246 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [11:5— May, 1915 



noted that general science is being favored by many school officials 

 who have long stood for the minimum of science in our schools. 

 If it is aimed to eliminate the regular sciences now in American 

 high schools, there can be devised no better way than a course of 

 "general science" which skims the cream from all the sciences and 

 then serves it to the pupils as if it were the real substance of the 

 sciences. We must not forget in our enthusiasm for "general 

 science" that in spite of all the attractive superficialty of whipped 

 cream, it is the rejected skimmed milk that contains the real food 

 for growth. So it is with much of the valuable materials for 

 scientific growth which we are now throwing aside in order to get 

 the attractive cream for use in "general science." I hear some 

 one say that the cream may be better than nothing for those who 

 can not or will not take the whole milk and therefore "general 

 science" that skims all science is good for those pupils who will not 

 pass beyond the first years of high school. My answer is that the 

 cream of science principles is indigestible and therefore undesirable 

 for such pupils, and at the same time it prejudices the appetite of 

 those who might otherwise make progress in regular science studies. 

 Therefore, let us have introduction to science on a nature-study 

 basis and not as the cream of science in general. 



And now let us look at a plan for a series of lessons for introduc- 

 tion to science on the nature-study basis. 



(i) Leading problem for consideration by the pupils: How is 

 heat useful to us in everyday life ? (Answers volunteered by a sixth 

 grade class: cook our food, heat our buildings, make steam for 

 power, make plants grow, keep our bodies warm, make light in 

 lamps.) 



(2) Second problem for pupils: How do we obtain heat for 

 use? (Answers volunteered: burn fuels, heat from sun, friction 

 on car wheels and Indian fire-making, heat when water is mixed 

 with lime, from electricity in special stoves and heaters in street- 

 cars.) Demonstrated experiments concerning the production of 

 heat. 



(3) Third problem: How is heat transferred 5 Simple experi- 

 ments with wood, copper, iron, etc., as conductors. Study of 

 heating systems of houses (hot air, hot water, steam). Some 

 practical problems : Effect of hot water on thick and thin glass- 

 ware. Why does metalware taken from hot water seem so much 

 hotter than glass or crockery? Is metal best for dishes to keep 



