TEACHING OF GEOLOGY IN SCHOOLS 285 



general terms. Although some teachers of chemistry require the 



names of many more minerals to be learned, the Committee do not 



advocate this as part of General Science.) 

 Denudation : effects of frost, variation of temperature, gravitation, wind, 



rain, rivers, ice, waves ; soil formation. 

 Deposition of sediments : types of modern sediment. 

 Hot springs and volcanoes (the latter not in any detail). 

 A general idea of the arrangement of rocks ; their stratification ; the 



sequence of animal fossils in earth history (to be treated in very broad 



outlines only). 



As far as possible this course should be based on specimens collected 

 locally and amplified by a study of the scenery of the school area. 



The order in which these topics are treated ought to depend on the 

 arrangement of the rest of the syllabus, the most suitable scheme involving 

 the introduction of some of the Geology in connection with relevant aspects 

 of other sciences. • 



First School Certificate. 



While the inclusion of some Geology as part of a General Science course 

 is probably the most effective way of introducing the subject into First 

 School Certificate courses in Secondary Schools, there are certain schools 

 where it may be advisable to institute courses in it as a full subject for the 

 First Certificate. The subject is already taught very successfully at this 

 stage in some schools, chiefly in South Wales, and there is no doubt that 

 those pupils who are unlikely to carry the study of any science to a further 

 stage benefit greatly from such training ; in areas of outstanding geological 

 interest and elsewhere there may be special reasons for the development 

 of courses for the First Certificate for such pupils. 



Syllabuses in Geology for the First School Certificate examination have 

 been prepared by several examining bodies, and in general they are quite 

 suitable. The Committee believe that the treatment of the subject at this 

 stage should be less academic than for the Higher School Certificate or for 

 first year University examinations, and that emphasis should be laid on 

 matters which are likely to lie within the experience of school children. 

 They would urge that a study of the school locality (or some other accessible 

 area) should form an essential and considerable part of the course, and that 

 candidates should be required to collect specimens, to make personal 

 observations and to keep field note-books with sketches of local features 

 if the area is suitable. Such wider aspects of Geology as the origin of the 

 earth and the nature of the inner earth, an understanding of which must 

 largely depend on observations which the pupils are unable to verify, should 

 occupy a much less prominent place in the course. 



In order to indicate the relative importance which the Committee would 

 assign to the various divisions in the syllabus, the approximate proportion 

 of the time available which it is suggested should be devoted to each is 

 shown below. 



The surface agents : atmosphere, water, ice, seas, weathering ; 

 transportation of rock debris ; alluvial and glacial de- 

 posits, flood plains and deltas ; marine deposits. (20 per cent.) 



An elementary study of common minerals : quartz and other 

 forms of silica, felspar, mica, hornblende, augite, olivine, 

 haematite, magnetite, pyrites, galena, zinc blende, cal- 

 cite, dolomite, fluorspar, rock salt, gypsum. (10 per cent.) 



