ON SCIENCE IN SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAMINATIONS. 481 



A claim is therefore made for the inclusion of applied ecience within the 

 general science curriculum of a school. There is some reason for this now, 

 wlien so many of the applications of science come within the daLly life of 

 the people. It is a well-known saying that a motor-bicycle has taught a 

 boy more of true dynamics than he has ever learnt from the Laws of Motion. 

 However this may be, it is obviously a wise educational principle to base 

 teaching on all that is now common knowledge. 



It must be confessed that much of the pure science which comes within 

 an elementary course is better left to a later age. Experiments on Boyle's 

 law, and the other law of gasee ; the discussion of the laws of motion ; complex 

 questions on specific heats, should be reserved for the specialising age. Thi.s 

 is following in the wake of the reforms in the teaching of geometry. Applied 

 science actually simplifies the problems. The steam-engine is a good example, 

 as is shown in many parts of Perry's ' Steam Engine.' Here is material for 

 an elementary course on heat, and a source for eaey direct calculations of 

 practical importance. Moreover, the method is informative, and gives a 

 ■working knowledge of the engine which will stand in good stead. 



A further claim is made. This form of science teaching is stimulating and 

 arresting, and gives the boy plenty to do and much to think about. It arouses 

 interest, develops intelligence, and promotes catholicity of taste. Teachers will 

 find that the application of science, and all that may be called the romance 

 of science, are alive with possibilities for the education of the young in every- 

 thing connoted under the words Culture, the Humanities, and Art. Much 

 depends upon the faith of the teacher, but no one can study the life and 

 works of a great discoverer without finding himself within a realm of art. 

 There is abundance of evidence for this in the works of those masters of science 

 who to their creative faculties have added the literary art. But the science 

 art remains even without its literary expression, and men and women may 

 learn to appreciate the art as they appreciate music and painting, though they 

 have no skill as musicians or painters. 



Science in a General School Course. 



There are many considerations why the science in a general course, 

 especially for those boys who will not specialise in science, should not be 

 restricted to the elementary syllabuses. Many of the syllabuses and elementary 

 text-books dwell upon principles which now form the grammar of science, 

 whilst the larger developments of modern days are not touched upon. ' Science 

 for all ' does not mean this kind of science — grammar without the books. 

 Except in the hands of a good teacher such work may have little of inspira- 

 tion, and in a e;eneral course inspiration is everything. A claim is therefore 

 made for a kind of science teaching which at first sight may be thought 

 specialising and technical. In sympathetic hands specialising need not be 

 feared. 



The branches of science which may be included in a general course for 

 schools are indicated below. These can be organised according to the ages 

 of the boys. The methods of teaching which they imply will be especially 

 valuable for young boys of the Preparatory School age. In his early years 

 the small boy can wander through these fields of knowledge. He can learn 

 to handle tools in an engineering shop ; he can work with motors and other 

 machines ; he can open his eyes in the romance of physics, chemistry, and 

 biology; and he can practise weighing and measuring in his class-room. The 

 older boys, from fourteen to seventeen, will go over the same ground, but 

 on a higher plane, and will in the later stages acquire a working knowledge 

 of applied science. 



The following are the subjects : — (1) Workshops ; (2) ' Romance of Science,' 

 including Astronomy : (3) Experiments on the Use of Machines ; (4) Biology : 

 (■5) Chemistry ; (6) Physical Measurements, and, at a later stage, (7) Applied 

 and Pure Science. 



1. Worksliop Practice. — Belief in the value of a continuous workshop train- 

 ing must be the excuse for the space here given to the organisation of shops. 

 In the first place, the shops must be on a scale which will employ a olass of 



1928 I I 



