SCIENCE IN THE SCHOOL 



A Review 



The Teaching of General Science 

 by W. L. Eikenberry, Associate Pro- 

 fessor of General Science, University 

 of Kansas. The University of Chicago 

 Press, xiii+169 pp. 1922. Price $2.00 

 net. 



x\s new subjects, particularly new- 

 sciences, develop there is a tendency 

 to incorporate them in some form in 

 secondary school curricula, either on 

 the plea that since many of the stu- 

 dents go no further this will be their 

 only chance for an acquaintance with 

 these subjects, or on the theory that being 

 introductory these courses will stimulate 

 a desire for further knowledge in the 

 same fields. Courses in special sciences 

 have however, been severely criticized 

 on one ground or another, and in re- 

 cent years there has been a tendency 

 to bring in courses of a more general 

 nature. Thus a few years ago Nature 

 Study, so-called, was all the vogue, 

 and more recently this has been evolved 

 into what is currently called General 

 Science. Professor Eikenberry 's book 

 is a critical consideration of science 

 teaching and its objectives and an 

 exposition of the methods of general 

 science. General Science, as he visions 

 it, has a difificult road to follow, being 

 liable on the one hand to become 

 merely an elementary treatment of 

 one or two general sciences and on the 

 other of being simply a smattering of 

 a lot of things from several sciences, 

 without a definite goal and carrying 

 the danger of dulling the student's 

 desire for pursuing the subjects 

 further. The solution is believed to 

 lie in the organization of the General 



Science course around things which 

 l>ertain to the student's everyday life 

 and interests. "General Science is 

 built up largely with materials which 

 have interest because of utilitarian and 

 socializing values." It seeks to supply 

 a common foundation. "It assumes 

 that it is not possible to rise into the 

 higher intellectual levels during the 

 first year, and it therefore contents 

 itself with attempting to organize the 

 immediate and familiar environment of 

 the, pupil in as useful fashion as pos- 

 sible. It may go farther and indicate 

 in which directions the principal fields 

 of science lie, but it leaves for later 

 science study the more philosophical 

 organization of those fields." 



While heredity and eugenics are not 

 si^ecifically discussed as material for a 

 course in general science, it would seem 

 that they both, and particularly cer- 

 tain phases of eugenics, offer subject 

 matter of intimate and vital interest 

 to the pupil and with distinctive social- 

 civic value. On the other hand, an 

 attempt to teach to high school stu- 

 dents the complicated principles and 

 relationships of Mendelism would, in 

 the opinion of the reviewer, be a great 

 mistake, and this view would seem to 

 be shared by the author (p. 61.). 



One is inclined to conclude that in 

 its present development at any rate, 

 perhaps even more than in one of the 

 old well-established special sciences, 

 the real value and success of a course 

 in General Science will depend on the 

 broad training, sympathy and ability 

 of the teacher. 



L. /. C. 



304 



