Educational Institute.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 235, 29 July 1902, Page 3

Educational Institute.

A meeting of the above was held in the Waimate schoolroom on Saturday morning, Mr Goodall, vice-president, occupy ing the chair. There was a rather small attendance, owing to the rain of the previous night The minutes of last meeting were read and confirmed. CORRESPONDENCE. Mr Gill, North Canterbury, reported having held an interview with the Minister for Education, and brought under hie notice the resolutions paesed at the last annual meeting—(a) The centralisation of the Inspectorate; (b) Teachers suffering through the status of a school being lowered ; (c) The granting of a D certificate through the matriculation examination ; (d) A uniform pupil teacher system ; (e) A new syllabus ; (f) Abolition of pass certificates. In reply the Minister said—(a) The time was inopportune, and although she advantages of a uniform system were great, it was better to allow matters to remain aa they were ; (b) The Minister

pointed out the difficulty of transferring 1 teachers by biaul-, it con.mittee.s bad lu be consulted ihe tfM p-f.!!- win n t i matter for boards aim■ ; (<;) Mr 'A'ak-r refeircd this matter t’> the s eretary (M Hogben) who stated that ii wisa mistake to suppose tint the U certificate wagranted on mat' mu I ■ Li< >n, and al.-o n was easier to g.-t the I) Tjy parsing milriculation—he said the nutiicul itioo paper had to reach a certain standard of difficulty and a certain perc:nt*g-i ot marks obtained or it won d not be acceplel by the Depotme ~t as coumin. for a pass in D. He also ■ tatcrl that lb natter of tcachc- s’ e laminV.i m was under r-vi.-i m ; (d) The Minist'r and that an ex. munition was tnw set by t m Dapinmein, but tint on y one Hoard took advantage of that ex imiui’ i>n ; (e) The Mims'er sail that a iev syll ihus was under consid ra’ion atid lie Imped it would bo re My for publication it an early dilc. He alsi said i hat the resolution re ditTmenliaiion work for different cl mses of sclmols a d th making provision fo- baud ad <mc training would bi carefully considered in preparing the new sviUmis : (f) Mr Walker pomied o.it, that sumda'ds 4, o and 6certificates were neces ary passports to cm tain positions in th- Civil Service ami, therefore it would n t be po sib iio abolish these pass certiti-at.ec H 'ho'gilt the pr .sent system '-I examim.ti n gav. le-cluus tho utmost freedom in tbe clasoHcali n of the r pupils. 11l consequcn c of he b- ioumg forward of l lie Act. M" (Ml had forwa de 1 a circular asking bow toe uopuls n-y cm k of :ho Scii'iol A't iidauce Act enforced in the district ; wild, was Mm attitude of the lleiicli ; how evi i i ;•* wa j tiken ; wore tines o f -ived, 'he p-ipulari'.- v and other i do maM.m on Mm Ac.

To nn applied! ," fm- -i bonk cuphoa d the Board rep i-d Unit, Uu-re were no funds. Foin the Ministe- of Pibiic Works stating th a the no itr 1 of the payment of t.eiehiu.' sewing in 'eh ols with an average attend .ivc of 40 iu d under was in the hands of the Minister of Ediiuilion, to wh n m the mat ter was reforrel. He hoped to fee provi-eon made to meet some matters unprovided for by the Teachers Salaries Bill during next session.

A circular from the Anti-Gambling League was “ received.” The South CanWbury Caledonian Society wrote forw.irdmg particulars of a competitive essay on Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe. The prizes were five, of one guinea each, to be competed for by five groups of scho Is by children who have not passe 1 Standard VI. The prizes were offered with a view to encouraging the reading of S r Walter Scot’’s works. It also gave a separate prize to Roman Catholic schools.

Major Steward and Mr T. R. Flat man, M’sH.R., wrote re the teaching of sewing in smaller schools, the former to say that ho would interview the Minister, and the latter that he heartily approved of the amendment and would support it. Mr Geo. Pi cMlldy, M.A., then delivered the following on :

THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE IN ELEMENTARY OR PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

Mr Pilcaithly sud that when choosing the above subject for his paper he was not aware that it had formed the matter of a rather acrimonious discussion between the teachrrs of Otago on the one hand and Dr Truby King and Mr Gilruth, Government Veterinary Surgeon, on the other. His remarks would, therefoie, have no direct bearing on this discussion and anything ho had to say was merely the opinion he himself had formed. •

