SCIENCE 



NEW YORK. APRIL U, 1893. 



PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 



BY CHARLES F. MABEEY, PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE CASE 

 SOHOOI, OF APPLIED SCIENCE, CLEVELAND, OHIO. 



In vieiv of the fundamental changes in methods of education 

 within the last twenty-five years in testing experimentally the 

 educational value of subjects which formerly were not recognized 

 as a part of liberal training, it is to be expected that the secondary 

 schools should await the results of such trials in the higher insti- 

 tutions. The time and energy devoted to the comparative efficiency 

 of different methods or the comparative value of different sub- 

 jects in these schools should be extremely limited. They can 

 afford no loss of time in uncertain paths. It is more reasonable 

 and economical to leave all teaching in experimental methods to 

 the mature judgment and experience of educators who have de- 

 voted their lives to this subject, and who have at their command 

 the ample resources of the college or the university, with no con- 

 straints in the employment of their best judgment, such as una- 

 voidably exist in the common schools. 



With little thought it might seem that the teaching in the 

 common schools, with aims and methods widely divergent from 

 those in the higher grades, can be critically studied only by those 

 who have them in charge. Upon close examination, however, it 

 is evident that this difference is only one of degree, and experi- 

 ence has shown cleirly that the best suggestions for elementary 

 training come from persons engaged m higher teaching, or from 

 persons who are able to adapt methods of higher teaching to the 

 wants of younger pupils. Indeed, the methods universally ac- 

 cepted as the most worthy are the results of study and investiga- 

 tion in the fields of advanced knowledge. 



Nevertheless, with the best methods and all the wisdom and 

 judgment of generations of experienced educators, any system of 

 education may fail utterly if it is not supported by teachers who 

 have an enthusiastic interest in imparting knowledge. Without 

 the personality of such a teacher, one subject as well as another 

 may fall into a tedious, uninteresting routine Even in labora- 

 tory training, in which it is not difficult to maintain a lively in- 

 terest, the teaching may easily take a form which fails to accom- 

 plish the especial objects for which it is intended. The study of 

 natural phenomena under skilful guidance results in the produc- 

 tion of self-reliant students. 



In the domain of natural and physical science, instruction may 

 now be considered as having passed the experimental stage, npt 

 only in the higher grades, but in the common schools, and the 

 educational value of such instruction is recognized as a part of 

 liberal education. Aside from tbe practical information, which 

 is a part of general knowledge, the characteristic benefits of sci- 

 entific training appear in the thorough discipline in methodical 

 habits of study and an intelligent use of the perceptions. If 

 these are the results of the study of science in the higher grades, 

 why may not the same methods, simplified and properly applied, 

 form a part of the me ins for the development of younger pupils? 

 When we consider the great breadth of the field of knowledge 

 and the limited span of the average human life to compass it, it 

 seems a very short intellectual step from the development in tbe 

 mind of the child to the more mature condition of the youthful 

 intellect as it passes through the various stages of collegiate 

 training. 



In most high schools attempts are now made to teach physics 

 and chemistry, but under very adverse circumstances. There 

 are certain difficulties to be overcome in the proper development 

 of such teaching, but they should not be looked upon too seri- 



ously. The earlier condition, in which Latin and Greek were 

 selected as soon as the student had covered the ground of the 

 elementary English branches, is, happily, adjusting itself on a 

 reasonable basis. Perhaps it is of more importance that the 

 wide range of subjects included in the average high-school course 

 must result in a slight and superficial knowledge of many things 

 rather than a thorough training with reference to correct habits 

 of thought and study in any direction. Probably the more serious 

 hindrance to laboratory teaching in chemistry and physics to 

 classes of any magnitude is the expense of the necessary ap- 

 pliances and a lack of knowledge of a proper and economical 

 expenditure of time and energy. 



The utility of physical science properly taught as a means of 

 mental culture and discipline ha? been fully demonstrated in the 

 rigorous tests it has withstood in tlie severe criticism of modern 

 educational methods. The particular value of such teaching is 

 manifest in the opportunities it affords for accurate observation, 

 exercise in methods of inductive reasoning, and practice in record- 

 ing the impressions in the form of notes. The most satisfactory 

 as well as the most convenient method of imparting knowledge 

 of the principles of physical science to classes is by lecture-table 

 demonstration. Text-books may be used as an aid, but the per- 

 sonality of the instructor behind illustrative experiments is the 

 most direct, and in fact the only method whereby an eager in- 

 terest can be aroused in the pupil. Lecture-table demonstration 

 and laboratory practice under the immediate oversight of an in- 

 telligent instructor should proceed hand in hand. 



There is still another view, which, it seems to me, is worthy 

 of consideration. Probably no one will deny that practical 

 knowledge should be imparted whenever it is consistent witb 

 proper mental discipline. Certainly there are important reasons 

 for including as much practical information as possible in any 

 high-school course. Most of the young men who graduate en- 

 gage in business, and a comparatively small number of the young 

 women continue their studies beyond the high school. Any 

 young man in business has a constant use for knowledge of the 

 chemical composition of substances, their physical and chemioa! 

 properties, and their uses. Much of such information' may easily 

 be included in elementary courses of instruction. Every young 

 woman should understand the principles of ventilation, of sani- 

 tary appliances, the applications of weights and measures in the 

 household, and the ordinary chemical changes which are the 

 basis of the preparation of foods, as well as the influence of tem- 

 perature upon such changes. The ordinary chemical changes in 

 bread-making, in fermentation, in decay, and similar operations 

 should be common knowledge; yet there are, doubtless, very few 

 of the young lady graduates of the high schools who possess a 

 correct knowledge of this subject. 



I am well aware of the apparent difficulties in the way of de- 

 veloping laboratory instruction, and I shall venture to propose 

 methods which may be readily applied in any high school. If it 

 is granted that the results of suitable instruction in elementary 

 physical science are worthy of the effort, these difficulties are 

 limited to two directions, and they may be easily overcome. 

 Perhaps the most serious obstacle is the expense of equipment 

 and maintenance of laboratory practice. In a room 40 ' by 30' 

 forty-eight desks may be arranged with ample accommodations 

 for ninety-six students working in two divisions, or for one hun- 

 dred and forty-four students working in three divisions, with 

 separate drawers and lockers for the apparatus of each division, 

 and with all necessary hood-space and sinks. The cost of the 

 arrar>gement of such a laboratory, including all gas-fitting and 

 plumbing, and all reagent bottles, in fact fully equipped, except 

 with apparatus for individual students, should be less than $1,500. 

 The cost of apparatus needed by each student should not exceed 



