260 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC, 



Animal Biology in the School Curriculum.— i^e^jorf of Committee 



(Prof. R. D. Laurie, Chairman and Secretary ; Mr. H. W. Ballance, 



Dr. Kathleen E. Carpenter, Prof. W. J. Dakin, Mr. 0. H. Latter, 



Prof. E. W. MacBride, Miss M. McNicoL, Miss A. J. Prothero and 



Prof. W. M. Tattersall) appointed to consider and report upon the 



position of Animal Biology in the School Curriculum and matters related 



thereto. 



The Committee reports that it is continuing its investigations on the lines of the 



scheme adopted in its Report to the Glasgow Meeting in 1928. It proposes to present 



at some future date a report covering a series of years from 1929 onwards, but desires 



to put certain matters on record now. 



1 . The general demand for, and interest in, Biology as a subject of educational value 

 continues to grow. The matter is engaging the attention of the Board of Education. 

 A Committee of the Economic Advisory Council has been appointed ' to consider the 

 obstacles which stand in the way of the education and supply of biologists for work 

 in this country and overseas, and to submit recommendations for the removal of such 

 obstacles.' The Association of British Zoologists has published a Report of its Sub- 

 committee on the Teaching of Biology in Schools, adopted January 11, 1930, in which 

 it holds that it is essential to insist that the education of every school chUd of either 

 sex ' should include a course of general biology lasting for at least two years ' ; it 

 suggests that the series of animal forms studied should include Amoeba, Hydra, 

 Earthworm, an Insect, and Frog, and adds that ' the list of animals is not to be 

 regarded as a mere series of types, but as material exemplifying the problems of life.' 

 The British Social Hygiene Council is pressing for the teaching of Biology in the 

 Schools and has made representations to the Board of Education to that effect. In 

 the Council's Twelfth Annual Report, 1927, it is demanded that ' greater attention 

 should be given to the biological sciences in educational systems ' as being ' in fact, 

 a fundamental necessity to any real improvement in the general standard of personal 

 and public health.' Biology is taking an increasingly prominent place in the activities 

 of Summer Schools. Overseas also the movement is gaining strength. A strong 

 movement is on foot, organised by the British Social Hygiene Council and backed by 

 an Advisory Committee of the Colonial Office towards the introduction of Biology 

 as an important part of the educational system of India and of the Crown Colonies. 

 The position in the South African Schools was given some attention at the meeting 

 of the British Association in South Africa last year, and Prof. H. B. Fantham's 

 publications in the South African Journal of Science call for attention. The following 

 publications of value to educationists interested in the school teaching of Biology are 

 additional to those given in the 1928 Report : — 



Association of Assistant Masters in Secondary Schools. Report on the Conditions 



of Science Teaching in Oxfordshire. Compiled by a Committee of the Oxford- 

 shire branch of the Incorporated Association of Assistant Masters in Secondary 



Schools, 1929. 

 Association of British Zoologists. Report of a Sub -committee on the Teaching of 



Biology in Schools. Adopted by the Association, January 11, 1930. Obtainable 



from Prof. Frank BaKour- Browne, Hon. Secretary of the Association of British 



Zoologists, Winscombe Court, Winscombe, Somerset. 

 British Association for the Advancement of Science. Report on Animal Biology 



in the School Curriculum. Bound in Rept. Brit. Ass. for 1928. London, 1929. 



Obtainable also separately as Reprint No. 24, from the Office of the Association, 



Burlington House, London, W. 1. 

 British Association for the Advancement of Science. Report on Science in School 



Certificate Examinations. Bound in Rept. Brit. Ass. for 1928. London, 1929. 



Obtainable also separately as Reprint No. 23, from the Office of the Association, 



Burlington House, London, W. 1. 

 Fantham, H. B. The Teaching of Biology in High Schools. South African Journal 



of Science, vol. xxvi, Johannesburg, December, 1929. 

 Pinsent, A. The Teaching of Science and the Training of Science Teachers. Forum 



of Education, vol. vi. No. 3. November, 1928. 

 Rasmussen, Vilhelm. Nature Study in the School. Gyldendal, Copenhagen ; 



Brentano's Ltd., 31 Gower Street, London, W.C. 1. Reprinted 1929. First 



published in Denmark in 1909. (A pioneer book dealing with Nature Study 



Method.) 



