April 20.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE 1173

It would be well, therefore, for the teacher, when drawing up the program
of work in the several subjects of the syllabus, to have in mind a scheme
of nature-study, and the various parts of the instruction should be so co-
ordinated as to pursue this scheme continuously throughout the school
course.

Nothing can be considered as nature-study unless it includes an actual
study of things themselves by the individual children; models, pictures,
and books may be valuable aids, but are not substitutes for it.

There is no difference in the aims of what is here called “elementary
science” and what is called “nature-study”; both are intended to give
the children the beginnings of scientific method rather than to teach them
a systematic science.

In schools with two or more teachers the head teacher shall draw up
and show to the Inspector a program of a definite course in nature-study
and elementary science taken in the Junior and Senior Divisions.

Suggestions for drawing up programs in nature-study and elementary
science will be found in the Appendix.

GEOGRAPHY.

Physical Geography.

This part of the subject should be based as far as possible upon the actual
observation of natural phenomena by the children; where the actual pheno-
mena themselves do not come within the range of the children’s observation,
models should be used if possible. Pictures rank next in value to models.
Models of wet sand or clay or plasticine form an extremely useful means of
instruction, and in most cases it will be an 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 necessary is the use of pictures or of other auxiliaries.
(Various series of hand-pictures for class use are issued free to schools by the
Education Department.) The children should be taught to make maps or
plans of the district from their own measurements, 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 approximately, 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, of the seasons,
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 utilized 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 most obvious facts in regard to
evaporation and the condensation of vapour on a cold surface; and so on.

Simple weather-records should be kept in every school, and should lead
up to an elementary treatment of the climate of various parts of the earth.
The chief minerals, plants, and animals of various countries should be known,
a collection of pictures and a school museum being useful adjuncts in this
connexion.

As in the case of other portions of nature-study, the teaching should
have reference to the surroundings of the school, and the scheme of work
should be drawn up accordingly. The suggestions in the Appendix will
indicate the kind of work that is intended to be done under this head, but
any suitable program may be accepted by the Inspector.

Political Geography.

As physical geography is a part of nature-study, so political, social, and
commercial geography is one of the most important branches of humanistic
study in the school, akin in its effect to the study of history, and probably
easier in many ways for the children to grasp. The object should be to