Journal of education, 1 juillet 1876, Juillet

THE 'K-UOmsciEHCEL mFRJ $ i ffiTAgoS.ÏZxLjn l «ÆS JOURNAL OF EDUCATION Devoted to Education, Literature, Science, and the Arts.Volume X^.Quebec, Province of Quebec, July, 1ST6.JVo.V.TABLE OF CONTEXTS.On the Practical Teaching of Experimental Physics in Schools .ScnooL Examinations : Conferring of Degrees to Successful Competitors at William Molson Hall, 8 June.Villa Maria Convent School.McGill Universitylntelligence Official Notices : Appointmenls-School commissioners—Erection of Schooi Municipality.Poetry.101 ' toe 107 108 108 109 Editorial : Report of the Honorable Minister of Public Instruction (Continued).Miscellany : Little Kindnesses.Fun at Home.Useful Information.In case of Burns.Light and animal Organism Oil as Fuel.Cheery People.Great Cyclopaedias.Of the World.Advertisement.109 115 115 115 115 115 11C IIG 115 I IG 11G On tlic Practical Teaching; of Experimental Physics in Schools.0 In recent limes so many important additions have been made to our knowledge of Heat and Electricity, that a now impulse has been given to the study of Physics, to original research in it, and to the-old controversy how far and in what manner the teaching of Experimental Physi s can or should be made an inseparable portion of a system of National Education.Those who lake a professional interest in any branch of Physics, and make ils pursuit or its teaching the business of their lives, urge the claims of Physics to he placed on an equal footing with Writing, Reading, and Arithmetic, as an educational subject,principally upon two grounds.First, thoy maintain that Physics holds l he foremost position as a means of developing the various functions of the human intellect ; in other words, of best furthering the ultimate aims of general education.Attention, memory, judgment, imagination, are alike roused, brightened, and sharpened by an early individual acquaintance with natural phenomena.In proof of Ibis, they point to the history of philosophy and the literature of all civilised nations.On every page which preserves the teaching of the ancient Greek philosophers, and of the great thinkers of succeeding times, we find physical phenomena taken as starring points, or used as illustrations of profound metaphysical doctrines ; and the very downfall of philosophical systems coincides exactly with the times when the onward progress of physical sciences showed the Physics of the ancients to be either altogether wrong, or their facts wrongly interpreted.But the greatest support for this recommendation of Physics is derived from the fact, that no kind of human knowledge is so intimately connected with our earliest experiences.The very growth of the faculties of a child depends on physical phenomena.As soon as its eyes are opened it is a physical observer, and soon although unconsciously, becomes a physical experimenter, the range of its experiments constantly extending as the child grows.Each moment in the very earliest life adds to the clearness of the primary conceptions, which are at first confused and incorrect.The child soon learns to distinguish between solid and liquid, between hot and cold bodies, between light and darkness.The ear at the same time lays in a store of experiences on sound.The years of boyhood enrich the amount of physical know ledge immensely, and by a thousand instances, each of which is nothing else but a physical experiment, the hoy becomes acquainted with a vast range of physical facts, lb' experiments on the weight, hardness, rigidity of bodies ; on the rebound of a marble or a cricket-hall, on the motion of bodies projected in different ways ; lie learns music, or is delighted with the echo of the mountains or forest ; he makes experiments on reflection and refraction of light ; observes colours, studies the the effect of a burning glass, plays with small magnets, and rubs sealing-wax on other bodies to observe electrical attraction.These experiences possess, of course, no inherent connection : the hoy sees merely, lie does not think, or think erroneously, but there is stored up in this manner a vast material, even in the dullest mind, on which to work, so as to bring out our highest faculties.In not one of the sciences which have tin* study of a natural phenomena for its object, stands the teacher upon so well prepared aground for the purpose of education—a ground which only requires conscientious labour to bring forth the best and most valuable of fruits.But it is also urged upon another ground, of a more C) Paper read hy IJ Loewy, Esquire, before the College of Preceptors. 