REMARKS TO INSTRUCTORS xix 



explanations or comments each student has the chart before him. As 

 we have found unlabeled mimeographed figures to be very effective 

 when given out for study and completion by the student, it is sug- 

 gested that supplementary labeling, shading, and coloring will prove 

 an effective means of enforcing thorough study of many of the figures 

 here included. 



In summary and conclusion, it may be said that we believe in the 

 "principles" course and that the introductory course in our own insti- 

 tution has developed along these lines for the past forty years. We 

 think, however, that the best way to teach principles is to let the 

 student study the single animal intensively and then extend to other 

 forms the principle recognized in the single case. Although many 

 courses in zoology begin with the cell, we think that the more effective 

 procedure is to begin with a familiar animal and thus utilize any in- 

 formation the student may already have. The vertebrates in general 

 and the frog in particular seem well suited for this purpose. The 

 insertion of the figures in these directions will, we believe, tend to 

 make the laboratory work more like real study and less mechanical. 

 There is no general formula for good teaching, although we believe in 

 the inductive method of presentation wherever possible, because this is 

 the distinctive method of science. A humanistic outlook is also desir- 

 able in one who teaches an introductory course, because for the most 

 part we are teaching future citizens of many sorts and not future 

 zoologists. An inductive approach, which tends to make the concrete 

 facts observed by the student the point of departure in any discussion, 

 a humanistic attitude toward zoology and human life, and a sense for 

 what is interesting and essential seem to us the most important ele- 

 ments of good teaching for any course in general zoology. 



