April 20.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 1071

advantage for the children to make such models themselves, either from
their own observation or from the teacher’s copy. Carefully selected
pictures taken in conjunction with maps form a good vehicle for lessons
on subjects lying more or less outside the children’s experience. The
more remote the place, or the less familiar the subject, the more neces-
sary is the use of pictures or of other auxiliaries. The children should be
taught to make maps or plans of the district from their own measure-
ments, increasing in exactness from year to year with a view to making
them understand how maps are made. As an instance of what is meant,
the children in the early stages might be taught to measure approxi-
mately, by pacing, the length and breadth of the playground, the distance
from their homes or other well-known points to the school, &c.

The mathematical geography will be of far more value if it is based
upon actual measurement and observation, and if drawings and models
are made to illustrate the facts observed, so that the children may gain
thereby clear conceptions of the daily and yearly movements of the earth,
and of such phenomena as tides and eclipses. The action of rivers can
be studied from nature in the neighbourhood of almost every school, and
even the effect of a shower of rain as seen in the playground or the public
road may be utilised for this purpose. The action of the sea and of ice
and snow may in some cases be learnt first-hand; if that is not possible,
models and pictures should be used.

Some of the physical phenomena lend themselves to illustration by
experiments—e.g., the fact that warm water floats upon cold water, and
that a block of ice floats in water with the greater part of its bulk below
the level of the surface of the water. The action of water and rivers may
be illustrated by experiments outside in the playground, or even indoors
by means of a wooden tray with fine shingle, sand, and clay, and a
watering-pot.

It is recommended, therefore, that in teaching geography full use
should be made of such aids as the following: globes; models made
with plasticine, clay, carton or cardboard, wire, &c.; school museums;
wall pictures of typical phenomena; hand-pictures; school museums
with collections of plants and plant products, of minerals, rocks and
fossils, of animal products, of national coins, weapons, ornaments, &c.

41. The following shall be the course in geography:—

STANDARD II.

In Standard II., geography is one of the additional subjects (see clause 29).
Elementary geographical notions are to be taught as far as possible
from actual observation—e.g., the nature of hills, plains, valleys, rivers;
also of lakes, bays and gulfs, straits, islands, peninsulas, if examples of
these are found in the neighbourhood of the school; the position of the
sun at noon and at other times of the day; the position and length of the
shadow cast, say, by a post in the playground at different times of the
day; the rough determination of the north and south line and of the east
and west points; the position of the school and class-room, and of build-
ings and other objects visible from the playground, with reference to the
cardinal points; the direction of the wind on different days, and whether
a given wind brings rain, is hot or cold; the snow upon the mountains
and lower hills, whether always seen or not; the distinction between
clay, sand, and other very common rocks.

First lessons might be given in the playground, or the roadside near
the school, upon the action of water running down a gentle slope to form
streamlets, streams, and rivers. Models of damp sand or clay should be
made by the teacher in the playground, or on a large wooden tray or a
blackboard placed upon the floor, to illustrate the geographical features
seen within a short distance of the school, and the children should make
smaller models of sand or clay or plasticine.

The children should be taught to make plans, first full-size, of wooden
blocks or bricks, books, ink-pots, &c.; then plans, roughly to scale, from
their own measurements of desks, tables, the class-room, the school, the
playground; and the drawing of plans might be extended to such por-
tions of the district within, say, three or four miles of the school as
come within the common knowledge of the children. The direction
of one or two of the ‘nearest towns should be known, and a plan or
simple map should be drawn upon the blackboard to show the relative
positions of these towns with reference to the school. All plans should
be drawn in the first instance with the blackboard, slate, or paper in a
horizontal position. (The drawing of plans may be very conveniently
co-ordinated with the lessons in “brick-building” if this is taken as part
of the course in “handwork.”)

The geography indicated above is, strictly speaking, a part of nature-
study, and should be treated accordingly.

C