496 SISTER M. OLIVIA 



matical technique requiring presentation of new mathematical 

 processes for correlation of experimental data. 



The first two years of high school science complete the 

 natural history begun in the elementary grades. By this time, 

 however, order has become an essential characteristic of science 

 and its teaching. The subject matter, indeed, is basically that 

 of the conventional general science and biology courses, but it 

 has taken on a " new look " as a result of a radical relocation 

 of topics. The freshman course, Man in His World, makes use 

 of the natural concern of teenagers with self to stress the pivotal 

 position of man and to study all other biological and physical 

 phenomena in terms of their relationship to man. A systematic 

 review of man's systems begins with the skeletal system, which 

 provides man with his unique physical position among the 

 animals, and ends with a consideration of his intellectual 

 powers, placing him at the peak of material creation. General 

 science topics are correlated with each of these systems. 



The general organization of the science courses in high school 

 is determined by our specific objectives for secondary science 

 linked with the fundamental principles of pedagogy. Learning 

 must begin with that which is best known. Consequently, the 

 student should begin with himself as a whole being, and then 

 proceed to the less known, the microscopic cells of which he is 

 composed. Many high-school biology courses begin with cell 

 theory, and go on to the study of systems. The Saint Xavier 

 Plan, in which logical order rather than evolutionary theory 

 is the criterion, reverses this order. Within each system a 

 general consideration precedes a study of the particular organs. 

 This is in accord with the philosophical principle of good peda- 

 gogy: from general knowledge to particular. 



Each step forward must be intelligible to the student. Con- 

 sequently, the student under the guidance of the teacher con- 

 tinuously seeks causal relationships that illuminate the rele- 

 vance of each factor. Thus, in addition to learning facts, the 

 student also develops his power of analysis as he proceeds from 

 study to study. In studying the muscular system, the student 



