Journal of Applied Microscopy 



and 



Laboratory Methods 



1 TR?i^^^ 



Volume VI. JUNE, 1903. ' \^. \oRK Number 6. 



GARDEN 



In High School Biological Work, 



What May be Regarded as Settled by the Discussions and Practice 

 of the Last Quarter Century? 



In the first place, we are all agreed that the very first requisite for successful 

 biological work in the high school is the thoroughly trained teacher. This has 

 been insisted on in season and out of season. Everybody admits it, but the fact 

 remains that many schools in the state are attempting work of this kind with 

 poorly prepared teachers. The remedy is to teach a less number of sciences in 

 the smaller schools, say one physical and one biological science, and then pay a 

 salary that will command the right kind of a teacher. 



In the second place, it is a settled thing that biological instruction must be 

 carried on largely, or even mainly, by laboratory methods. It is not long since 

 prominent educators held very different views of this. It was thought that the 

 biological sciences should be taught in great part as " information studies," and 

 with reference to their supposed aesthetic or ethical value. Such a view is hardly 

 held to-day by any scientific teacher. Those who have had really scientific 

 training know how different this form of discipline is from that of other subjects 

 in the curriculum, and they value the subject first of all for the peculiar disci- 

 pline that it affords, a discipline not to be secured apart from laboratory instruction. 



We are pretty well settled at last as to what ground ought to be covered in 

 a high school course extending through a year. Whether botany or zoology is 

 selected is of little consequence ; in either subject it is agreed that morphology, 

 physiology, and ecology should be presented so that in each of these divisions 

 of the subject the student will at least be able to grasp the fundamental princi- 

 ples. That it is perfectly practicable to accomplish this is demonstrated by 

 what is actually done at the present time in various high schools in the state. 

 Those who believe that this is impossible would do well to visit some of these 

 high school laboratories and see what is going on there. I wish I might add 

 that our high school courses in biology are making provision for that " speaking 

 acquaintance " with living things in their natural environment that is becoming 



Note. — These papers were presented to the Michigan Academy of Science, and are in- 

 tended for the use of teachers of the biological sciences in Michigan only. They are to be 

 incorporated in a pamphlet for the use of Michigan teachers, which is to be issued under the 

 auspices of the Michigan Academy of Science. The matter is printed here, with the hope that 

 it may be of use to teachers working outside of Michigan. — Ed. 



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