284 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 



will cease with school years an appreciation of the scope and aims of science, 

 and an indication of its contacts with ordinary life. 



The Committee therefore strongly support the view that instruction in 

 General Science should form an essential part of a liberal education. They 

 consider that more specialised instruction in individual science subjects 

 could be given to pupils who wish later to devote themselves to science ; 

 this could be done either concurrently or at a later stage of school life. 



The Committee would prefer to see a co-ordinated scheme of General 

 Science in which the individual sciences are not sharply separated, and 

 recognise that it may be desirable for a single teacher to deal with such a 

 scheme rather than for experts in each branch to teach the separate sciences. 

 It is of course probable that there are comparatively few teachers available 

 at present who are capable of treating General Science effectively on these 

 lines, but suitable teachers would soon be forthcoming if there were any 

 considerable demand from the schools. 



The syllabuses which have been suggested for courses in General Science 

 have given rise to much discussion, but the Committee do not propose to 

 enter into any consideration of the correct proportions in which the various 

 sciences should be blended, believing that the proper content of General 

 Science will be best determined after greater experience in teaching it, and 

 by the interests of the individual teacher. The Committee believe, with 

 many educationists, that a syllabus on the lines of the old Physiography 

 (as understood by Huxley) but with more modern outlook, may eventually 

 prove to be most suitable. 



The Committee hold strongly, however, that a certain amount of Geology 

 should be introduced into every scheme of General Science. The amount 

 desirable is not very extensive, and it is suggested that the time devoted to 

 it in such a scheme should not be more than one-sixth of the total time 

 available for the course. This would not necessarily involve even so great 

 a reduction in the other portions of the subject as might at first appear, 

 for at many points the matter introduced in the sections of Chemistry, 

 Physics and Biology is closely related to Geology, and by a very moderate 

 extension can be given a much wider value. For example, most teachers 

 of Chemistry in dealing with carbon dioxide and the carbonates make some 

 reference to limestone and chalk, with perhaps some remarks on the origin 

 of these rocks ; at that point the pupils could be taken a little further 

 towards an understanding of the bedded nature of the limestones, their 

 contents and origin, and the reason for the occurrence of limestones of 

 marine origin at considerable heights above the sea. Similarly most schemes 

 of General Science make some reference to the evidence of evolution and 

 to fossils ; the contacts with Geology and a simple account of the history 

 of life make small demand of additional time. Other parts of Geology are 

 inseparable from physical geography. The teaching of science undoubtedly 

 fails if it leaves the impression that the natural world is divided into separate 

 and independent compartments. 



The Committee consider that a General Science scheme should embrace 

 the following topics : 



Rocks : igneous and sedimentary rocks ; the chief characters of granite, 

 basalt, conglomerate, sandstone, clay, shale, slate, limestone and 

 chalk, coal. 



The common minerals, such as quartz, felspar, mica, rock salt, iron 

 pyrites, an ore of iron such as haematite, calcite. (The composition 

 of the more complex minerals should not be required unless in very 



