and health education, and social studies. Sometimes teachers of a specific grade choose to work together. In terms of these choices, the teachers' problems are organized and plans for working are evolved. Local supervisory staff, visiting consultants, community individuals, and faculties of local colleges are used whenever they can best help.

In addition to these workshops in more or less specialized areas there are many workshops which begin as general elementary education workshops but, as they progress, develop into small groups organized to care for special interests. One school system in Ohio reports a series of in-service workshops to be held for three successive years, each year involving one-third of the teaching group. These are general education workshops.

Some especially interesting features of this plan are: (1) Individual schools in the system may decide which year they will participate, and once the decision is reached all members of the staff of that school participate. This means that at the end of the 3-year period all teachers will have been involved. (2) A planning group consisting of teachers and principals gathers problems from the entire school system and organize them into large areas for consideration. (3) Each school is urged to continue the work individually after the workshop is over. In this way there is time to explore the problems further and adapt the findings to the individual schools. (4) Each school invites a lay person or persons to participate actively in the workshop. These individuals bring a report to the parent group or study group in the school represented. (5) Leaders and recorders are selected to work with the groups. They receive special advance help from the supervisory staff and other qualified persons. (6) The local university gives 1 hour of credit for participation if teachers so desire.

Teachers Meetings

Teachers meetings, as a method of in-service education, seem to have undergone considerable rehabilitation as indicated by the observations. Chief among the new characteristics is that the meetings are definitely planned with the needs and interests of the participating teachers in mind. The meetings are planned in response to these needs and interests and are evaluated on the basis of how well they fit these needs and interests. Plans for improvement are based on these evaluations. In addition to the traditional lecture method a wide variety of methods are used, such as observation of teaching, study of a significant educational motion picture, reading and art demonstrations, and using science materials.

Conferences

Conferences held before school begins in autumn, called preschool conferences, are common among the schools visited, although there is great variety in these conferences. In many instances, the main purpose is to explore problems and set up a plan for study and improvement of instruction for the coming year. Often several big areas are identified for study, and teachers and others select the area or areas in which they wish to work during the conference and through the coming year. The organizion set up at the pre-school conference, or some variation of it, is frequently carried on through the year with provision for reporting to the whole staff and for publishing the findings and recommendations, if that seems desirable.

Not all conferences, however, are held at the beginning of the school year. Some, like the next one described, are held during the school term.

An Ohio school describes an in-service program for teachers which culminated in an elementary education conference, with special reference in this case to improvement of science instruction at the elementary school level. In the spring, a committee of teachers in this city of 400,000 worked with the elementary science specialist of the State university, which is in the same city. They planned a work session in science for elementary teachers and invited approximately 60 teachers to attend. At the first meeting of these teachers, the committee members served as leaders and consultants. The group worked with elementary science materials. This session aroused so much interest that plans were made to include additional teachers. As a result, through cooperative planning by the curriculum coordinator, the elementary supervisor, the elementary principals, and the elementary science specialist, all the elementary schools in the city were given an opportunity to participate in an extended in-service program on the teaching of elementary science.

As a first step a seminar group was organized. It consisted of 30 teachers who met regularly with the elementary science specialist. Each school was represented by one or more teachers. The representatives either volunteered or were elected by the faculties of the individual schools. The seminar met each Wednesday evening for 2 months and for several Saturdays. The primary purpose of the seminar was first of all to help the members become more familiar with the methods and materials of teaching elementary science. The secondary purpose was to help other teachers in the city improve their teaching of science.

To attain this latter objective, the group focused on a 1-day conference to be attended by all 900 elementary teachers. Preparation for the conference involved, first of all, the development of resource materials for teaching in several science areas such as "Children's Experiences with Machines in Daily Living," "Children's Experiences with Light, Heat, and Sound," "Understanding Our Bodies," and "Children's Experiences in Understanding the Story of the Earth." Included with these resource materials were directions for doing many experiments.

