SYMPOSIUM ON SCIENCE AND RECONSTRUCTION 73 



criticisms of the different sciences, and the different ways 

 of teaching science, which he hears uttered by science edu- 

 cators. There is nothing that we have ever done or pro- 

 posed to do that has not been scathingly criticised by some 

 members of our own group. 



As a matter of fact, I am convinced that the results ac- 

 complished by the teaching of science in the secondary 

 schools during the past fifteen years, have been quite as 

 satisfactory and valuable as have been those accomplished 

 by the teaching of any other high school subject, but we 

 have been losing ground while some of the others have been 

 gaining, and I believe that this is largely because of the 

 strife and conflict within our own camp. Some other sub- 

 jects like Algebra and Ehetoric have during part of this 

 period, gained ground, probably more because their friends 

 have been at peace among themselves than because of 

 actual merit of the subjects. Doubtless this unrest and 

 agitation among us is an evidence of life and growth, and 

 we may profit by it in the end, but I believe that we might 

 at least try to see to it that the criticisms we utter are 

 just. 



I now come to the new thing that I have to report, and 

 it is that this last conflict which was aroused by 

 general science and the project method, is suddenly over. 

 Essentially the same treaty of peace was drafted independ- 

 ently, and unanimously adopted, both at a joint meeting 

 of the science sections of the Illinois High School Confer- 

 ence, and at a meeting of the Central Association of Science 

 and Mathematics Teachers, last November. 



The first number on the program of the joint science 

 session of the High School Conference meeting, was a very 

 excellent paper by Dr. J. A. Stevenson of the University 

 of niinois, on "The Project in Science Teaching." Dr. 

 Stevenson made perfectly clear to us what a real project 

 is, and he summed it up in the following definition: "A 

 project is a problematic act carried over to completion in 

 its natural setting." For example, one may teach by 

 ordinary class-room and laboratory methods, the life his- 

 tory, the breeding habits, the disease spreading propensi- 

 ties, and the common methods of destruction of the house 

 fly. This is not a project, but a project may be made out 

 of these same materials, by attempting a fly eradication 