In these days, when one heard so much of technical education ; of the importance of making our teaching of a more practical kind it was only natural to expect that the teaching of science in primary schools should receive more attention. A knowledge of science wa« now so intimately connected with trade and manufacture, with agriculture and with health that, if for no other reason lhar this, it should have a more prominent place in the school curriculum. But when one considered the opportunity it afforded for cultivating the reasoning faculties and ihe powers of observation it was a wonder how it had not asserted itsslf long before and pushed out some less useful subjects of the present school course. To his mind there were few subjects that gave such opportunities of drawing out the reasoning powers of children, and yet he honestly believed that with the exception of grammar it was the most neglected of any subject on the syllabus. He d;d not know the nature of the recent attack made by these gentlemen referred to, nor did he know how they were in the position to form an opinion, but he did know that they had a very large target to fire at, and unless they were very ha 1 marksmen indeed they could not fail to register a “ bullseye.” But if the teaching of science was not what it should be the blame certainly could not be laid on the teachers. With an over crowded syllabus such as theirs it was simply impossible to devote more than one hour a week to this important subject, and yet one must cram into this b ief space both the theory and the practice. For science without practical work was absolutely useless. It was here that a lot of their teaching was wasted. He knew that in quite a number of schools attempts w ts made to leach both chemistry and physics without a single piece of apparatus ; one might as well try to teach Euclid without a figure, or to shoot without a gun. If science were to bj taught as it should, the Department should most certainly provide two things, time to teach it in and apparatus to teach with. Teachhrs should not be expected to make bricks without straw and without time. It was notorious that only the larger schools were provided with any apparatus and oven that was of the most flimsy and meagre kind. If science was going to take the place it should on their syllabus it would be necessary for every large school to hare a thoroughly equipped laboratory, where the children would be able to do the practical work for themselves. But such a happy state of affairs was a long way off. Was there no remedy, nothing that they could do ? Were they calmly to accept the inevitable, or should they, like Robinson Crusoe, make the best of materials which lay at their hands. Fortunately, they cou'd do something. If it were impossible to obtain the necessary apparatus the branch of science chosen should be one that required little or no appara' us, such as botany, physiology, geology and to a certain extent agriculture, a« the requisite materials were always easily procured. Better educational work would be done with such subjects than with chemistry and physics when no apparatus was supplied. But another difficulty arose. Fully ninety per cent of the teachers took up experimental science for their certificates and botany, geology and physiology were seldom attempted, and it was only natural for a teacher to take that branch of science with which he was best acquainted. This in a large measure explained the reason why chemistry and physics were the favourite science subjects in primary schools, subjects, as ho had said, that required the apparatus seldom provided. What was the remedy? The only way ho could see was to make it compulsory for all candidates for the D and E certificates to take up one branch of natural science. Another weak spot in their science teaching, one common to a good, many other subjects, was that of attempting lo teach too much. They could not hope to teach more than the mere rudiments of any science. The aim of their teaching

should he to culuvite what he should o .11 the scientific attitude or scientific, vay of 1 oking at everything. Their lessons shoul 1 train the pupils to observe things around them and to enquire the why and t m w erefore, and if one succeeded in doing this he had bestowed a great gift o i hi< pupils, for how many boys went through life with their eyes shut, and their bra ns, too. And they could not start this scientific training too early. It should start in Standard L, and should to a large degree supplant many of the usele s ohj-ct lessons given by some teac'mrs. No elaborate apparatus was required for a series of lessons on such aubj-cts as the following’—(a) Plants as gr. wing things ; (b) Leaves ; (c) Roots ; (d) H >w eeils grow ; (e) Flowers ; (f) Why i sects visit flowers, etc. Such botanical les ions could easily be made simple enough for .Standard 1., and he was quite sure that if the children were first supplied with specimens and then asked to gather similar onus tor the teacher, not only would they taka a keener interest in the le sms, but they would be m >rs obae.-n ant of and interested in plant life • v«r afterwards. A love of notany would be thus created, and they woul I look at niture through different eyes. One such lesson would be worth a tb iiosn i on nich a subject as the