The group planned to help all of the teachers in attendance to learn about the methods and materials represented in the resource materials. This called for organizing 30 work groups. Each member of the seminar became a chairman, responsible for taking leadership in a work group. As plans developed, an assistant chairman was chosen. In most instances the assistant chairman and the chairman were from the same school. As the conference day approached, these 60 persons called on others from their schools. to help out. As a result, a large number of teachers had a part in planning for the conference and in making preparations for group work.

Nearly 3 months after the seminar was organized, the mid-year elementary education conference was held. The theme was "Utilizing Science Experiences in the Elementary School." The conference was held on a school day, and the children were dismissed

Learning about hamsters and the methods of science and enjoying both, Baltimore, Md.

from school. Nine hundred teachers attended the morning and afternoon sessions.

The morning session consisted of two addresses by specialists in the teaching of elementary science and a panel discussion on "Implications for Science Teaching in Our Schools." The panel consisted of elementary teachers, principals, and the specialists in the teaching of elementary science. The purpose of the morning discussions was to show how science experiences help children solve their problems and to clarify the role of science in the total elementary school program.

In the afternoon the teachers reported to the 30 study groups, approximately 30 teachers per group. They had been assigned to groups according to their preference of topics. The purpose of the work groups was to give a large number of teachers first-hand experiences with science methods and materials. In addition to the opportunity of working for 2 hours with materials on one problem area, the teachers were given mimeographed copies of the resource materials used by every other group. The intensive, long-term study and planning of teachers in preparation for these work groups was a distinctive feature of this conference. Although this activity was called a conference, it is obvious from this description that several of the other in-service techniques of working were involved.

Study Groups

In most cases study groups are based on problems judged by the teachers to be especially important for consideration. Typical of such a study group is one reported by a city school system in Illinois. The group had its beginning when some of the primary teachers met to discuss the problem of reading in the early grades. These teachers soon realized that the problem was an involved one and deserved wider attention than they, as a group, could give it. They recommended that the guidance service committee take over and present a plan of action. (This is a standing committee composed of teachers and administrators charged with the responsibility for various phases of guidance, including in-service education.)

This guidance committee recommended a program to study child development and assisted in organizing such a study. Its initial purpose was to get basic facts about growth and development of children from infancy to adolescence. The committee recommended that study groups be formed in each school. Thirty-two different groups with from 15 to 20 persons each were organized. These

groups included teachers as well as interested parents and professional people in the community. The board of education set aside $1,800 to finance this study. Money was to be spent for printed materials and films, as well as for the professional services of a specialist in child growth and development.

The specific phases of child growth selected by different groups varied greatly. Provisions were made for the various groups to come together periodically to share their findings. A wide variety of professional and occupational interests was represented in the study. For example, the chairmen of some of the groups were: a -school nurse, a teacher, a sports reporter on the local paper, a parent, a pastor, an assistant pastor, a State attorney general, a pediatrician, a former professor of a university.

The steering committee for the child study program, composed of principals, teachers, a board member, and several parents, went to Chicago University for a week to prepare themselves for planning a better series of meetings. A thorough survey of resource persons in the city was made. This list includes pediatricians, doctors, psychologists, nurses, and others who indicated a willingness to help the study groups. From 8 to 12 meetings were held this year by each group. Throughout the coming year, representatives will continue to go to Chicago University to meet with leaders in the field of child development and to bring back suggestions for the local study groups. Through cooperative planning the groups explored the field of child study as well as the related problems of reading in the primary grades.

Similar study groups were reported in many States. One such group was able to set aside a room in one of the school buildings to be used as a child study laboratory. A part of this room was set aside for a professional library which includes books, bulletins, pamphlets, inexpensive materials of various kinds, courses of study, teachers reports, periodicals, and displays of work by children. Another section of the room is devoted to files containing cumulative records and other useful information about the pupils whom the teachers are studying. These records show such things as each child's personality development, the curriculum activities in which he has a part, samples of his work, and similar items. Several schools report study groups designed especially for parents and teachers to work together on problems of common concern (For more detailed discussion see section on Parent Teacher Groups, p. 110).