464 REPORTS OX THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 



6. Defects in the Present System. 



The Sub-committee desire to express their cordial recognition of the 

 efforts of the Board of Education and of the Board of Agriculture to 

 encourage real science work, and they are also aware that much excellent 

 Nature study work has been and is being carried out, but sevei'al serious 

 defects have been found, among which we note : — 



(i) An attempt is made to cover too much ground ; hence experiments 

 and measurements are shii'ked because they take time and involve pre- 

 paration on the part of the teacher. Experiments are described instead 

 of performed, and a drawing on the blackboard takes the place of realities. 

 This is the commonest and most vicious defect in such teaching. 



(ii) Unsuitable subjects are often taken, especially with the idea of 

 being practical. It is no use dictating notes on haymaking to a class 

 when there is no opportunity of taking part in the process. 



(iii) On the other hand, there is a great lack of system. A lesson on 

 opening buds is followed by one on tadpoles or on the motions of the 

 moon. The topics are all in season in March, but for upper standards 

 we think the course should become more systematic. 



(iv) When a definite course is chosen it is often overloaded with 

 classification. The teacher seems to have the fear of a possible examiner 

 before him, and is afraid to omit anything. Science is too often supposed 

 to consist of big words. ' Amaryllis, fruit, a bilocular loculicidal inferior 

 capsule,' need not appear in the note-book of a boy of thirteen. 



(v) Gardening should never degenerate into the mere employment of 

 cheap child-labour on the teacher's garden without consideration of its use 

 to the child. The criterion of suitability should be the educational value 

 of the subject and how far it can be made to develop the child's mind. 



(vi) The size of the class is a most important consideration if we wish 

 the children themselves to carry on experimental work. Experience points 

 to from twenty to twenty -four pupils doing practical work in a laboratory 

 as quite enough for one teacher. With larger classes the teacher has to 

 arrive at a compromise between experiments done by each individual and 

 experiments done by the teacher for demonstration, and the size of the 

 class, if too large, makes it difficult to organise any work of a new 

 character — anything different from sitting at desks, listening, answering 

 in choi'us, writing from dictation, learning by rote, or working sums of a 

 monotonous character ; in fact, the limitation of the size of the class 

 should be regarded as one of the educational reforms at present demand- 

 ing attention. 



(vii) A teacher is generally called upon to teach such a great variety 

 of subjects that it is not reasonable to expect him to be an expert in each. 

 Teachers should be encouraged to take as special subjects whatever they 

 can do best, 



7. The Training of Teachers. 



These defects would be largely obviated if the training of teachers in 

 the subject could be made more systematic. At present there are four 

 kinds of agencies at work : (a) Saturday classes, (b) summer meetings for 

 existing teachers, (c) the training college course, (d) teachers' Nature 

 study clubs. A general elementary science course which includes some 

 botany is now compulsory in the training college course. Nature study, 



