NATURE 



[April i8, 191 8 



interior after the crust had hardened. Hence 

 the resemblance to a loaf of bread, and the 

 name. We should have welcomed also a list of 

 Tempest Anderson's scientific papers as an appen- 

 dix to the book; but the numerous references in 

 the foot-notes to the text help to fill the gap. In 

 paper, printing, and general get-up the volume 

 does credit to the publisher, and as a tribute to 

 the memory of a devoted man of science and a 

 warm-hearted friend we hope that it will meet with 

 a wide circle of readers. ' J. S. F. 



SCIENCE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS.i- 



EVERY discussion of the educational policy 

 to be followed in view of the present 

 unrest lays stress on the failure of our educa- 

 tional methods and the paramount importance 

 of scientific training. There are certain persons 

 who, quite justly, point out that scientific method 

 can be pursued in all departments of knowledge, 

 and they conclude, not so justly, that on this 

 account it matters little what subjects form the 

 foundation of a liberal education ; indeed, they 

 go so far as to insist that the classical humanities 

 are a better basis of such education than the 

 technics of pure science can be, because in the 

 study of mankind the experience gained from the 

 history of the rise and fall of nations has a prac- 

 tical value which is essential to a stable social 

 system. 



There is no doubt that the educated mature 

 mind may be enabled, by observation and study 

 which follow the period of school-life, to apply the 

 method known universally as scientific method to 

 the problems which arise in every profession and 

 business; but reflection will show that the very 

 term " scientific method "denotes that such method 

 has been drawn from special study of what are 

 known as scientific subjects. It is not denied that 

 it is desirable that every man and woman should 

 acquire this method, but what is not generally 

 appreciated is that it is a quicker, an easier, and 

 a surer course to acquire the method through a 

 suflficient study, carefully laid out, of such scien- 

 tific facts as have laid the foundation and proved 

 the value of scientific method. It is by such a 

 course, begun early and carried out during the 

 whole of the school-life, that the pupil can be led 

 in his accompanying studies to apply the method 

 which is not always appreciated by his teachers 

 of those subjects. 



If this is admitted to be the case it will remain 

 to consider what sciences are essential to bring 

 about the desired result in the pupil's mind. In 

 deciding this momentous question there are many 

 possibilities that should be taken into account, 

 and the method itself insists on a survey being 

 taken of what the schools have so far found it 

 possible to do and what subjects have been found 

 to appeal most strongly to the immature mind. 



1 British Asfiociation for the Advancement of Science. Report on Science' 

 Teaching in Secondary Schools. Pp.85. (London: Offices of the Associa- 

 tion, Burlington House, W.i, 1917.) Price is. net. 



Here the British Association Committee has 

 done a very useful work. The report under con- 

 sideration starts by showing that the discussion 

 is not a new one arising from the conditions into 

 which we have been led by the war. In i860 a 

 Royal Commission reported oh the nine public 

 schools for boys, and recommended that the two 

 principal branches of chemistry and physics, with 

 further courses in physiology and natural science, 

 should be taught in all schools for boys. The 

 British Association in 1866 appointed a committee 

 " to consider the best means of promoting scientific 

 education in schools," and a report was made 

 on "the experience gained at Rugby and Harrow, 

 and described the position of science-teaching at 

 Oxford and Cambridge and in French and 

 German schools." The subject claimed attention 

 again at the meetings in 1888, 1889, and 1890, 

 and the need that was felt that teachers should 

 have assistance in formulating and preparing 

 courses of lessons led to the presentation of out- 

 lines of courses in chemistry. 



Since that time a great deal has happened : 

 science-teaching has been introduced into many 

 schools both for boys and girls, not, however, as a 

 part of organised arrangements for general educa- 

 tion, but as a sort of appendix to, or in some cases 

 a substitute for, other means of education. And in 

 the absence of co-ordination for a well-thought- 

 out scheme of education the teaching of science 

 has been specialised in such a way that its influ- 

 ence as a part of general education has been lost. 

 A survey of the position of science as a part of 

 education by those who are well acquainted with 

 the subject is therefore an important contribution 

 to the problem that has now to be faced again as 

 it was in 1866. 



A very noteworthy part of the report is section iv. , 

 which deals with method in science-teaching. It 

 draws distinctions between the different aspects 

 of the teacher's appeal to the pupil under the 

 designations of the "wonder motive " or curiosity, 

 the "utility motive" or instinct of power, and 

 the " systematising motive" or the instinct of 

 reason. It lays stress upon the importance of the 

 appeal to natural curiosity and the sense of 

 power; it concludes with the following weighty 

 passage :- — 



Lastly, we must recognise that the "systematising 

 motive " is one that has long been worked in our 

 schools beyond its natural strength. Not infrequently 

 teachers of some experience exipress the doubt whether 

 boys and girls are capable of studying science before 

 the age of fifteen or sixteen. Still more often univer- 

 sity professors of science express the wish that their 

 students might come to them with minds unperverted 

 by the teaching of the schools. Whatever truth these 

 pessimistic suggestions contain is probably accounted 

 for by the failure of teachers to mould their instruction 

 in conformity with the natural development of chil- 

 dren 's minds. The young man (or woman) who 

 teaches science in schools from the point of view of 

 the university often achieves with the best intentions 

 a disastrous amount of harm. The mischief will not 

 be prevented until it is universally recognised that the 



NO. 2529, VOL. lOlj 



