2C>6 Introduction. [14 



systematized bodies of fact and doctrine," it makes very 

 little difference from which of the sciences the topics are 

 taken. The experiments of each lesson are arranged in 

 logical order, so that the children may acquire the habit 

 of connecting facts to see what they teach. For the 

 same reason several lessons are connected into a series, 

 but no attempt is made to survey the whole field of any 

 one science with pupils of primary and grammar grades. 

 Topics for experimental lessons should be chosen with 

 reference to the special aptitude of the teacher, or the 

 locality, or time of year, or general convenience. It is 

 quite indifferent what the subject matter is it is all- 

 important how it is presented. Hence it is neither feasible 

 nor desirable to make a course of study in elementary 

 science to be executed in different schools and by different 

 teachers. 



A more systematic study of natural science is begun in 

 the high school. Yet here it is not found to be practica- 

 ble to sweep a very extensive field. Much more might 

 be done if all the pupils in the high school had been 

 through the training in natural science which is given in 

 the lower grades, but a large number of the high school 

 pupils of course are newly received, who have no training 

 for high school science. The problem, how to deal with 

 them, is very much like that which a teacher of English 

 literature would have to encounter who found in the class 

 pupils who could not read. Teaching science by the 

 experimental method forbids covering so much of the 

 subject as is mapped out in the usual high school course. 



However much it might seem to be desirable to take 

 the pupils out of doors to study Nature, it is not found to 

 be practicable and so, by means of experiments, Nature 

 is brought to them. For the most part, topics are chosen 

 from those subjects which furnish the best opportunities 

 for experiments. The experiments are made to stimulate 

 the pupil, as much as possible, to study natural phenomena. 



