SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— K, L. 627 



manner of agricultural utilisation of rough pastures and the production therefrom, 

 including the extent to which agricultural and pastoral farming contribute to rural 

 prosperity in comparison with the possibilities of sylviculture if prosecuted in a 

 judicious and proper manner. A comparative statement of the situation as disclosed 

 by recent investigations and available statistics. A suggestion that the utilisation of 

 land should be regulated by the requirement of the nation for the produce of grazing 

 lands and the produce of afforestable land. That the highest production from any 

 area and the source of the maximum employment are material factors in determining 

 the future policy in respect to both industries. Further that there is scope for an 

 expansion of afforestation without serious encroachment upon existing utilisation. 



SECTION L.-EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE. 



(For reference to the publication elsewhere of communications entered in the 

 following list of transactions, see p. 688.) 



Thursday, September 6. 



The Marking and Standardisation of Composition. Papers — 



(a) Dr. G. Peerie Williams. (Dr. Perrie Williams' paper was read, 

 in her absence, by Mr. W. W. Vaughan.) 



(6) Mr. D. B. Maik. 



A satisfactory examination in EngUsh Composition as in other subjects must do 

 two things. It must arrange the candidates in order of merit and it must assign to 

 each candidate a mark that truly represents his Talue. For the first of these 

 requisites we must rely on the judgment of the examiner ; for the second it is possible 

 to provide machinery to assist his judgment. 



The order of merit depends upon the object with which the examination is held. 

 The specification of the object determines the relative importance of the virtues that 

 can be shown in an essay and consequently the appropriate order of merit of the 

 candidates. 



The valuing of the essays may be done by the analytical method or by the impression 

 method. On the analytical method the candidate is marked separately for the various 

 virtues and his value obtained by the addition of the separate marks. On the 

 impression method a single judgment is made as to the value of the candidate for the 

 purpose in question. The impression method gives more accurate results. 



The second requisite of a satisfactory examination is that the mark assiged to each 

 candidate shall truly represent his value. For this we bring to the examiner's aid 

 the principle of the constancy of the average candidate. When there are no special 

 circumstances and the candidates are in sufficient number, we are justified in assuming 

 that the distribution of the candidates among the possible marks should be normal. 

 By means of the Pearson formula for normal distributions and Bryan's device for 

 converting any distribution into a normal distribution, we carry out on the examiner's 

 marks (in any case in which adjustment is necessary) an adjustment that will result 

 in a normal distribution of the candidates. This done, the adjusted mark of each 

 candidate represents his true value more accurately than is possible by the unaided 

 judgment of the examiner. 



Discussion (Mr. J. L. Holland, Miss Young, Dr. J. White). 



Joint Discussion with Section G (q.v.) on School, University, and 

 Practical Training in the Education of the Engineer. (Sir William 

 Ellis, G.B.E. ; Col. Ivor Curtis, C.B.E. ; Sir Henry Fowler, K.B.E. ; 

 Mr. W. W. Vaughan.) 



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