in Elementary Geography

Huldah L. Winsted

This series of laboratory experiments are a continuation of those given in previous issues of the POPULAR EDUCATOR; i. e. March, 1912 and September, 1913. The object, as stated, in these previous numbers, is to give only such exercises as can be performed by any teacher of our graded and rural schools, where the apparatus available is practically nil. All the experiments have been actually performed in the class-room by my students or myself. Many of them have been "borrowed" from physics, chemistry and the other sciences.

HOW TO FIND DIRECTION BY MEANS OF A WATCH

Hold your watch in a vertical position and point the hour hand toward the sun wherever the hour hand may be at the time. Exactly half way between the hour hand and the figure twelve (12) on the dial, will be south. This will hold true at any time of the day and wherever you happen to be.

Explanation A mathematical relation exists between the orbit of the sun and the circle of degrees described by the watch dial. While the sun is passing over one hundred and eighty degrees (from east to west), the hour hand of your watch passes over three hundred sixty degrees. (from six o'clock in the morning to six o'clock at night). Consequently, the angular movement of the sun in one hour corresponds to the angular movement of the hour hand in half an hour.. Hence, if holding a watch horizontal, we point the hour hand toward the sun, the line from the pivot of the hands to the point midway between the hour hand and twelve o'clock will point south.

This method of finding the points of the compass is called "orientation by the sun.'

TIVE ATMOSPHERE

(According to the Nebular Hypothesis)

Drop some water on a hot stove, or on a hot metal plate. What becomes of the water? What probably was the condition of the earth's atmosphere while the crust of the earth was too hot for water to remain upon its surface?

EXPERIMENT ILLUSTRATING THE CAUSE OF OCEAN
CURRENTS

Into a glass beaker, pour some very hot water, colored with aniline dye. Hold a piece of ice just below the surface and note the movements of the water. The currents (see Fig. 1), called convection currents, are caused by the cooling above; the cold water being heavier will tend to displace the warmer and consequently lighter water below.

This experiment helps us to understand the movements of the water in the cold Labrador Current. Describe the course of this ocean current.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3 EXPERIMENTS ILLUSTRATING CRYSTALLIZATION OF MINERALS (a) Dissolve some copper sulphate (blue vitriol) in a beaker half filled with water. Allow the solution to cool gradually, and note what takes place. The copper sulphate crystallizes, forming large blue crystals, called from their shape, rhombic crystals. (Fig. 2.)

The process of crystallization is constantly going on in nature. Most minerals are crystalline in form.

(b) Make a saturated solution of alum by dissolving string in the solution. Observe what happens. The same in a beaker of hot water and suspend a piece of string soon becomes covered with crystals. Note the shape of these crystals. How many sides have they? (See Fig. 3.)

In all cases, the slower the process of crystallization, the larger are the crystals which are obtained.

in the yard of her home.

WR

Mary A. Laselle

E imagine that many a teacher has felt as I have oftentimes that her real knowledge of her pupils was of the slightest degree. They come in demurely, or the reverse, as the bell rings, go through their school routine duties each day, and go home at the close of the day's work, leaving the teacher completely in ignorance of their life outside of the school-room.

Certain very original natures are bound to reveal themselves even in an arithmetic lesson, or an exercise in gymnastics, but the larger number of pupils say nothing of their interests, tastes or their occupations outside of school.

It is through the oral theme in the English recitation. that the teacher can get closest to the real life of the boy or the girl. If this exercise is conducted rightly there is a freedom from restraint, a spontaneous expression of the pupils' interests out of school that is most helpful to the teacher and pleasant for all concerned.

The average class of pupils of the ages of fifteen to seventeen oftentimes seems a most uninteresting group of tonguetied, awkward youths, destitute of ideas, and with undeveloped intellect. But if we see this same class when, by skilful manœuvering, they have been induced to talk about their outside interests, we find a very different appearing group. As I teach in a city which is divided into many very distinct neighborhoods, and as we draw pupils from all of those sections, there is afforded a good opportunity to request the pupils to describe the prominent features of the different sections.

We began with the natural characteristics of the place, and then took up the parks, playgrounds, clubs, churches, and other institutions.

A great amount of most interesting and helpful information was contributed on the days when the pupils described the various clubs to which they belonged. I found that a large number were members of organizations whose work was to help in social betterment.

