We believe, therefore, that these practical applications of science to life as a child meets them in his home and surroundings are the entrance way to science. They furnish the points of contact between man and nature, especially those points of contact which are manifest to all and first attract a child's notice. . . . The teacher in the laboratory is apt to think he can grade a much simpler series of experiments in his laboratory than outside life can furnish, and this may be true. But the motive for the demonstration and its later bearing upon life are both apt to be overlooked in such pure laboratory work. When once a good problem has been raised in life, it may be well to use all the devices of the laboratory to illuminate and clear it up; but the source from which the problem came, and the final reference of the whole experiment to its life application, are the things not to be forgotten."

 

EXERCISE.—Describe the mental condition, and the situa­tion with regard to environment, of one who has reached the age of twenty, but has no scientific information. Men­tion, in particular, the dangers to which he is exposed.

 

Nature of science.—We have seen that man is in the midst of an environment composed of mighty forces which will keep him safe if he learns how to cooperate with them, but which will pitilessly destroy him if he remains heedless of them.

A little study will show us that the scientist is always doing one of two things: either he is collecting facts, observing; or he is trying to make out what his facts mean—he is thinking. In knowledge-getting, then, the two great and essential processes are observing and thinking.

 

Accordingly, all knowledge is either observed, or thought out, or both. This gives us four kinds of knowledge, thus:

 

1. Observed but not thought out, as the fact that war followed the appearance of a comet.

2. Observed and then thought out, as the growth of plants and the laws controlling it.

3. Thought out and then observed, as the prediction of an eclipse and its later observation.

4. Thought out but not observed, as the condition of the interior of the earth.

 

A figure may help to make plain these four classes, and the position occupied by science, commonly so called.
                

Showing the four classes of knowledge listed above. All to the left of the diagonal is "Observed," all to the right of it, "Thought out."

 

 

Empiricism relies almost wholly on observations which stand as unrelated fragments, not rationalized, not bound together by any law or principle. It can easily believe that wars follow comets!

 

Inductive science, geography, botany, chemistry, psy­chology, etc., keep close to the facts, but attempt to include these in generalizations, to explain them, find laws for them. Each no sooner imagines a possible law than it returns to the field of observation to see if the law works.

 

Nor is there any sharp dividing line between inductive and deductive science, for both induction and deduction are found to some extent in all sciences. The better developed a science is, the more laws it has found, the more can reason­ing run ahead of observation; and this placing of reasoning first and observing second is exactly what makes a science deductive. As soon as any science succeeds in finding a law that fitly assembles and joins a wide stretch of our jig-saw puzzle of facts, that law seems as certain as the facts themselves, a reliable source from which to infer new truths. So the law of gravity, established by a long process of induc­tion, is now the safe support on which to hang a legion of deductions. Physics, with its many old and thoroughly tested laws, is preeminently the deductive science, mathe­matics excepted.

 

Value of science to the world at large.—It is the great service of science, especially of that science called "natural" (as distinguished from mental, social, and historical science), to enable us to win in the contest with our natural environ­ment. Man must learn how to get from this natural world the wherewithal to live, to keep his fires burning, his cellars filled, his body free from disease.

 

Herbert Spencer established five grades for the value of knowledge, according to the aid it gives in (a) direct self-preservation, (2) indirect self-preservation, that is, securing the necessaries of life, (3) the rearing and discipline of off-spring, (4) the maintenance of proper social and political relations, and (5) the miscellaneous activities of leisure. It is evident that science scores heavily on every one of these points. There is scarcely an object in our environment or a moment of our day that does not remind us of its constant benefits. Take away what science has contributed, and man would begin again at the stone age.

 

The purpose of science in the schools.—Since the aim of education is the same as the aim of life, the purpose of sci­ence in the schools is the same as it is in the world at large, to teach the rules of the life-and-death game which we are all playing with our environment. Our chief aim, then, is a very practical one: to teach our pupils how to deal suc­cessfully with everyday problems that demand scientific information, how to avoid disease, take care of the body, earn a living.

 

When a city such as New York has in its public schools lectures on the care of babies, it extends the usefulness of public school science to "the rearing and discipline of off-spring," Spencer's third class of knowledge value.

 

Further, as the pupil passes on through grammar grades and high school, he learns to appreciate the method by which facts and laws are established,—he can establish some for himself. This should make him cautious as to his own statements and critical of the statements of others, not in science only, but everywhere and always; should teach him to trust, not merely what has been said over and over so often that it ought to be true, but that which can stand every test that science can bring to bear on it.

