332 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 
report in his Presidential Address to Section L at Hull in 1922. Meanwhile, 
in 1921 the Board of Education constituted its Adult Education Committee, 
and this Committee’s Report No. 8, on Natural Science in Adult Education, 
appeared in 1927. The Sixth Annual Conference (1927) of the British 
Institute of Adult Education dealt expressly with Science and Adult 
Education and published its proceedings in full. In 1931 the Workers’ 
Educational Association, at its Annual Conference at Nottingham, considered 
‘the possibilities of stimulating further interest in the study of science on a 
non-vocational basis’; and its Executive Committee’s Report (Central 
No. 198A) on this subject was presented in February 1932. 
In addition to specific suggestions to its own District Secretaries, and 
general recommendations as to wider use of films in science courses for 
adults, that Committee strongly endorsed the opinion that ‘ within the 
restrictions imposed by the interests of the students and the conditions of 
work , . . the primary function ’ of science teaching in tutorial classes ‘ is 
to make the student acquainted with the broad outlines of the great scientific 
principles exemplified in familiar phenomena and applied to the service of 
man.’ Further ‘ our classes in natural science should quite definitely be of 
a character which will tend to attract the uninitiated. We do not wish to 
cater for the members of scientific societies, etc., to the exclusion of the 
ordinary citizen, who has little or no scientific knowledge. What we desire, 
is to see our classes take the form more of a study of the action and reaction 
between scientific knowledge and social life. We feel that it is only in 
relation to the question as to how far and in what ways natural science 
influences and affects society, that our classes can maintain their interest in 
subjects of this character.’ 
During the summer of 1932 the Workers’ Educational Association 
suggested to the British Association that some kind of joint committee might 
usefully discuss the place of science in adult education, with a view to more 
extensive work. At the York meeting the Educational Science Section 
regarded this project as part of the larger question of promoting closer 
contact between scientific achievement and social development, and 
recommended the appointment of a Committee ‘ to consider the position of 
Science Teaching in Adult Education classes, and to suggest possible means 
of promoting through them closer contact between scientific achievement 
and social development.’ 
The Committee’s first task was to ascertain by direct inquiry the amount 
of progress made in the establishment of science classes during the six 
years since the Board of Education published their Report on the subject in 
1927. Accordingly, a questionnaire was sent to the Board of Education, 
the Extra-mural Departments of the Universities of Great Britain, the 
Education Department of the London County Council, the Workers’ 
Educational Association, the British Institute of Adult Education, the Young 
Men’s Christian Association, and to many other institutions promoting and 
controlling Adult Education, as well as to individuals interested in it. ‘The 
main points to be ascertained were : 
The present position of science teaching in adult classes for non-vocational 
studies, and the conditions limiting or inhibiting increase in the number 
of courses in natural science. 
Particulars of the organisation and policy of various bodies controlling and 
promoting such courses. 
The methods usually adopted for obtaining teachers suited to adult teaching 
of natural science. 
Means adopted for popularising science studies among adult students. ~ 
The supply of science books, equipment, and materials. 
