorough 

 technical instruction. 



' There are. however, certain broad principles to be laid down as 

 necessary conditions of introducing science teaching into elementary 

 schools. In the first place, care must be taken that it is not introduced 

 too early in school life, lest it should interfere with the scholars' general 

 instruction. In the second place, we are of opinion that, as a rule, the 

 ordinary elementary master cannot be expected to be a good science 

 master. Even in the case of an elementary teacher who, while at the 

 training college, has made good progress in science studies, we consider 

 that ho has so much also to do in the usual school routine, and that his 

 attention is so much distracted from science, that he cannot be relied on 

 either for clear, vivid, and simple lectures, or for neatness and certainty 

 in the performance of experiments. But to possess the power success- 

 fully to achieve these results is an essential qualification in a science 

 teacher, and especially so in one who has to expound experimental science 

 to the class who attend our elementary schools.' 



In addition to general recommendations in the sense of the above 

 quotation, the chief are — 



(a) That object lessons should be continued in the lower standards 

 in succession to similar teaching in the infant schools. 



(t) That the system of peripatetic demonstrators should be en- 

 couraged. 



(c) That more attention should be given to the possession of an 

 adequate knowledge of natural science in the appointment 

 of H.M. inspectors. 



((7) That examinations in science should as far as possible be con- 

 ducted orally, and not on paper, especially in the first five 

 standards. 



(e) That higher grades of elementary schools should be recognised 

 as continuation schools. 



L(/) That technical instruction should be placed in the hands of, 

 and mainly supported by, ' local authorities,' and be con- 