102 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION July, 1870.utilitarian character, that Physics—and here 1 must include Chemistry—should form widespread subjects oi education, the present century has seen discoveries in 1 In sics which have not only exerted a most decisive and favourable influence upon our whole culture, but \\ hich have led to so great and novel general principles in Physics that those who are best able to judge of the range ol these principles express an opinion that we are only at the beginning of a great era of still more astounding discoveries.That facts and principles of so vast promise and importance should, by means of the various channels of national education, become the common possession of all classes, has very naturally been the inost anxious desire not only of distinguished men of science, but also of enlightened statesmen over the civilised world ; for it is seen at once that, a sound knowledge of these facts and principles would most probably stir up mankind to make new exertions for discovering still unknown realms of science.Tt is only just to say, that these claims of Physics to be one of the recognised subjects of education, have not been utterly disregarded in this country.The number ot science schools where Physics form a prominent subject, ol science teachers, and of youthful students, is undoubtedly, although very slowly, increasing; and something is done by Government, and by private support to advance physical research.But has the teaching of Physics so far really fulfilled the expectations and promises of those to whose opinions I have briefly alluded ?It is far too early to answer this question ; but if the value of the knowledge of Physics imparted in our schools is to be judged from the published results of different examinations carried on for the purpose of testing the amount of general education attained by the candidates, xvo should arrive at a most disheartening conviction.The average number of pupils who present, themselves in Experimental Physics at this College is never more than between i and 5 per cent, of the total number of pupils examined at each examination ; but a worse feature in the case is, that out of 100 pupils who take up Physics, only three or four give accurate answers to some of the proposed questions ; 20 or 30 per cent, give answers bearing in a very vague manner on the question.The remainder are mostly totally unacquainted with the subject.Glance again at this result as a xvhole, and it comes to this, that out of 1500 boys and girls only about three are able to give a correct answer to a few simple questions about natural phenomena which can he observed and experimented on every day, in every place, and should lie so studied in every school.At the London University the numbei' of failures in c- Natural Philosophy ’’ is a striking feature in the Matriculation examination, being usually as much as the failures in three other subjects taken together, and nearly always greater than the number of failures in any other subject.At this examination the number of questions set to t lie candidates has recently been swelled to sixteen ; and if, as I understand, correct answers to two, or at most three, of these sixteen questions qualify a candidate to pass, the expectations of the examiners have sunk very loxv indeed.Now if we admit that physics is a subject of great importance from an educational as xvell as a material point of view—and no one will probably be prepared to deny this presumption—the time has clearly arrived when teachers should without delay ascertain the present state of physical science teaching, investigate the causes of such strikingly unsatisfactory results as I have sketched in the few’ instances that have come within my knowledge, make further inquiries whether there exist other facts connected with the question of a more hopeful nature, and mutually exchange their experiences ; and it is only in the light of a communication to you of my own personal experience as a teacher of Experimental Physics that 1 wish you to consider the following remarks and suggestions on the subject.There are at present three different methods of teaching Physics principally in use.The first of these consists in purely oral instruction.The teacher states some physical fact, and elicits perhaps by his questions some illustrations of the fact from the individual experience and recollections of his pupils.As a mere mental exercise nothing coubl be said against this method, which, however, is equally applicable to history, geography, or in fact any kind of knowledge.But a fact in ^Physics differs in this precisely from all other facts, that our own senses supply the only evidence for its truth.It follows that the chief aim of the teaching of Physics must naturally be solely to train our senses so as to perceive tlfe facts, and then to show how to separate the accidental from the essential, to connect effects with their causes, and thus to see not only the truth in a single fact, but the agreement of many facts in one definite principle, and so to lead the mind to the recognition of that one principle, or law of nature, which embraces all the solitary facts.No mere description of physical facts would ever make a discoverer ; indeed, it is well known that a method of learning something about physical facts has at all times produced considerable harm.The class of projectors and sham inventors is principally recruited from mere readers of books on Physics ; their conclusions are derived from erroneous ideas about facts which they have never really seen, and are naturally of a kind to vanish in the air when put to the best of actual experiment.A method of teaching physics without the basis of experiment stands thus really in direct contradiction with its essential purpose.