288 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. V., No. 114. 



PERIPATETIC SCIENCE TEACHING. 



A very interesting experiment is being tried 

 in Birmingham, by way of showing with what 

 good results science can be taught to quite 

 young children b} T a teacher who goes from 

 school to school, and has his apparatus carried 

 around with him. There is something very 

 amusing to an American — it would be hard to 

 sa}- exactly why — in the description given in 

 Nature of a ' strong } r outh ' dragging through 

 the city his ' hand-cart ' laden with apparatus, 

 and, when he reaches a school, unpacking it, 

 spreading it out on a table, and retiring at the 

 moment the demonstrator steps in. But after 

 enjoying the local color of the picture, it ma} T 

 be well to ask ourselves whether the plan is 

 not a good one, and deserving of imitation in 

 our own public schools. In this country, no 

 form of science-teaching is introduced, as a 

 general thing, below the high school. The 

 Birmingham course is given to children of from 

 ten to thirteen } T ears of age. One lesson fort- 

 nightly, of about fort} r minutes' duration, is 

 given in the fifth and higher standards in each 

 school. Between the visits of the science- 

 demonstrator, at least one lesson is given to 

 the class by the teachers of each school (as a 

 rule, by a teacher who was present at the de- 

 monstrator's lesson, and who took full notes of 

 it) , and a written examination in the subject- 

 matter of the lesson is also held. Most of the 

 apparatus is of the simplest form, and so made 

 that it can be taken to pieces, and examined 

 in detail, by the children. Much of it Mr. 

 Harrison has himself designed and had made 

 for the purpose. His plan is to prepare work- 

 ing-models, pictures, and diagrams of pumps, 

 for instance ; to have the apparatus arranged 

 on the table ; and to draw from the boys what 

 they know about pumps before telling them 

 any thing. He then shows them the working 

 of the machine, explains its principle, and re- 

 minds them of other instances in which they 

 have seen the same principle at work. Before 

 he comes to them again, the regular teacher 

 goes over the ground once more ; and then the 

 boys write out what they have learned, and 



make drawings of the objects from memorj'. 

 Some of the papers which we have seen showed 

 a remarkable degree of intelligent comprehen- 

 sion ; and one of the most interesting cases in 

 the education department of the London health 

 exhibition was that which contained a set of 

 mechanical apparatus made by the boys at 

 home with no better tool than a jack-knife. 



The course extends over t 1 ree years. For 

 the last 3'ear, the syllabus covers the mechan- 

 ical powers, liquid pressure, the parallelogram 

 of forces, and the parallelogram of velocities. 

 The second year is devoted to food, and to 

 the warming, cleaning, and ventilation of the 

 dwelling. The topics discussed in the eighteen 

 lectures of the first year are not those which 

 we should expect to find in a course on me- 

 chanics. The second lecture, for instance, is 

 devoted to the human body, its structure, and 

 the use of the microscope : and on succeeding 

 days are discussed oxygen, hydrogen, nitro- 

 gen, amyloids, albuminoids ; the composition 

 of milk, eggs, etc. ; wool as a material for 

 clothing ; hard and soft water ; the skin ; and 

 soap and soda. 



There are two distinct features in the Bir- 

 mingham plan whose merits need to be dis- 

 cussed separately, — teaching science by means 

 of a single teacher and set of appliances for 

 several schools, and teaching it to very young 

 children. With regard to the latter question, 

 we shall have something to say at another 

 time ; but, whatever one may think about 

 teasing children ten years old with such hard 

 things as amyloids and albuminoids, there is 

 no doubt, that, if it is to be done at all, it can 

 be done best by a peripatetic teacher. Good 

 science-teachers do not grow on every bush ; 

 and, when one has been found, it is a pity not 

 to use him with as great economy as possible. 

 Few of the teachers now in grammar-schools 

 have received any scientific instruction : still 

 less have they been able to acquire the meth- 

 ods, which are far more important than the 

 facts. The attempt to teach the teachers en 

 masse would probably not be ver} r successful. 

 There are comparatively few grown people who 

 can go back to the child's delight in asking 



