144 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 970 



FEACTICAL WOMK IN SCIENCE TEACHING 

 Most of us, and particularly ttose who are 

 interested in teaching some one special branch 

 of learning', are likely to forget that the great 

 aim of all educational processes is to uplift 

 and benefit humanity; and are likely to hold 

 an exaggerated opinion of the value of our 

 special branch in the general scheme of educa- 

 tion. This view is perhaps natural and justi- 

 fiable, since without it enthusiasm could not 

 exist and teaching would lose much of its 

 pleasure. The breaking away from the older 

 forms of stereotyped abstract forms of educa- 

 tion where a somewhat narrow point of view 

 was so long held came in response to a de- 

 mand that men be free to study all forms of 

 natural phenomena living or lifeless and to 

 draw therefrom spiritual inspiration or bodily 

 sustenance as might be available. This move- 

 ment was greatly aided and hastened by the 

 fact that the conclusions drawn from the 

 study of natural phenomena were of direct use 

 in industry. They were to a large extent, and 

 are still, the result of industrial demands and 

 in so far as they answer these demands they 

 have been of tremendous assistance in af- 

 fording better support to human life, which 

 after all is the great central problem. In 

 later years this movement has been further 

 strengthened by the discovery that the study 

 of natural phenomena led to a certain form 

 of mental training that afforded a powerful 

 means of attacking abstract problems. The 

 term " scientific method " has come to mean 

 a somewhat definite way of approaching the 

 solution of all problems as opposed to older 

 and so-called empirical methods. And at the 

 same time it has appeared that this same 

 study of things mundane, if properly con- 

 ducted, actually bestowed upon the student 

 thereof a 'certain amount of general or liberal 

 training, greater perhaps than the adherents 

 of the old school would admit, and less per- 

 haps than the more ardent advocates of the 

 new methods usually claim. 



From time to time we are warned by educa- 

 tional reformers that education to be effective 

 must be kept close to the ground, and must 

 draw its inspiration from the life of the com- 



munity it tries to serve. Education is life 

 and not merely preparation for life, and all 

 forms of educational effort that ultimately 

 survive will be those that in some way throw 

 light on the current problems of existence. 

 That this is so can not be doubted by any one 

 that has noted the changed point of view of 

 many of the older forms of educational effort. 

 History is no longer a mere chronological 

 record of kings and battles, but is rapidly 

 being vitalized into a lesson for the future by 

 analyzing the records of the past; and the 

 classics themselves will not reach their highest 

 development and usefulness till they are inter- 

 preted by their sponsors, not as the dry and 

 dusty records of past ages, but as vital lessons 

 in the mainsprings of human thought and 

 action. In no document that I know of has 

 this point of view been so clearly and con- 

 cisely expressed as in the Morrill act, the 

 foundation of our state colleges of agriculture 

 and the mechanic arts, which states that " the 

 leading object of these colleges shall be, with- 

 out excluding other scientific and classical 

 studies and including military tactics, to teach 

 such branches of learning as are related to 

 agriculture and the mechanic arts in such 

 manner as the legislatures of the states may 

 respectively prescribe in order to promote the 

 liberal and practical education of the indus- 

 trial classes in the several pursuits and pro- 

 fessions of life." Truly this document may 

 well be called our declaration of educational 

 independence and is worthy of the careful 

 perusal of every teacher. 



In the general truth and expediency of these 

 principles most of us are fully agreed. In 

 fact in these days when industry is the idol, 

 not only of our own, but of all other progres- 

 sive nations, they hardly admit of argument. 

 The teaching of so-called practical courses 

 holds an assured place. But apparently the 

 influence of heredity runs strong in our veins, 

 and no sooner do we lift the study of a prac- 

 tical subject from the realm of empiricism to 

 a scientific basis, than we begin to codify, 

 classify and tabulate its scientific basis, math- 

 ematically, chemically and physically. This 

 is a natural and correct thing to do, as it is 



