TEACHING SCIENCE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS


good for testing understanding of subject matter, for recog-
nizing reading difficulties, and is also a device for discouraging
dishonesty during tests.
 An effective testing schedule should include the different
kinds of objective and essay tests to encourage properly the
various types of learning required. Students should become ac-
customed to each plan of testing. When confronted at later
dates with placement tests for entrance into college and for
vocations, they will have a feeling of familiarity with them.
 The best results of a testing program may be secured when
there has been a clear understanding between the teacher and
the students in regard to the uses of the results of the tests. The
students should be shown that the test is not primarily for grad-
ing but is to enable the students to see where they have failed to
achieve, and for the teacher to see where review should begin
and where difficulty calls for further teaching. If students feel
that tests alone determine grades, cheating may be expected.
But when the students see that the teacher is checking himself as
well as the students, there will be a greater tendency toward
honesty and real effort to do well.
 Honesty is an attitude that is transferable from the teacher
 to the student!
 Notebooks. A science teacher should realize that a note-
 book is of little value as a mere show book, that it is only as good
 as the habits and attitudes that produce it. Too great emphasis
 on perfection in the notebook can be an interest killer. A science
 notebook should be written in a legible and neat manner; the
 drawings clear, diagramatic, and correctly labeled; the sen-
 tences complete and concise. Correct spelling should be re-
 quired at all times. Proper methods of writing title pages, out-
 lines, captions for pictures, and summaries should be required
 to develop an understanding of conventional forms. Full co-
 operation with the English teacher will be most helpful.
 It is suggested that the notebook should become an activity
 book which, in addition to the regular work, may include notes
 on supplementary readings, demonstrations, individual experi-
 ments, and on the relations found between the processes studied