MUSEUM ENTERPRISE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20331, 12 August 1929, Page 11

MUSEUM ENTERPRISE.

EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.

TRAVELLING LOAN EXHIBITS.

PROPOSAL FOR NEXT YEAR. "With the idea of making tbe Auckland Museum a greater educative factor in the community, a. proposal has been made to send travelling loan collections of exhibits to schools in the city. The curator, Mr. G. Archev, is very enthusiastic, and he proposes to establish the scheme in the. next, school year.

At present Mr. .Archey lias no definite plan in view, and a conference of headmasters will bo necessary before details are arranged. Some time ago headmasters were acquainted with tho general idea and they expressed general approval. Then it was impossible to arrange, owing to the poor facilities at the old museum, but the new museum will lend itself admirably to the scheme.

Briefly, the proposal is (hat collections of various exhibits should be made available for the use of schools,, which would notify their requirements to tho museum office, and tho collection requested would bo forwarded by motor-lorry. When the school had made, use of the collection it could easily be forwarded to the next school which made application for it. Collections would include birds, insects and shells it) small displays appropriately labelled. The birds and insects, including butterflies, would be suitable, for lessons on natural history, while collections of shells and rocks would servo for instruction ill geological formation. Most important of all would be. the collections of Maori and Polynesian relics, these serving to teach the early history of New Zealand and the. Islands. Samples of woods would also serve a very useful purpose in instructing children as to the trees in the native forest Success in Other Countries.

In addition to the collections of exhibits. if is proposed to have numbers of lantern slides and notes grouped together in the form of outline lectures. These, would illustrate different subjects, and could be taken with the exhibits or separately. As the scheme, was developed, exhibits depicting spring, summer, autumn and winter could be arranged. As the teaching of the. children would be best accomplished through the teachers themselves, it- is proposed to arrange exhibits for tho teachers' benefit so that they may become fjimiliar with what the museum will have to offer.

Great success has been achieved in other countries, particular!}" America, in setting up travelling loan collections for schools. It is understood that the system has so far not been adopted in New Zealand. It is not expected that there will be any appreciable loss of exhibits through breakage or removal. However, teachers will have to undertake to exercise great care while the collections are in their charge. Careful handling should mitigate against anv undue wear and tear of the exhibits. The fact that something may be lost has been taken into account on the museum side, and as far as possible only exhibits which can be replaced will be sent to schools. These would include, such specimens ss 'birds, insects and shells. The Maori collections would comprise only second-class matter, which would serve the use of schools, while not endangering the priceless collection in the museum. Classes at Museum. .Apart- from this, opportunity will bo given to children to see the exhibits which cannot be sent out. It is proposed that groups of certain standards from the city schools would visit the museum, a lesson being given with the exhibits on display in front, of the class. These lessons should serve, to bring the schools more closely into touch with the museum.

In the opinion of one headmaster, the. collections will be used frequently by the schools. He said it was difficult at present for teachers to secure materials suitable for a practical presentation of natural or national history. The. great, advantage of the s:heme was that it would make of the museum an educative factor of great value. It would be petty to lock away from the rising generation the valuable store of material in the. museum, which was visited chiefly by adults. Increased interest would be created in the museum, and this would serve the institution in good stead in later years. "From the point of view of. the practical teacher, Mr. Archey's experiment is full of possibilities," said the teacher. "It will open up a new field of instruction for teachers. The experiment will lie watched with very great interest by the profession."