Aims and Methods of the Teaching of Physics (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1884 Excerpt: ...not only a knowledge but an understanding of nature is reached. The teacher of natural science ought to have the necessary special scientific schooling for that purpose. In no department of instruction is it less permissible to teach authoritatively than in this, and to make it a subordinate branch for a teacher not specially prepared for it is often worse than to provide no scientific instruction whatever; for the teacher must not only be master of the material he teaches, but ought also to be a model of the intellectual training he tries to impart; he should have the capacity to observe, describe, and reason accurately about the material of study. - One of the commonest faults of teachers is that, in order to get on with their pupils as fast as possible, they themselves describe the objects or phenomena under consideration and derive laws from them, instead of allowing the scholars to do so. A science teacher should be able to show his pupils how to give graphic reproductions of what they have learned. Whatever drawing might be necessary for this purpose should not, however, bo presented ready made to scholars, but should be drawn by the teacher on the large scale on the slate or board before their eyes. The natural science school book should be used only as a book of reference in reviewing, as a means of saving writing, for recalling to memory the things observed in the course of study, as a help in looking up modes of expression, and particularly as a general model. It should remain closed while teaching is going on. It ought, above all, to be in every respect up to the times in its subject matter, and, while being as brief as possible, it should afford an accurate and complete selection of topics. It would be a great mistake if the school book wer...