1942: Textbooks - how to use them...

"Ideally a textbook should be an attractive piece of descriptive literature bound together as a story of human life upon some portion of the earth 's surface."

"The region chosen, the particular human life in that region selected, and the kind of detail given, as well as the conclusions drawn, must depend on the age of the children. The descriptive literature must lend itself to study - i.e., properly selected exercises and questions should ensure that the necessary geographical facts can be deduced and organised from it. It will be necessary, therefore, to include many pictures not as illustrations, but as study exercises, so that the descriptive text may take on greater reality. Similarly, there may be statistics and outside references which need graphing or mapping and subsequently investigating. In addition, there should be certain detailed maps not readily available in any school - e.g., a particular farm, a logging camp, a factory, a city, etc., which will require directed study.

The teacher may be able to supply other data, such as samples, specimens, films, wireless talks, but what- ever happens the teacher must use the textbook and see that stimulating exercises and questions are asked, that additional facts are supplied where necessary, and that a proper summary in note and map form is built up by each child."

Neville Scarfe

References

Scarfe, N. V. “GEOGRAPHY TEXTBOOKS FOR SCHOOLS.” Geography, vol. 27, no. 3, 1942, pp. 106–119. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40562229.

Neville Vincent Scarfe, UBCʹs first Dean of Education, was born in Essex, England in 1908. He attended the University of London graduating with first class honours in geography. After teaching geography until 1935, Scarfe became Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Education at the University of London where he remained until 1951. Internationally recognized for his research work in the teaching of geography and in the principles and philosophy of education, he became Dean of Education at the University of Manitoba in 1951 and remained there for five years. In 1956, Scarfe became the founding Dean of Education at UBC. A consolidation of the Universityʹs School of Education and the Provincial Normal School had given rise to the new Faculty of Education. He continued to guide the faculty until his retirement in 1973.