232 REPORT— i 895. 



tarily after a hard day's work in school ; the conditions under which such 

 classes are held must therefore be made as easy as possible if they are 

 to be successful, and the sympathy and enthusiasm of the teacher are to be 

 aroused. 



During the last year some fifty or sixty teachers under the London 

 Board went through practical courses at the demonstrator's laboratory in 

 Whitechapel, where the accommodation will soon be quite insufficient to 

 meet the requirements of the district. Full and comijlete notes and sug- 

 gestions were issued to all teachers attending the courses, which were 

 much appreciated. The development of the work is largely due to the 

 establishment of this system of normal classes. 



In the meantime the question of science teaching in girls' schools' has 

 not been left unattacked. Two schools have now adopted a course of 

 domestic science in lieu of domestic economy. A syllabus has been 

 devised to deal as far as possible with the natui-e of the processes and the 

 materials employed in the household. A short course of measurement 

 and weighing has been inti'oduced with the double object of familiarising 

 the scholars with the decimal system and making them acquainted with 

 the instruments they will have to use in accurate experimental work. 

 The general effects of heat on matter, and their application to the work of 

 the laundry and kitchen, are then studied ; the modes of cooking and some 

 of the simpler changes involved, chemistry of air and water, combustion, 

 fuel, soap, hardness of water, and finally a few lessons are given on the 

 mechanics of the household, such as the structure of taps, locks, gas fit- 

 tings, hot-water boilers, flushing tanks, &c. 



Classes have been held for the mistresses in this subject at the 

 laboratory, and it is generally considered by those who have been through 

 the course to combine mental training with the acquirement of valuable 

 information. Except that the physiological part of the Domestic Economy 

 is not touched, most of the important work in that syllabus which can be 

 dealt with by scientific methods has been considered. 



During the coming winter classes will be held at Berner-street 

 Laboratory, London, E., in all stages of Elementary Natural Philosophy 

 and Domestic Science syllabuses, but it is only too clear that this course 

 involves commencing at the wrong end. Before any great headway is 

 made, work of this nature must be introduced into the teachers' course of 

 training, and to this end it is essential that teaching on the lines of the 

 new syllabuses must be started in the Pupil Teachers' and Training 

 Colleges. 



In many parts of the country School Boards and County Councils are 

 beginning to follow in the wake of the London Board ; the subject is 

 becoming a popular one in Evening Continuation Schools, and is often 

 adopted as part of the elementary course for organised science schools. 



The great obstacles to good science teaching at the present time in 

 Elementary Schools are — 

 L Large classes. 



2. Multitude of subjects. 



3. Insufficiency of the training course for teachers in science sub- 



jects. 



4. Effects of the old Science and Art system, which is clearly far 



too formal, and pays far too little attention to ordinary 

 requirements. 

 The return of the work of the Evening Continuation Schools under 