One rather flighty girl told of teaching a newly arrived Polish immigrant how to bake a cake, and others gave their services during certain hours at the playground, to the work of teaching some little Italians how to dance. Several were teaching young foreign mothers how to sew. All of this information greatly increased my respect for my girls, and as they saw my interest in these matters they spoke most freely of events in their home life. I found that several were Camp Fire girls, and that many of them belonged to some church society for young people. We all enjoyed Christmas with a manifold, enjoyment, for one Catholic girl told us of the solemn grandeur of the High Mass she had attended, and the Protestant girls all told of the various types of celebrations in their churches.

.A favorite topic is to describe customs and habits in foreign lands, if one has been so fortunate as to live in a foreign country. We have an Armenian girl who has entertained us with bits of description of that olden country; several Italian girls who have told us of life in Sunny Italy; a Swedish maiden who makes us see the mountains of Sweden. A little colored girl gives us much of the life of North Carolina as she hears it from her father, whose father was a slave there. Another favorite topic is to tell of lectures they have heard. We have traveled in Japan, India, South Africa, France, and many other places. One girl, who had always been very diffident and reticent, blossomed out into an interesting talker when she found that we really enjoyed hearing of the campaigns of her soldier brother in South Africa. Another girl, who at first said she had nothing upon which to speak, became very happy when she found that to relate the experiences of her aunt, who travels in Europe for a Boston firm, was to secure the entire attention of the class.

After the recent heavy snow-storm a young girl, who had never shone in this oral work, surprised and delighted us

Another little girl described a swamp near her house, showing careful observation and an eye for the interesting in everyday surroundings. Articles from periodicals are also drawn upon, and the Montessori Method, the latest work with radium, new ideas in school work, and many other topics of the day have been the subject for discussion. As a help to spontaneity of expression, accuracy of observation, and a broadening of the mentality and a means of becoming acquainted with the real life of the pupils, I know of no method so effective as that of the oral theme in English.

The Revising of Themes

"H

Ethel McCauley

IGH SCHOOL graduates can't write," is the cry everywhere. Business men and educators, alike, complain, but to remedy the difficulty is entirely a different matter: There are some teachers and educators, I know, who insist that the average pupil can be taught to become fairly skilled in the art of writing. Such advocates can hardly be observers of human nature when they assert that such an impossibility can be done. A statement of this kind is as foolish as if Caruso asserted that anyone could become a professional singer. He might, if the only necessary requisite was perseverance. But a singer is born, not made. He must have the talent there to develop. So is a writer born, not made. But in either case each may learn the theory and some of the technical part of the study.

While it is true that not every one can be proficient, it is also a deplorable fact that the average High School boy or girl is so utterly lacking in this essential, that he can scarcely write a correct letter. This failure is due largely to the curricula and to the teachers. Superficiality, not accuracy, is the criterion. There is so much to be covered and so little time in which to do it, that nothing is learned well, for above all, the pupil must make a "showing:" Teachers and pupils alike are in a hurry and consequently theme work suffers. It is more or less drudgery. We haven't time for that. In my limited experience as a struggling English teacher, I have come to realize that if the pupil were taught accuracy in the beginning a great deal of the difficulty would be remedied. Of course it's slower and more troublesome, but oh! the pleasure in the end.

I give special attention to the work done in the Freshman class where great care is taken that each pupil write his theme first on scratch paper before the final form which he hands in at the close of class. Every theme handed in is corrected carefully and returned to the pupil, who, in turn, revises and corrects it by copying it into a theme book. These notebooks are checked off, usually, once every two weeks and graded according to the quality of the corrections and the general appearance. Some teachers consider this an unnecessary amount of copying. But revision is the very essence of accuracy and patience, both necessary for good theme writing. Whenever a pupil has an exceptionally good composition, he is excused from copying it in his notebook. It is surprising to see how the pupils try, with this small incentive, for more perfect themes.

Not long ago, I thought to test my pupils. They exchanged themes with the instruction to mark them just as if they were I. When they handed in these paragraphs all corrected, I was more than pleased at the careful work done by the majority of pupils. Now, very frequently, I let them correct each other's work, always, however, checking up finally the work done. By this method I shall not be able to make every pupil a professional, I know, even though it is one which is rather strenuous on the teacher, but I am sure he will learn that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, which is, after all, one of the keynotes of efficiency.