bigklow] RELATION OF NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE 39 



a new right-about-face has recently come in science teaching for 

 high schools. Within five years there has come a reform move- 

 ment, a new science teaching for higher schools. To be brief, 

 that reform movement philosophically and educationally con- 

 sidered is simply the nature-study point of view, the every-day 

 life point of view, adopted for high school teaching. It is the 

 nature-study attitude for which the leaders of nature-study have 

 stood for many years. 



The present situation must be obvious. High-school 

 science is tending towards adopting the nature-study point of 

 view and rejecting the scientist's point of view. Does it mean 

 that nature-study for elementary schools and high-school science 

 from the nature-study point of view are to be wasteful duplica- 

 tions in our educational system? I believe not. We must still 

 continue to draw the line along scientific organization. The 

 ideal of nature-study should be held primarily for the elementary 

 schools, that is, study of nature in these schools should not 

 deal with the larger principles of organized science, although its 

 educational organization may give scientific training and facts 

 and grouping of facts which will well lead the way to the real 

 science of the high school. I believe that the nature-study 

 point of view, the human interest point of view, the applied science 

 point of view will vastly improve our high-school science, but to 

 advocate that high-school science should be changed to nature- 

 study without the great principles of science would be taking a 

 decidedly backward step. Experience has demonstrated be- 

 yond a shadow of a doubt that high-school pupils properly 

 taught on a basis of nature-studv are able to grapple intelligently 

 and eagerly with the outlines of the great principles of our modern 

 science. If you doubt, I should like to introduce to you many 

 high-school boys and girls graduated from the schools into life's 

 work, not into college, within recent years and let you persuade 

 yourselves that even a high-school pupil may get a glimpse of the 

 meaning of great science generalizations, — for example, the 

 atomic theory, the law of conservation of energy, the theories of 

 light, heat and electricity, the biological theories of evolution — 

 all of which we must admit are ideas which should be of great 

 interest to every liberally cultured citizen. In short, we must 

 continue to have introduction to organized science, to scientific 

 generalizations, in our hign schools; and those who in theory 



