| Text-books and School Supplies for Normal and Model School |  | 1,500 dollars. |
| Library | 500 ” | |
| Periodicals | 60 ” | |
| —— | ||
| Total amount, | 2,060 ” | |
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Thus more than £450 was spent in one year for library materials, in a school numbering less than 150. The abundant supply of apparatus and books for the teaching of science, and the importance given to practical work, are a marked feature in all the schools. At the Albany Normal School for teachers in higher grades and colleges, the students spend most of their free afternoons in making physical apparatus for their own future use. The laboratory here is well equipped, and the work is done with great care, accuracy and finish. I saw a home-made tangent galvanometer, and a Wheatstone’s bridge in constant use for somewhat fine measurements.
At the Normal School, Worcester, Massachusetts, plant study receives special attention. This is not technical botany as usually understood, but is rather a daily observation and record of plant surroundings, the practical study of all stages of plant-life. A feature of the study is the daily exhibit, made by the pupils in turn, of some plant in bud, leaf, flower or fruit, with its common and scientific name, and the place where it was gathered. Directories furnishing information respecting the localities of trees and plants in the neighbourhood are made in the school, and dates of their times of blossoming are noted from year to year on special blank sheets provided for the purpose. Moreover, collections of the woods of different trees, and of leaves of trees growing within the county are made. Work of this kind is usually done in the free hours for independent study, which each student has several times during the day. Practical gardening is also systematically done in free time.
The lessons in science, unless actual laboratory lessons, are usually given in the form of “recitations.” A “recitation” is a lesson in which certain parts of a subject, specially prepared beforehand, are contributed by the pupils. The teacher asks questions and explains difficulties, and generally connects the facts brought forward; but the material of the lesson is wholly supplied by the pupils. This way of working out a subject has at least two distinct advantages over our own method of lesson-giving, in which the chief work devolves upon the teacher. By the recitation method the pupils are taught how to use books, how to gather from many sources material for their recitation. They also learn to rely on their own efforts in class-time, and to be alert in thought and speech. The disadvantages of the plan, however, seem even more apparent. Where one text-book is chiefly used in a subject, or even where several books are referred to, there is a distinct tendency to “recite” in the words of the book. Several times I heard lessons in which such “recitations” were accepted by the teacher. This method, moreover, seems likely to lead to too great a dependence on text-books, and too constant a reference to books, on points where thought and reflection might be better guides. It also encourages digression in class, and a resulting slowness in getting through the subject matter, unless the teacher be very skilful in conducting the “recitation.” The constant raising of points by the students, at all parts of the discussion, leads sometimes to waste of time by debating on questions of merely individual opinion. Such results point to the difficulty of conducting an ordinary recitation. Great skill and much experience are needed, before such a lesson can be made completely satisfactory, and many are the teachers’ temptations to omit careful preparation. As a method to be used constantly, and in all subjects, it seems open to many objections, and to show but few advantages. As resorted to occasionally, and by skilful teachers, and as particularly adapted to subjects such as geography or history, the “recitation” may be made a valuable means of training.
The tendency to bookishness and slavery to word-forms, which may seem to be encouraged by the recitation method of teaching science in the Normal Schools, is opposed by a greater tendency to emphasize the concrete, to refer in all science teaching directly to the objects themselves, to use laboratory methods wherever possible. Observation and experiment are essentially the methods of many of the American science teachers, and no pains are spared to illustrate all facts and principles by an appeal to the senses. As a result, much of the science teaching is excellent. On the other hand, there seems a possible danger of pursuing these excellent methods too far, of appealing to the senses alone, at stages of development in the child when reason and reflection might be appealed to and trusted, and of generally emphasizing the value of observation at the expense of neglecting the reflective faculties. In the excellent Outlines of Laboratory Work, used by some of the Normal Schools, the danger is to some degree recognised by Questions for Thought and Reference being placed at the end of each lesson-scheme. Assuming, however, that the questions are followed out carefully by the students, it may still be doubted whether this is the best method of arousing thought.
Another feature of the science teaching in the Normal Schools is the taking up of many branches of science. Chemistry, physics, astronomy, geology, mineralogy, zoology, botany, physiology, are studied by all. In order that students may be able to take up all these, the plan usually adopted is to concentrate attention on one science for a short time, and then to pass on to other sciences, until five or six have been taken. It is seldom that even one branch of science is allowed to run through a whole course of two years. The division of science studies for the Normal School at New Britain, Connecticut, where the science work is most carefully done, will illustrate this point.
| First Year: | ||
| Chemistry | 5 recitations a week for 13 weeks. | |
| Physiology | 5 ” ” ” 13 ” | |
| Physics | 4 ” ” ” 40 ” | |
| Physical Geography | | 4 ” ” ” 4 ” |
| Second Year: | ||
| Physics | 4 recitations a week for 13 weeks. | |
| Botany | 5 ” ” ” 10 ” | |
| Geology | 4 ” ” ” 5 ” | |
| Biology & Zoology | | 4 ” ” ” 10 ” |
When it is remembered that no preliminary science is required for admission to the Normal Schools, and that many of the entering students have not done any work in the subject at all, it seems impossible that any very thorough knowledge can be secured in a course of five, ten, or even thirteen weeks. It may be possible for the student to obtain and verify a few scientific facts during a short course such as this; but there is no time or opportunity to realize the extent or bearing of the subject in hand, or to study it adequately in a scientific way. To allow a beginner to feel he has completed a course in geology, botany, or any other science in thirteen weeks is to encourage superficiality, to arouse in him a feeling of satisfaction and attainment, and surely nothing can be more opposed to the true spirit of science. In the New Britain School, physics is carried through fifty-three of the eighty weeks in the Two Years’ Course; and this seems a good plan, even if, during some part of the time, only two or three hours a week can be given to it. When one science, or possibly two, are chiefly taken up, and others considered merely accessory to the main subject of study, a more adequate knowledge of science and scientific method can be gained, especially if the sciences taken up are such as botany, and physics, which illustrate respectively different methods of scientific research.
It may be maintained that the Normal School students must be prepared for their future work in the Primary and Grammar Schools, in most of which the elements of several sciences are taught. This, of course, must be remembered. Nevertheless, the attitude of mind developed by the thorough study of one science is the best possible preparation for the safe study of the elements of others, while a superficial study of the elements of many sciences is fatal to the proper estimation of facts in any one of them.