Chemical Digest AN UNDEVELOPED METHOD IN CHEMISTRY TEACHING At a recent meeting of the Education Group of the Chicago Section of the American Chemical Society Dr. Freud of Armour Institute presented a paper on "An Undeveloped Method in Chemistry Teaching." The following points were elaborated: 1. There is merit in correlating class-room instruction with industrial experience. 2. The usual method of doing this in chemistry is accidental, not deliberate. 3. I t is done not by the teacher, but by: (a) lecturers brought in from the industries, and (b) inspection trips to the industries. 4. The results of these appeals are worthless because they are not planned and organized into formal teaching methods. 5. Teachers in schools of applied chemistry have had to make the appeal in a formal way. Their various methods. 6. A properly planned and conducted inspection trip. 7. The use of this method in high-school teaching. R. 0. M.
Superior Children Pushed Too Rapidly, Warns Educator. Children who show a natural tendency t o be superior mentally should not be pushed ahead through school grades too rapidly, is the warning given by Dr. William T. Root, professor of educational psychology a t the University of Pittsburgh. The great trouble with home training is the fact that so many parents like t o point with pride t o the school achievements of their children, and lose sight of the great importance of a balanced program for the child, says Dr. Root in a report in a forthcoming issue of Childhood Educalzon. A balanced program, he declares, must include plenty of play and social contacts with other children of the same age Dr. Root urges that health and physical adjustment of the mentally superior child should be given first consideration, and that its superior learning ability should be utilized by more extensive and intensive study rather than by advancing pupils several grades in school. Study of art or music or some other useful subject in which the chid happens t o be interested is suggested as a means of keeping the bright child occupied. I n warning parents and teachers against grouping superior children in with older, more sodally mature children, he points out that the child is so easily molded in the early and formative years that it should be given every opportunity t o develop those worthwhile traits of character which can be brought out only by careful social contacts and avoidance of instilling intellectual priggishness.-Science Service