- As a matter of fact such a mode of teaching is utterly tedious to learners ; il must lead to errors and misunderstandings ; and moreover it.is extremely limited in its range, because many facts and phenomena arc quite beyond all comprehension, unless they are perceived by the senses.It appears from the examination papers which are presented to me from time to time at this College, that such a method is unfortunately still pursued in many schools ; the confusion produced in the mind of the pupils of these schools manifests itself in every statement, and stand in remarkable contrast with the clear and and truthful answers given by those few who have obviously seen what they describe.Written examinations are not a very high test of knowledge attained ; but they prove something, and, as matters are, we are bound to accept what they prove.A second method consists in oral instruction by lectures, illustrated by experiments performed by the teacher before the whole class.At first sight this seems to be an irreproachable method, and undoubtedly it is the best and only one by means of which some information on physical phenomena can be conveyed to large audiences.Nor seems there any other way of exhibiting before a body of students or educated people some result of recent discovery, or giving them a connected exposition of some great i ' with the leading steps or precursory experiments that have prepared ils adoption or established its power.Bui l fail altogether to see its advantage as a school method.We do not teach writing, reading, or arithmetic, by confining odrsehes to writing letters or sentences on a black-board, or by reading I lie* alphabet or a page out of 2646 July, 1870.] FOR THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC.103 ;i book before our classes, or by showing bow a sum in arithmetic is done.We do all these tilings; but our pupils learn how to write and read, and so on, only by repeating over and over again for themselves what the teacher has shown.The tediousness of the lecturing process before a class of boys or girls is notorious ; and in a lecture on Physics especially, as every conscientious teacher will admit who has ever attempted such a lecture, the natural vivacity and curiosity of youthful minds directs their whole attention so much to the apparatus displayed on the table, and finally to tbe experiment, that the verbal instruction isonly very partially listened to ; and I have over and over convinced myself that the instruction is taken as a kind of bitter pill, and the experiment as its coating of jam.It is undoubtedly true, that by performing one or two experiments illustrative of some principle, and by indefatigable questioning and cross-questioning, knowledge of that principle may be ineradicably established in half the members of a class ; but the other half, through want of attention, seems utterly incapable of learning anything about the subject, and gradually, more and more, the work of the teacher fails to effect uniform progress.We might disregard this want of complete success if our aim in teaching Physics were nothing else but to demonstrate and impress upon our pupils a certain number of physical facts or laws ; but surely it is far more than mere pieces of knowledge which we are anxious to give to our boys and girls during their schools years.We wish to train their senses of their intellects, we endeavor to guide and direct their powers of volition to the right ends, and we are working for this—that their emotional and moral life may be in accordance with the highest possible standard.How can we possibly proceed with a greater certainty of success in such a work than by bringing our youthful charges face to face with nature itself ?Let them arouse for themselves those forces which man has discovered and uses for his benefit.Let each of them learn to put questions to nature in a proper manner, calculated to receive answers ; show them how to read these answers for themselves ; let them put answer to answer, and thus learn from nature itself what no human lips can ever teach so well.This can, in my opinion, only be acc "shed by a method of teaching altogether different from those two which I havobrielly sketched.There is a third method of teaching Physics in use, especially at Universities, a modification of which seems to me particularly suited for elementary instruction.Anybody who desires to become thoroughly acquainted with some branch of Physics or of Chemistry, or in fact any of the other branches of the Natural Sciences, either from an individual inclination for and interest in the subject, or for some special definite professional purpose, does not trust to tbe reading of books, nor does he depend on mere lecture ('ourses with illustrative experiments.He considers books and lectures as useful adjuncts to his studies, but lie essentially trusts to the individual practical work which lie may lie enabled to do under the guidance of experienced teachers, lie devotes a considerable time, often three or four years, to regular work in a laboratory, where he learns how to observe, bow to measure, bow to compute bis