ON .SCIENCE IN SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAMINATIONS. 457 



The content of the science course for this group should be broad rather 

 than deep, and should include those subjects that will enable the pupil 

 to enter into a real understanding of his, or her, physical environment. 



School science may be said to be concerned mainly with the simpler 

 aspects of the changes in matter accompanying transformations of energy, 

 whether in the living or non-living forms. 



The difficulty confronting the Committee lies, not so much with the 

 selection of suitable material for school work which a youth of 16 or 17 

 might reasonably be expected to know, but with the far greater problem 

 of explaining how this mass of stored-up knowledge should be dealt with 

 by the teacher in order that it may become part of the boy's own experience, 

 and usable in his everyday contact with the world. In other words, it is 

 the method of teaching science that needs to be outlined and broadcast 

 as well as a syllabus of the various sections of knowledge recommended. 

 Account would have to be taken of the suitability of the syllabus for the 

 age of the pupil, the time allotted to the subject on the school time-table, 

 the correlation of effort in various directions to link up the subject with 

 the teaching of English, mathematics, and geography, and further the 

 conditions under which those methods can be applied, and which are 

 inseparably connected with methods of teaching science. Any pro- 

 nouncement, therefore, to be of value would have to indicate at the same 

 time the necessary arrangements and equipment of the workroom, the 

 nature of, and the supply of, apparatus and material required. 



A brief statement of the basic principles of education by way of intro- 

 duction to the course advocated seems to be called for in order to justify 

 the claims advanced that a study of science is an essential part of a 

 general education. 



Science can only satisfy these claims if the methods employed are 

 based on principles fundamental to all educative processes. 



Education is the outcome of experience, and of experience only. 

 School is a place in which a special environment is arranged to afford 

 experience partially or wholly unattainable in ordinary everyday life 

 outside, but organised and regulated for speeding up the process of 

 education in such a way as to render a boy fit to take his place in society 

 on reaching manhood's estate. The process of mind-development in 

 school is in no wise different in its physical and psychological form from 

 that in any other environment. If, therefore, it is recognised that all 

 subjects of a school curriculum must conform to this principle, it follows 

 that the first and predominating feature of science work in schools, for 

 the period stated, must be its practical basis — that is, contact with life 

 at every stage. 



Knowledge is gained only as a result of experience, although it may be 

 amplified and deepened by information communicated through speech and 

 book. The use of knowledge is its a;id to thought, and only in that sense 

 and for that purpose is knowledge of value. Knowledge is incidental to 

 the process of undergoing experiences — so that it is experiences and not 

 knowledge that should be the basis of a science course. 



A science syllabus, to be of any value, should indicate the track or 

 method by which it is possible to promote these experiences. It must 

 indicate how the teacher can lead the pupil through experiences that are 



