156 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



I have given a good deal of time to the study of the develop- 

 ment of botanical teaching in Chicago, because it seems to be 

 typical of the trend in all the pure sciences. It will therefore 

 not be necessary to give much time to a consideration of the 

 other sciences. Zoology has experienced like changes in method 

 indicated by the use of the insects as an introductory study and 

 by the dropping of the echinoderms from the course. This last 

 was not done without a struggle, for the impulse to take up the 

 groups one after another, omitting none, is very strongly rooted 

 in the minds of zoology teachers. 



In physics there is consistent effort to make application of the 

 laws and principles of the science to problems of everyday life. 

 In chemistry, analysis of food adulterants and other articles used 

 in the home give the needed relation of the subject to the pupil's 

 experience. 



It would not do to assume that conditions in Chicago neces- 

 sarily resemble those in other places. I, therefore, undertook 

 an investigation to ascertain how the pure sciences are being 

 taught in various other parts of the country. Manifestly, this 

 could not be done by examination of courses of study, and so I 

 prepared a brief questionaire which I sent to representative 

 schools in Illinois and other States of the middle West, and a 

 few to the extreme West. The returns were fairly satisfactory, 

 considering that it required the combined reports of teachers of 

 four departments. 



For botany and zoology the following questions were asked : 



1. State in order as given by you the topics and groups of plants 

 (animals) taken up during the year and the time allowed for each. 



2. Upon what do you place most emphasis? 3. What, and how- 

 much, outdoor work do you do with your classes? For physics 

 and chemistry there were two questions: i. State in order as 

 given by you the topics taken up during the year. 2. Do you do 

 any so-called "practical work" with your classes? If so, what? 



A tabular resume of the reports on these courses of study has 

 been prepared and is appended to this paper. While the number 

 of reports is not great, the schools included in the report repre- 

 sent a wide variety and are representative schools, so that it is 

 probably safe to assume that their courses represent the prevailing 

 tendencies. Wide variations are shown, especially in botany, but 

 on the whole certain things stand out clearly, marking what we 

 may call the attempt to relate the teaching of the sciences to the 

 experience of the pupil. 