Cmi'd or the “ Hear.” For Standard II what better course of lessons could there be than e'tmi ntary lessons on the oroperii's of bodies as set out in Sarlick ami Dealer’s bjec‘ lesson books, such as those on - (a) Ice ; (b) Boiling water an I sU.-.m ; (c) Hird ami soft waters; (d) Thoms si oh! ; -ml insoluble in w .tar ; (e) Porous bodies ; (f) Sea wa er ; (g) Jhe effect of limit on bodies ; (ti) Air, etc. —all treated experimentally, of course. In Standard 111 (if taught sepa'at-dy) a sot ot le sons in eleni-mtary physical geogr-pliv or in elem.ntary botany could ea ily he drawn up, but whatever course i. selected, there should always be some continuity in the lessons. He had been lately much struck by a little American publication called “Simple Exjier msnts for the Schoolroom.” It sei-med to him to emphasise a point too oft -n overl ioked in making experiments, as that the experiment is made for the pm p 'sa of deducing simplest of -.pp v atir ; , yet the deductions from them are made in the most scientific manner. For example, there are experiments whh paper, experiments with wood, experiment with a candle, experiments with kerosene, etc., etc. Such a set would do excellently for Standard IV. In Standards V and VI the systematic study of some branch of science should be seriously ur.d rtaken. In England, where technical schools are rapidly becoming established, there is a general desire for a .me scientific truth, and not for the purpose of interesting the pupils* The “ showy ” experiments are too often the teacher’s delight. There is no doubt a considerab'e amount of satisfaction to be derived from a successfully performed experiment. Alas ! too ollen does one l ave to explain to a disgusted class “ what should have happened,” and for this reasm all improvements should be privately rehearsed The little book of which he had spokm contains qu'te a number of simple, yet neat experiments. They heard the complaints on the part of the teachers of these schools, that the pupils are not ulficiently advanced when they enter to profit to the full extent, by the instruction given, and the same complaint may possibly be made in New Zealand in the near future.

Considerable discussion ensued on the paper. The chairman said he had since his arrival in South Canterbury taught agriculture, where little apparatus was required ; even here some w.s required. He agreed with Mr Pile,dthly- as to the uselessness of leaching without apparatus. Mr Valentine favoured teaching botany, as the materials were close at hand. They did not want to make scientists of the children—that was a mistake they had been prone to—they simply wanted to teach the children sufficient to enable them to build on it when they went out into the world and enable them to use their powers of observation better. He would move a vote of thanks to Mr Pitcaithly for his excellent contribution to the lileraUne of ihe subject. Mr Menz'es, in seconding the motion, considered the paper most opportune and he wished there could have been a larger attendance. The Rev. G. Barclay was present, and at the request of the chairman made a few remarks, He had not, he said, heard the whole of the lecture and did not exactly know the points brought out. He understood the syllabus provided for a certain amount of science" The Education Board had over and over again arranged for sets of chemical and physical science apparatus to be used by the'schools teaching" The supply might have run short, but perhaps they had not applied for them He had a great idea of the usefulness of chemistry, and he would be sorry to s e this teaching dropped out. If the syllabus was too crowded they should some representation on the subject. Mr Stevens heartily agreed with Mr Barclay in the importance of science teaching. It made itself felt in the arts and science and generally made its influence felt throughout the child’s life. Mr Va’entiue wished it to be understood that they were not tilting against science teaching, but they required apparatus that wou'd enable children to do the experiments themselves so as to give them the fullest benefit. It was the general system they objected to. Mr Menzies thought there was too much book training fir pupil teachers; the masters had neither time nor apparatus. Mr Scott believed in Mr Pitcaithly’s idea. He noticed that the president of Lincoln Agricultural College had expressed similar , iews, stating that it was impossible to adequately teach science without apparatus. Mr Barclay asked could the teachers teach up to the modicum of science required by the sy'labus. Mr Pitcaithly said they could, bub it was the method complained of. Mr Barclay said if there were widespread defects such as indicated, he for one would be glad to see some remedy. Mr Menzies suggested Saturday classes for teachers.

The motion was put and carried. In returning thanks, Mr Pitcaithly said the Board had been very good in providing apparatus, but its quantity and quality were so meagre as to render it almost useless He thought if they altered their system of training—knocked the stupid object lessons on the head and took up scientific lessons they would do much good. The Rev. Geo. Barclay said the proper course was to send representations to the Board on . the subject and send a deputation to explain it to the Board. He did not think they should content themselves with simply grumbling. The secretary said the question would be put in the order paper at next annual meeting of the Institute. The secretary, in making some remarks on superannuation, said it was simply to provide something for the teachers who were past their work. They proposed to raise, by a half per cent levy on salaries, a provident fund and then approach the Government and endeavour to obtain a bonus. They should have a Bill brought forward aud read twice, and then when candidates stood for election they should be asked their opinion. The police had a satisfactory pension scheme and it was time teachers had theiis. It was coming, but they wanted it as soon as possible. The levy was a small one and would never be felt, but It totalled up a large sum for the colony. A good deal of discussion ensued.

Mr Valentine said this fund was simply a stop tow superannuation. Mr St)vein said Mr Murray’s scheme was to hold contributions till they had an income of £ISOO per year. They must raise as much money as possible and then go in for superan uation. The £ISOO would be raided in one year if all teachers supported it. The secret V y sai 1 he had received a letter from Mr Murray expressing satisfaction at the support accorded. Miss E. C. Smith was elected a member of the Society. Messrs Pitcaithley and Valentine were proposed as delegates to the conference to be held in Napier. Votes of thanks were passed to Mr Valentine for his information on the superannuation scheme and to the School Committee for the use of the schoolroom