Finally, we all wish to enjoy this beautiful, wonderful world. Merely to contemplate it, to gaze upon its miracles, sometimes as fearful bulks in the dark, sometimes illumined by the spotlight of clear understanding, to throb with sym­pathy at the thought that we are eternally a part of it,—this is the joy of the disciple of nature.

 

Subject matter and method.—Subject matter here as everywhere should consist of what is most interesting and most practical, what the pupil needs and what he likes, in so far as these can be joined together.

 

One of the surest ways to hit upon the right method is to ask ourselves what kind of lesson we are trying to give, whether it is for information, thought, skill, or appreciation. Having decided this, perhaps the greatest danger lies in the fact that since methods in science work below the high school are still in an unstable state, and since the teacher is likely to have had some advanced training, he will attempt to repeat both the matter and the manner of his own learn­ing. In the information lesson, for example, where descrip­tion is often called for, it is most deadening to young enthu­siasm to be put into the strait-jacket of systematic and minute analysis as this is found in advanced textbooks. And in the lesson for thought, we should beware how we bring the definition (say that of a machine) into the class-room, and leave the thing defined outside.

 

Both subject matter and method, below the high school, are still somewhat loose and rambling. In nature study especially, there is no established course. But the general relation between the work in "the grades" and that in the high school seems likely to become the same in this branch as in others; in the elementary school the watchword is observation; in the secondary school, demonstration. In the grades everything is psychologically organized about the pupil as a center; in the high school, while we do not disre­gard the learner, we find that his developing mind demands a more closely wrought and logical organization of subject matter. He must know the why of things, must do the thinking out as well as the observing.

 

Branches of science in the elementary school.—All nat­ural science grows out of nature—is nature study more or less advanced. Out of the nature study of the primary school develop two branches, the personal and the environ­mental. The science of personal welfare is hygiene and physiology; the science of the environment is geography.

 

Nature Study:          

•   Personal science, Hygiene
•   Environmental science, Geogaphy

 

Nature study.--- The great difficulty with this subject is its bulkiness. The conscientious teacher is likely to feel that, however hard she and her class may delve, they are sure to leave a legion of valuable facts untouched,—perhaps the very ones on which most emphasis is laid in some neigh-boring school system. But we should be glad of our infinite abundance; what if we had but one season, no insects, but one kind of animal and two or three plant types! Nature has settled the question for us; there is no hope of possessing all her wealth; we can only collect a coin or two from each of her treasuries. We must study individuals and let them stand as representatives of multitudes of their kind.

 

The essential points are (1) to find something interesting, (2) which is also useful, and (3) to study it at first hand, going out to find the objects in their natural setting when-ever possible, using schoolroom or museum samples when necessary, and resorting to books for supplementary in-formation chiefly. As it is difficult to find anything really useless, the principle of interest can be given pretty free play. This is sure to result in the usual arrangement of material by seasons or months. But it ought not to be difficult for the childish interest to embrace, each season, (a) some-thing of inanimate nature, the falling snow, the summer heat, (b) representative plants, and (c) typical animals. Such a program will vary with different latitudes, environ­ments, classes, but in every case it should insure the enjoy­ment of nature; an understanding of the relations of its parts, as the office of insects in fertilizing plants; and the ability to turn the knowledge gained to practical account, as the boy scouts and campfire girls do in their various devices.

 

The child is rare who is not interested in some phase of nature. The course may well begin in the toy age, and we should endeavor to preserve its continuity into the more rigidly organized high-school science. There must be no sharp break between the two. The recognition of this fact has led us to place "elementary science," with its easy ex­periments from physics, chemistry, etc., in the upper gram-mar grades. It affords a practical, concrete introduction to the science work of the high school.

 

Hygiene and physiology.—The object of this science is the preservation of the person. Our aim is not so much to take the offensive and conquer our environment as to strengthen our defenses against the enemy, seen and unseen.

Personal hygiene "includes everything that bears upon the health of the human body. Such a scope would include the various sub-topics connected directly and indirectly with the following subjects: Bodily nourishment, including food, water, and air; the excretions; exercise; rest; the influence of abnormal conditions on health, e. g., defective vision, bad teeth, adenoids, constipation, etc.; the influence of certain habits on health, e. g., rapid eating, bad habits of vision, smoking, drug habits, sexual habits, etc.; the causes of dis­ease; the carriers of disease; our defenses against disease; and the nature of our common diseases."  From this we pass naturally to home and school sanitation, medical in­spection, community and race hygiene. The course should grade up to a scientific demonstration of these truths in the high school.

