SCIENCE IN SCHOOLS

Hokitika Guardian, 7 March 1922, Page 1

SCIENCE IN SCHOOLS

THE STRAIN OF CHEMISTRY

LONDO->, January 10. Sir Ernest Rutherford has been elected president, for the coming year .of the. Science Masters’ Association, in succession to the Master of Balliol. At the 2‘2nd annual meeting of the Association held during the education conference in London, a practical discussion on Physical Chemistry in Schools was opened by Brigadier-Gen-eral H. B. Hartley of Balliol, who reported that in recent years Pinctical Chemistry had enjoyed a striking record of successes in the extension of the atomic theory of the construction of the atom, the development of the molecular theory and the law of mass action, the theory of solution, the extension of the doctrine of energy and in other directions. Hitherto the sub-

ject had bean treated rather as a separate branch of chemistry, but the time had come to incorporate such of the generalisations as they, were sufficiently sure of in the main body of chemistry, in order to help in breaking down the old distinction . between inorganic and organic chemistry. He did not desire the introduction of a fresh and special subject, biri to coordinate to Physical Chemistry with a great many chemical phenomena. One of the great difficulties in teaching chemistry was the tremendous strain it involved on the memory and a slighter strain on the reason. There were such an enormous number of facts that they must make the utmost use of any generalisations they could and up to the present that had not been done. They must get away from the idea that analysis should be taught as a series of routine operations in order to do certain things with a certain amount of accuracy. They could make all the operations appropriate with exactly the same training in accurn- . and it was much easier to justify their insistence on accuracy. He had been much struck during the past three years by the .results of setting, problems which did not involve qualitative analysis, hut what happened to known subtanc.es when mixed and how they reacted with one another. The boys who had been trained in formal qualitative analysis did less well than those trained by the problems. There was an advantage in tackling all these things as problems in rather an unconventional manner. It was a great danger to conventionalise, because one of the first duties of teaching was to seek for originality. The moment at which these methods could be intro, dneed must be a matter for individual decision. It was the co-ordination of the elementary and the advanced teaching right through the boys course that mattered and made for intellectual economy. In this wa y they would make chemistry of more value a sa subject of education. In the course of discussion, Mr Fisher (Eton) urged that schoolmasters should uso the microscope more than is the case. It was a much neglected instrument in the teaching of chemistry.