Natural science in education / being the report of The Committee on the Position of Natural Science in the Educational System of Great Britain.

Date:
1918
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Natural science in education / being the report of The Committee on the Position of Natural Science in the Educational System of Great Britain. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    $1 CHAPTER I, Introduction. N- for the first time our educational conscience has been stung by the thought that we are as a nation neglecting Science. Attention was called to this neglect by the Report of the Royal Commission on the nine Public Schools in 1864, when it was recommended that all boys should receive instruction in some branch of Natural Science during part at least of their school career. A Committee of the British Association dealt with the subject again in 1866, drawing the valuable distinction between scientific information and scientific training, and making recommendations which influenced the course of science teaching in schools, That there was need for these exhortations can be proved without any elaborate survey of the history of science teaching in England. In 1863, at the very time the Public Schools Commission was holding its enquiry, the only instruction in Science at one of the greatest schools in England was given on Saturday afternoon by a visiting teacher, and his meagre apparatus was stored in so damp a cupboard that his experiments usually broke down. It is not surprising that the headmaster of this school told the Commissioners that “ instruction in physical sciences was, except for those who have a taste and intended to pursue them as amateurs or professionally, practically worthless.’? Steps had been taken before these dates at certain schools to introduce the teaching of Science, but this
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