TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION A. 701 



possible they should avail themselves of the opportunities which most schools give 

 for learning drawing, carpentering, and photography. 



There is a significance in tlie order of subjects as arranged above. Experience 

 shows that the subjects are suited to the various ages. 



5. Notes on Science Teachivg in Fiiblic Schools. By A. E. Hawkins, B.Sc. 



The following 'items' represent convictions formed after twenty-two years' 

 experience, the greater part of which (fifteen years) have been spent in the Bedford 

 Modern School of about 600 boys. 



I. The subject must be taught experimentally. The author has known splendid 

 examinational results obtained without a single experiment having been performed 

 by either teacher or taught. 



In the bauds of an experienced and vivacious teacher it is astonishing what 

 mere drawings on the blackboard can accomplish for examinational purposes, 

 disastrous, however, to real science. 



Experiments involve the expenditure of much time ; very frequently one is 

 enough for a lesson — e.ff., determination of a specific heat or the resistance of a 

 wire. If it is asked how an examination can be passed when time is so short, the 

 answer is ' Teach, and let the examination take care of itself.' Where real teach- 

 ing exists a pupil, worthy of the name, will soon find ways and means of getting 

 up collateral matter. 



But an experiment is not everything. It must be led up to. It must be 

 preceded by discussion, and questions and answers should follow. 



The couversational method is very difficult, especially with classes of thirty or 

 more. Only one or two points can be made in a three-quarters of an hour lesson, 

 and the matter must be clearly summed up at the end. The other quarter of an 

 hour should be spent in writing an answer to a good comprehensive question. The 

 answers should be marked and returned at the beginning of the next lesson. 



II. But this is only half the work ; experiments must now be done by the boys 

 themselves. But practical work means plenty of apparatus, which in the majority 

 of cases is not expensive. For a class of thirty boys ten sets at least will be re- 

 quired, which will allow three boys to work together. It is, however, much better 

 if they can be arranged in pairs. 



The boys, having done their experiments, should take their rough results home, 

 and bring to the next lesson a clean copy and a detailed account of the method, 

 with a drawing where desirable. 



III. The work required of a pupil must frequently be, as far as he is concerned, 

 original. A class, long accustomed to mere reproduction of the teacher's words and 

 ideas, will feel unwonted life and delight if requested to devise some improvement 

 upon a method just used, or to say what they would expect to happen if some 

 modification were made. This is one of the surest ways of engendering an 

 intelligent interest in the subject taught. 



IV. What science should be tauglit ? Heat and magnetism are the two best 

 where expense is a primary consideration, and it is desired to get to work at once. 

 Electricity should come afterwards, as so much of the subject, even in the simplest 

 experiments, requires explanations which must be based on theory. 



V. The teacher must have time allowed him to prepare the apparatus. Like 

 other masters he has to prepare his lectures and also to correct exercises, but 

 besides the preparation he has frequently to manufacture apparatus. This requires 

 an expenditure of time which is, unfortunately, sometimes imrecognised. 



Be^iort of the Committee on the Application of Photography to Meteoro- 

 logical Phenomena. — See Reports, p. 140. 



7. Report of the Ben Nevis Committee. — See Reports, p. 214. 



