Journal of Applied Microscopy 



and 



Laboratory Methods 



Volume VI. MAY, 1903, Number 5. 



Laboratory Work in Zoology in the DeWitt Clinton 

 High School, New York City. 



I have been asked to write concerning laboratory work in zoology in the 

 DeWitt Clinton High School. I can do this only with the understanding 

 that I am describing the work that has been done, and not the work 

 which it may be necessary to do to meet the requirements of the new 

 syllabus recently published in the Journal of Applied Microscopy. With 

 a half year of zoology in a one year's course in biology, and part of that half 

 year required for human physiology, there will be difficulty enough; but with 

 zoology sometimes in the fall when insects are plentiful, and sometimes in the 

 spring when there are none to begin with, one must believe that teaching the 

 subject " under the best conditions obtainable," as the syllabus has it, will indeed 

 be a matter for serious thought. 



It has been shown by workers in the field of high school biology that good 

 courses can be made up in a variety of ways. Pupils can be interested in a 

 course on the crayfish alone ; their attention can be held by the presentation of 

 all the principal types, and it can be done with the types presented in any order 

 whatever. The success of an elementary course in zoology depends largely 

 upon the teacher, and upon the element of organization in the course. I mean 

 by organization the careful allotment of time to each topic, the definite order of 

 presentation of the important facts and their presentation in away that will lead 

 to comprehension. All this may be attended to and never a thought given to 

 whether there is a best content of a course, or a best order of topics to be pre- 

 sented. 



It may be that before we have come to some understanding on the question of 

 the best content and the best order of topics of a course in zoology, the elementary 

 teaching of the subject will have taken the final step on its way downward from 

 the college into the elementary school. I believe that such a step is inevitable. 

 President Eliot has recently called attention to the fact that at present we com- 

 pel the pupil to wait till he is at least fourteen years of age before we give him 

 an intelligent glimpse at the world with which he has long been in sympathy. 



(2301) 