 

Of course the pupil cannot develop all this afresh, as the scientist works it out, but he can acquire a fund of informa­tion, can practice good health habits, form ideals. And we can quickly convince him that he is interested in these things if he is interested in living.

Physiology is simply auxiliary here—and psychology too, for that matter. These sciences teach us what the mind and the organs of the body do; and the only need the chil­dren have for such information is to enable them to care properly for both. This shows us at once the limited amount of physiology to be taught,—merely enough to make clear the hygiene. We should teach, too, at least a little mental hygiene, based on psychology: how to begin the day with a smile, cultivate a sense of humor, bring our joviality to the table, cast out all fear. Even children should know these things, and should crystallize their knowledge into pleasant habit.

 

The method cannot always be observational. It cannot well be so in teaching of disease germs, for example. But this method should be our ideal, and the abundance of pictures and other objective aids helps us much. Health habits, in so far as the school can, control them, must be drilled home with kindly but inflexible determination.

 

Geography.—In this science we turn from our attitude of hygienic self-defense to an aggressive examination of our environment. We study geography, because we wish to know the kind of world we live in, what it is likely to do to us, and what we can do with it. We want to be able to predict and to control its operations; to know our national neighbors, and how we, as one great human family, can make this old earth yield us all a happy living.

 

In the light of this, how insignificant become the swarms of little facts which so often clutter up our geography text-books. It is not the petty straits and bays, towns and el-bows of rivers that we need to know, but how man, the heaven-born pioneer, has made and is making a home and a career for himself on this none too hospitable planet. Our facts should all be culled with reference to this principle.

 

Here again we start with the observational method, study­ing our home geography out of doors, building up apper­ceptive centers by means of which to interpret maps and descriptions of those parts of the world we cannot visit. Ad­vanced work in geography is very largely the interpretation of such maps and descriptions, as we proceed from our little home areas to larger and larger horizons. Because the map, the model, the drawing, the photograph, and the verbal description are of such inevitable importance, the pupil must become skillful in picturing, mapping, and describing his own geographical surroundings in order that he may cor­rectly interpret such representations of unknown regions. He must not think, as children sometimes do, that New York is red, Pennsylvania green, etc., or that one crosses a visible line in passing from state to state. The applications of this science form what we may call the geographical arts, the processes by which man earns from his environment his food, clothing, fuel, shelter. Agriculture, the great food art, is receiving in our schools an ever-widening recognition.

 

The mental and social sciences.—In considering our ad­justment to environment, we must not forget that a large part of the environment of each of us, and often the most important part so far as our success is concerned, consists of other human beings. We must know ourselves, our fel­low men, and the relations between us. We must study (or at least practice) psychology, sociology, economics, ethics, and logic.

 

Of course these can have no place in the elementary school, except in the form of unorganized information and certain wholesome habits and ideals. But the high-school mind is sufficiently mature to profit by the elements of all these subjects in a lively, concrete form. Their general educational value would probably compare well with that of other high-school branches. We need more secondary school teachers who have the ability and training to present these subjects suitably for young people, and more text-books written for this specific purpose.

 

FOR FURTHER STUDY:

 

• State the psychological reasons why nature study cannot be taught from books alone.
• What value is there in allowing a child to make deduc­tions and test them? How do we train ourselves to foretell the weather?
• How would you disabuse a child of the belief that the moon controls the weather?
• If the human race had to sacrifice either its knowledge of history or of science, which could it better afford to lose? Why?
• "Science teaches us to observe carefully and record accurately." Discuss this statement from the standpoint of formal discipline.
• "We must not study frogs in the fourth grade, for we studied them last year in the third." Is this sound? Why?
• State some differences between the study of trees in high-school botany and the study of them in grade five.
• What, if anything, do you wish had been added to your early training in nature study, hygiene, or geography?
• How do you account for so much cigarette smoking by boys, when the evil effects of the habit are taught to all?
• Need the details of the circulation of blood in the heart be taught to grammar-grade pupils? Why?
• Write a brief essay on "The school garden as a nature-study center."
• Discuss the values of the following in teaching geog­raphy: magazines, moving pictures, post cards, correspond­ence with distant pupils, stereoscopes, stereopticons, lec­tures, the school museum, the sand table, the textbook, the blackboard, the copying of maps.
• Do you agree with what is said about the mental and social sciences? Why?