Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
MODEL OF D. C.. WATER SYSTEM
IN ELABORATE SCHOOL EXHIBIT
Clay, Plaster, Bits of Wire, Spools, Paper
Pins and Cord Used by 15-Year-
Old Colored Pupils.

knowledge that once was little more
than so many problems to be deduced
from the printed pages of text books
and committed painstakingly to memory
by pupils who for the life of them could
see no reason for the uninteresting
labors the study presented to them, to-
day may be living, breathing world OF
fascination for the boys and girls who
apply that knowledge to their every
march by them. This has been proven
by experiments at the Cardozo and the
old Bell Schools of divisions 1913,
where the 1S28-29 school year is being
closed this week with an interesting
exhibition wrought by fascinated ele-
mentary school boys and girls
In those two school buildings are be-
ing shown Startingly accurate models,
fashioned from clay, plaster, bits of wire,
spoolS, paper, pins and cord, by which
the six to 15-year-old colored pupils
are illustrating principles of science,
commerce and the arts which previously
had been among the dry labors OF
the text books.
There La q complete model. for in
stance, of the District OF Columbia s
water supply system and a little bow.
scarcely tall enough to enjoy a per-
spective of the work, will explain to
the visitor how the Potomac River
water is scooped up and impounded in
this dam" conveyed in these con-
duits" to this reservoir" from which
it Is led to "these" various pieces of
the systems equipment for purifica-
ton. AS the boy talks he indicates
the hand-fashioned scale models OF the
dam, the conduit, the reservoir and the
other paraphernalia.
Expla Dtion Is Understood.
He knows what he is talking about
and his visitor understands IBIS ex-
phantom. The boy is one of the entire
class which visited the actual equipment
which the plaster model represents. He
has seen the text book principles ap-
piled TO an item Of his own life--the
water that flows from the spigot in
his home. And so he and his class
mates understand gravity, pressures.
waterfalls and bacteria elimination in a
fashion and with a thoroughness no
mere book ever before presented.
And so 1t Is with the other scientific
principles he has studied. He, this
representa- tive student, knows the mean
ing of wind pressure because he has
built wind vanes and gauges in his class
| room. He knows the practical Signif1-
canoe of atmospheric pressures because
he has helped construct barometers and
he'll explain the Instruments use by
illustrating his ideas with that one
over against the wall in his classroom.
The care OF the young animals by
| their mothers; the rearing of those
young and their development is under
stood because in a cage over in q corner
| OF his room he has watched a mother
guinea pig and her babes almost from
their young's birth. The pupils food
supply Is not the mystery 1t might be.
for they have watched the termination
Of seeds under glass In their classrooms
and then, applying that knowledge and
its principles, they have planted real
vegetable gardens in the tiny spare
| plots of ground about their building.
They have q real aviary in the class
and they watch the bees form the tiny
wax cells which they then proceed to
NIL with honey.
As An Experiment.
And so it goes in every field OF
| science. This demonstration, carried
| on In the Cardozo and the Bell schools
under direction Of the classroom teach
ers themselves, was an experiment
assigned by Il. A. Clark, assistant super
intendent of schools.
The work was promoted by J. p.
Gillem, principal of both schools under
J the general guidance of p. j. Rayford,
director in elementary science The
course, outlined by Mr.. Rayford, is
| planned to increase In scope and COM
pleteneSs from the first grade, where
only the simplest work Is undertaken,
on through the sixth grades from which