BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 
a 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 
ON THE MANNER IN WHICH RUDIMENTARY SCIENCE 
SHOULD BE TAUGHT, AND HOW EXAMINATIONS SHOULD 
BE HELD THEREIN IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 
(Extracted from Nature, of 22nd Sept., 1881, p. 488). 
Rudimentary Science is taught in Public Elementary Schools 
in the form of—I. Object lessons ; II. Class subjects under article 
19, C.I., of the New Code; III. Specific subjects under Schedule 
4 of the same Code; IV. Science subjects preparatory to 
entering classes in connection with Science School. 
I. Object lessons are attempted in a large number of infant 
schools, and in some instances are very effective in developing 
the perceptive powers and intelligence of the children; but in 
other cases they are too formal, and left too much to the junior 
teachers. In boys’ and girls’ schools they frequently appear 
upon the time-table, especially where, as in the schools of the 
London Board, they are looked upon as a necessary part of the 
instruction; but they are generally given in an unsystematic, 
and often in an unsatisfactory manner. 
II. The teaching of science as a class subject under the Code 
only commenced last October, and thus no examinations have 
yet been held under it. Natural history, physical geography, 
natural philosophy, &c., are mentioned in Article 19, c. I, and it 
is stated that the instruction should be given “ through reading 
lessons, illustrated, if necessary, by maps, diagrams, specimens, 
&c.”; but the teachers are limited to two subjects, and the old 
subjects—grammar, history, geography, and needlework—natu- 
rally retain their place in the great majority of the schools. 
Suitable reading-books for these rudimentary subjects have 
scarcely come into existence. 
III. The specific subjects of the fourth schedule include 
mechanics, animal physiology, physical geography, botany, and 
domestic economy; but only two subjects may be taken (or 
three if the child has passed Standard VI.); and the schedule 
also includes English Literature, Mathematics, Latin, French, 
and German. Literature is a general favourite, and domestic 
economy is obligatory in girls’ schools if any specific subject is 
taken at all; so that the chance of any of the others being 
introduced is very much diminished. It must also be remem- 
bered that these subjects are only allowed to be taught to 
children in the Fourth Standard and upwards; while only about 
one-fifth of the children in the boys’ andegirls’ schools are to be 
