The Teaching of Elementary Botany 203 
subjects as such, and to co-operate intimately in the mental develop¬ 
ment of their students. 
It is probable that the teachers who are willing to adopt new 
ideas and methods may be divided into three groups. The first 
includes those who in spite of their openmindedness need more 
evidence of the ineffectiveness of present courses and methods. This 
can best be obtained by a careful scrutiny of objectives and a com¬ 
prehensive measurement of results. The second group comprises 
those who. feel that changes are desirable but hesitate before such 
a complete one. For these there is no better plan than to continue 
the usual method in one section and to employ the inquiry method 
in another section of the same course. This has the disadvantage of 
confining the evidence to methods and of neglecting content, but it 
has proved conclusive as to the former in every case. The third group 
contains those who are convinced that a change in the direction of 
the student's interests is imperative and are endeavouring to find 
the way to make it effective. For these the problem is chiefly one 
of opportunity. In the case of the teacher working alone and 
responsible, only to himself, at least so far as methods and content 
are concerned, there is no serious difficulty apart from that of 
material equipment. Moreover, this will prove transitory in nearly 
every case, as indicated by the fact that the acquisition of plant- 
house and garden has always followed the adoption of the process- 
inquiry method as a natural outcome of its fitness to human needs. 
In the case of departments, while the material equipment is often 
present, the staffs are none too often progressive and but rarely 
consistently so. In the latter case the method will approve itself as 
the only one possible for teachers who are at the same time in¬ 
vestigators. Its chances of success are excellent also when all those 
directly concerned with elementary courses are in agreement about 
it, but when progressive members are in the minority or are handi¬ 
capped by a conservative in authority, there is small reason to 
expect success. What can be hoped for at present is that progressive 
teachers here and there will adopt the process-inquiry method as 
just as basic and inevitable in teaching as in all other research, and 
that they will serve as centres for the spread of the spirit of inquiry 
to all teachers and students. 
A handbook of the process-inquiry method is in preparation, but 
it will be several years before it can appear, and meanwhile the 
writer will regard it as a privilege to get in touch with those who 
are carrying on research in teaching or are contemplating it. 