results, and how lo deduce physical facts from his work.It is not our object to make our pupils in schools physical experimenters, no more than we aim at making a writing master, or a public reader, or a professor of mathematics, of every child to whom we teach writing, reading, and arithmetic.The fact proves that practical work is considered to bo the only real method of • obtaining the knowledge desired ; and experience show s abundantly that men who have done a certain amount of practical work in physical or chemical laboratories will stand above every mere book student, however wide bis range of treating any problem .not of science alone, but of life itself.He who has ever done practical science work in a genuine scientific manner will, in my opinion, be a different and a more useful man than tbe most profound scientific library hermit.That so great advantages should be rendered available also to those who make their first elementary steps in acquiring knowledge, has been the wish of every earnest teacher ; but unfortunately it lias, so far, generally been considered that there are many serious obstacles in tbe way of introducing in our public and private schools systematic practical work to be done by the pupils there.I propose to show how' these difficulties may be diminished or entirely overcome, and for this purpose it may be best to describe, as far as possible on an occasion like the present, the system of teaching Experimental Physics, and related branches of the Experimental Sciences, which has been adopted, and is more worked out and perfected at tbe London International College since the beginning of 1873.Although differences of considerable weight in devising a plan of teaching must naturally exist in the scope of education, and many other circumstances between this College and other private or public schools and educational establishments, still many points of agreement present themselves, especially in respect of tin1 teaching of Physics ; and I shall speak more of pupils having a certain average age than as being members of a definite class or form, so as to exclude at once a striking feature of dissimilarity.Let us then begin our work with pupils who have reached the age of ten, and who can fairly read, write, and do a simple sum in arithmetic.Now is the time to rouse their attention to tbe existence of an infinite variety of beautiful forms, of periodic events, of great movements around us ; and to show that it is not only worth our while to observe, but that there must be method in every observation, and that such observations lead to general conclusions of great importance.Ten, eleven—these are the years for Botany, Zoology, and Physical Geography, where, from the smallest, to the grandest scale on which Nature works, the most striking examples should be selected and displayed or pointed out by the teacher.Physical experiment is here not essential, but a beginning should ba made to illustrate some great principle, and I shall here at once indicate thegeneral way of superintending and arranging the experiments.An hour, say in every month, being specially appointed for experiments in the youngest class, let me suppose that you wish to illustrate the following three facts bearing on Physical Geography and Botany : 1st, the solvent action of water, the dependence of this action on temperature, and on tbe nature of tbe substance dissolved ; 2nd, tin1 spherical form assumed by a liquid when withdrawn from the action of external forces ; 3rd, the effect of endosmose on two liquids of different density separated by a membrane.These three sets of experiments may precede or follow that stage in Physical Geography where the action of rivers or springs, or the figure of the earth, and in Botany where the ascent of sap in plants, is under consideration.Or the experiments may form some physical exercises quite by themselves, and merely used for reference.The plan for working now suggested is the same for boys of all ages ; with this difference, that after the age of twelve 5 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION [July, 187G.lo't experiments are made constantly during every hour devoted to the subject.Divide your class into groups of two at most, and after assigning to each a definite place for working, provide each group with an independent experiment by placing in their hands slips of paper on wjiich definite but short directions for its performance are given.Let each boy copy out your directions for the experiment lie has to do in a small note hook with pencil, and at the end of his copy make out for himself a list of the things required for it.Your directions are, out of school hours, again to he copied out fairly with ink into a special book, and a little sketch of the arrangement of the experiment is to be added, however unsightly at first the illustration may be turned out.If possible, let each boy answer at the end of his fair copy, in his own words, this question : What, had I to show by this experiment ?While the boys are copying out their directions, make a list, in a special hook, of the names of the boys in each group, with the number of the experiment supplied to each.As each