ON THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 359 
The Teaching of Science in Elementary Schools.—Report of the Com- 
mittee, consisting of Dr. J. H. GuaDSTONE (Chairman), Professoi 
H. EK. Armstrone (Secretary), Professor W. R. Dunstan, Mr. 
GEORGE GLADSTONE, Sir Joun Luszock, Sir. Partie Maanvs, Sir 
H. E. Roscoe, Professor A. SMITHELLS, and Professor S. P. 
‘THOMPSON. 
TuE progress in the teaching of science in elementary schools which was 
noted in the last report of your Committee has been more than main- 
tained in so far as the number of scholars receiving instruction is con- 
cerned. The following table, made up from the return issued by the 
Education Department, gives the figures for the scientific class subjects, 
and for English by way of comparison. It will be remembered that 
for the eight years preceding the Code of 1890, English was obligatory as 
a class subject if any such subject was taken in the school. The placing 
it merely on a level with the other subjects had the effect of reducing the 
number of departments in which English was taken from 20,304 in 
1889-90 to 19,825 in 1890-91, while in the same years the number of 
departments taking Elementary Science rose from the almost nominal 
figure of 32 to 173. The table shows the progress from that time 
onwards. It will be observed that there is an extraordinary increase in 
Object Lessons, which it was pointed out last year would be the case 
owing to the giving of Object Lessons in the three lower standards being 
made obligatory after September 1, 1896. The full effect of this change 
has hardly yet appeared. The return for 1897-98 should show a figure 
almost equal to the total number of departments. This ascendency of 
Object Lessons is fully capable of explaining the decrease in Elementary 
Science, and does not necessarily involve any lessening of the child’s 
knowledge of Nature. It is rather a question of nomenclature than any- 
thing else, in some schools the object lessons course in the lower standards 
being still registered under the name of Elementary Science. 
i 
| Class Subjects—Depart. He Pee 1893-94 1894-95 | 1895-96! 1896-97 1897-98. 
| | { 
1,712 | 2,237 | 2,617 | 2,143 
— | 1,079 | 8,321 | 21;882 
| ments | / | 
English P 4 et laltsealir dss | 17,394 17,032 16,280 | 15,327 | 14,286 13,456 | 
Geography . < . | 13,485 | 14,256 | 15,250 15,702 | 16,171 | 16,646 | 17,049 
| 
Elementary Science . 788 ead 1,215 
Object Lessons . oly == cao e 
| ! | 
| 
The number of departments in ‘schools for older scholars’ for the 
year 1897-98 was 23,043, all but two of which took one or more class 
subjects. But History was taken in 5,780 departments, and needlework 
(as a class subject for girls) in 7,252 departments, and sundry minor 
subjects in 972, making, with the other four subjects of the table, a total 
of 68,534. This shows an average of very nearly three class subjects to 
each department, but it must be borne in mind that the same subject is 
not always taken in all the standards, in which case three or more class 
subjects will appear in the return for a single department. 
It has been previously remarked that ‘the increased teaching 
of scientific specific subjects in the higher standards is the natural 
