Science

SCIENCE Until recent years science unfortunately was relegated to the specialists, but during the last two decades great strides have been made in the teaching of scientific subjects. That science for all is a national need was one of the outstanding lessons of the World War, and the publication of the report of the Government Com mittee in 1918, was a great stimulus to discussion and with its many useful suggestions provided a constructive basis for im provement. The method of teaching science having swung from the demonstration lesson to the strictly practical or Heuristic (experimental) type has found its level in a balance between prac tice and theory. There is also a constantly increasing tendency to make the regular school work less and less academic and to relate it more closely with actual life.

Secondary Schools.

In all grant-aided schools it is compulsory to make adequate provision for the teaching of science. The majority of the public schools provide full opportunities for boys wishing to take the subject, but they do not all sufficiently recog nize the principle that science should form an important and necessary part of education. The introduction of advanced courses into the larger secondary schools has improved the organization of the subject while leading to the provision of better apparatus and more comprehensive reference libraries. The abolition of ex aminations of the Junior Local type and the improvements made in the first examinations have done much to encourage a wider conception of the subject. Nature study and elementary measure ment are usual in the lower forms of all schools but in the majority of boys' schools the science in the upper classes is confined to chemistry and physics, in very few cases is biology added; in some of the larger girls' schools physics, in addition to both botany and chemistry, is given to the university examination level, but in the smaller schools, botany alone remains, in others botany or chemistry, only in very few cases is physics carried to any high level. Zoology and hygiene are almost negligible subjects in all types of schools; but some hygiene is taught incidentally in cer tain girls' schools.

Elementary Schools.—In spite of much progress compared with the past, the teaching of science in these schools is still handi capped. This is due, in parts of the country, to the lack of ade quately equipped laboratories in all but the larger boys' schools, partly to the large classes, and to the comparative lack of science specialists. In the girls' schools, a laboratory, if provided, is sel dom equipped with water and gas and often has to be used as a classroom. The curriculum generally takes the form of nature study in the lower school which is followed by the teaching of everyday science. The time devoted to the subject varies from one hour to two and a half hours per week. In the girls' schools some of this time is given to hygiene and physiology. In central schools the conditions are better and the science taught varies very much with the district and as a whole is adapted to local environment.

Summary.—The teaching of science has much improved in all departments of education, but there is still (1928) room for further development. More laboratory accommodation and better equipment would solve the main difficulties in many secondary schools. As for the lack of biological teaching in boys' schools it is due to some extent to the scarcity of graduates qualified on the biological side and the demand will probably secure the supply in the future. Headmasters are now quite alive to its value.

For the elementary schools, with certain exceptions, the chief need is for better laboratory equipment. Other desiderata are the reduction of classes, the provision of science specialists on all staffs in the towns, and special classes for teachers in rural dis tricts. With the increased interest in national health the teaching of hygiene on scientific lines should also be a part of the science curriculum in all schools both secondary and elementary.

See Report of the Committee on the Position of Natural Science in the Educational System of Great Britain (1918) and Report of an Enquiry into the conditions affecting the Teaching of Science in Secon dary Schools for Boys in England (1927), both H.M.S. Office.