2i8 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 



blood. The disease must be checked, and the schools must be isolated 

 from the contagion which has become endemic in the majority of secondary- 

 schools. 



The problem of external examination and its attendant evils is not 

 insoluble, but it must be faced with courage and understanding. It is 

 much less exacting to work for examinations than to strive for high ideals 

 by thought and purpose. The teacher who needs an examination to 

 direct his work and keep him at it is in no sense an educator. The 

 majority of science teachers, at any rate, would welcome freedom from the 

 thraldom that is destructive of all that is best in their art and renders 

 much of their effort anything but a labour of love. The present position 

 has been reached along a path of least resistance — always a dangerous 

 route to follow. 



Practical Examinations. — The efficiency of instruction in science cannot 

 be tested by written examinations alone ; practical tests, properly con- 

 ducted, are as reliable and more searching, and, moreover, tend to direct 

 methods of instruction into the right channels. The failure of examining 

 bodies to deal with practical and manual instruction is a potent cause of 

 the non-advancement of science in our schools. The reason is not far 

 to seek ; such examinations are troublesome and expensive and demand 

 much expert man-power. These difficulties are shirked, and possibly are 

 insuperable, but the teaching suffers accordingly. 



The testing of practical work involves : {a) observation of methods of 

 work ; [b) oral questions to test understanding of the problem ; and 

 {c) evaluation of the results obtained. Such tests are impossible in the 

 absence of an expert examiner, who should base his tests upon the course 

 covered by the candidates, but should also test resourcefulness and the 

 ability to carry out definite instructions. 



In Irish secondary and central schools we have found no great difficulty 

 in ensuring uniformity of marking by different examiners and have every 

 confidence in the assessments made. 



Scope of Instruction. 



Science in the Junior School. — In a good infant school you will probably 

 find thoughtful and skilful instruction, natural and scientific in its method. 

 It is to be deplored that when the infant emerges into the standards the 

 break in methods of instruction is often sudden and complete ; the 

 passage of this barrier should be made more smooth by the co-operation 

 of teachers working on either side of it. 



The Lower Standards. — In the standards of the Junior School instruction 

 in science is known as ' Nature Study ' — a title which may cover much 

 excellent work or cloak a multitude of sins. The old object-lesson, 

 described in one of our early reports as ' the laborious elucidation of the 

 obvious,' still persists, but has to a great extent been replaced by lessons 

 on plant specimens examined individually by pupils. A lesson that 

 centres round a single object is apt to be narrow : objects should be used 

 to illustrate a topic or subject of instruction, and these subject lessons 

 should be connected in short series and so lay some foundation for the 



