December 3, 1000] 



SCIENCE 



797 



It will be noted that the purpose herein 

 set forth is the one favored by most of the 

 contributors to Professor Wead's bulletin 

 just reviewed. It seems to have been the 

 prevailing idea prior to and at that time, 

 1884. As stated above, our parents tell us 

 now that they actually did get from their 

 study of physics an inquiring attitude of 

 mind, and the ability to attack and solve 

 problems. One of the correspondents in 

 Professor Wead's bulletin states that the 

 introduction of physics in his school has 

 had the effect of quadrupling the number 

 of boys that go to high school! That the 

 purpose we have been diseu.ssing is fast be- 

 coming the teaching purpose of science at 

 the present time, no one who has followed 

 closely the trend of recent educational 

 thought can seriously doubt. And if this 

 is so, a large and interesting array of 

 definite problems that can be answered 

 only by experiment presents itself. The 

 main question now is not— Has he gained 

 a comprehensive view? but— Has he ac- 

 quired a certain power? It is no longer — 

 What does he know ? but— What can he do ? 

 No longer — How much can he reproduce? 

 but— How well can he produce? 



We already have some data concerning 

 the way the present system of teaching is 

 serving this second purpose. Such data are 

 obtained by setting original problems on 

 examination or in the laboratory. And 

 here again such data as I have collected 

 have led me to the belief that none of us are 

 succeeding over well at this. Nor need we 

 expect to succeed so long as we follow 

 mainly the didactic methods that have been 

 found useful in other kinds of work. 

 Power in solving problems is acquired only 

 by solving problems under the spur of an 

 inner motive of w'onder, not by listlessly 

 listening to a description of how some one 

 else has solved them. 



AVe have here a wide and important field 



for educational research. We know com- 

 paratively little about the most efficient 

 means of developing power of solving prob- 

 lems. Mighty few of our texts treat the 

 subject with a questioning attitude or in a 

 way to develop this in the pupil. Open 

 any text at random and read the heading 

 of a new paragraph. Thus: 



In 168G Sir Isaac Newton formulated three 

 statements which embody tlie results of universal 

 observation and e.vperiment on the relations which 

 exist between force and motion. The statement of 

 the first law is, etc. A machine is a contrivance 

 for the transference of energy, or both the trans- 

 ference and transformation of energy at the same 

 time; it is therefore an instrument for doing 

 work. It is an accepted Ijeliof among men of 

 science that all space is filled with something so 

 rare and subtle that it can not be weighed or 

 indeed perceived by any of our senses, and to this 

 all-pervading medium the name of ether has been 

 given. (This last is the first sentence in the sub- 

 ject of light.) 



Surely such treatment does not tend to 

 develop power of solving problems in the- 

 pupils. But fortunately the teachers do 

 not alwaj-s follow the text: some let the 

 text follow them. When this is the case, 

 much may be done toward developing 

 power of solving problems and initiative 

 among the pupils. Yet such cases are the 

 exception rather than the rule. Each of us 

 can, however, find out how to do it if only 

 he will recognize the fact that his daily 

 task is a daily problem, requiring study 

 and experiment for its solution, and then 

 attack that problem resolutely and continue 

 experimenting and carefully testing results 

 until they are satisfactory. 



In order to summarize the distinction I 

 have been trying to make in the la.st few 

 pages, let me again quote from Professor 

 Wead's bulletin: 



If the thing to be aimed at is to make them 

 pass a good examination as soon as the subject 

 is read, the best means will be to put a text-book 

 into the hands of every one, and require certain 

 parts of it to be learned, and to illustrate them 



