Literature from which helpfulsuggestions were received during the courseof this work.

First year,Geography or GeologyAims of science and its human values.ChemistryElectivesSecond year,Zoology,Physics,ElectivesThird year,Zoology—advanced coursesBotany,PhysiologyElectivesFourth year,Zoology—advanced coursesBacteriology, and Public HealthElectivesFifth year,Zoology—researchHistory of ScienceTeachers' Course, correlated with and supplementary to practice teaching.Electives

First year,Geography or GeologyAims of science and its human values.ChemistryElectivesSecond year,Zoology,Physics,ElectivesThird year,Zoology—advanced coursesBotany,PhysiologyElectivesFourth year,Zoology—advanced coursesBacteriology, and Public HealthElectivesFifth year,Zoology—researchHistory of ScienceTeachers' Course, correlated with and supplementary to practice teaching.Electives

The reasons for selection and sequence of subjects in this schedule are fairly evident from what has gone before, but a few points will bear additional explanation.

A course in the aims and values of science should be introductory, for in the absence of general knowledge concerning values, such as has grown up with other professions, the student must be given early in his work an enthusiasm for it and a sort of guide for future choice of subjects for study. The difference in aim between university and secondary school science must be clearly understood at the start. Too often, university courses accept science as an end in itself and it is taught from that point of view, whereas the prospective teacher must hold to his point of view, that to humanity generally science is only a very effective means to an end; it is just a faithful servant.

The schedule just submitted may seem to be overbalanced with science courses, but it must be somewhat so, especially if courses are not to be completely reorganized. Science would not need to consume quite so large a part of the time if special courses were given for teachers—another argument for a high grade, strictly professional course.

Duplication of teachers' courses in special methods would be eliminated for a single course for all of the departments of biological science would be sufficient. Biology is the hub, and not the separate biological sciences, in the courses in this field in the secondary schools. The methods concerned arebiologicalmethods,and therefore a single course for all prospective teachers of biological science regardless of the nature of their major work, is a logical procedure. Whether such a course is a success or a failure is largely dependent on the professor in charge. In the past there have been many failures, mainly because the person conducting it has never had secondary school experience, knows little or nothing of the problems, and has no sincere enthusiasm for the teaching of science to boys and girls below the university age.

The course suggested would cover an entire year. At least that much time is required to give any direction or instruction that is worth while. The first half of the year might well be devoted to a digestion and correlation of all previous work, organizing it into a form easily useable in the work to follow. Questions of method, recitation, laboratory and field work, textbooks and reference books purchase and use of equipment, must be given consideration in some part of the course. An outline course, with the separate lessons that make it up should be worked out in detail, for some particular locality, preferably the one where practice teaching is to be done. This should then be carefully tested by the criteria of a good biology course, as pointed out by the best authorities, and bycommonsense. But why make this skeleton outline beforehand? Why be prepared in anything? It will be too late to prepare at the moment the problem has to be met. Few new teachers will find a well planned course awaiting their arrival in a new field, and without previous experience a new teacher is likely to build up a course without due respect to relative values which comes only with a perspective of a course in its entirety. To illustrate, in the course given by an inexperienced teacher there is too much chance ofsix weeks time being spent on the study of the grasshopper, with only four weeks left at the end of the school year to be devoted to the biology of the human. The mapping of a course, by way of practice, gives the prospective teacher practice in the exercise of judgment, with helpful constructive criticism.

Practice teaching now becomes only the trying out of the course and accompanying methods. As, one practice teacher remarked when this plan was suggested "But, I might have to make my course all over." Such would often be the case. Any wide-awake teacher will change his course more or less from year to year. Even if the first plan were entirely discarded the energy and thought prompted by its making would not be lost. And now let us change the name given to those in charge of practice teachers. Advisor would be more fitting thansupervisor, for they should remain in the background except for rendering helpful service, and making constructive criticism in excess of destructive.

In order for practice teaching to be effective there must be nothing of an artificial sort enter in. Conditions must be of the regular sort met every day in the teaching game. This statement seems superfluous, but a visit to some of the classes where practice teaching is being done will justify its insertion here. The practice teacher should not be handed over a laboratory properly equipped. Of course, the equipment should be available. The course should not be "ready-cut". The practice teacher must meetallof the problems and this is cheating him out of a part of his fun. Through his solution of these problems there will be a two-fold benefit, for theadvisortoo may profit by the ingenuity of the newcomer. Resignation should be requested of any advisor who has outgrown the ability to learn. It is most likely to be the "green"person, who will develop really new methods, or evolve a more fitting experiment, or turn a bit of apparatus to a new use. Above all, the practice teacher should be required to scout for living material—there will usually be an abundance all about him, and much that is of interest should find its way into the laboratory. Training in the use of living material can not be over emphasized.

The course which I have outlined in the previous pages, is not satisfactory, but I firmly believe that it would be an improvement over the present situation. When tried out it would show many shortcomings, but by trial and improvement has our entire educational system evolved. Even an ideal professional course in use today would be obsolete tomorrow. It would be unfortunate were it not so, for growth involves ecdysis, and growth is the law of nature.

1. Tables have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest paragraph break.

2. The original pages included corrections made by hand which have been retained in this e-text.

3. The following misprints have been corrected:

"intellegently" corrected to "intelligently" (page 5)"basterial" corrected to "bacterial" (page 9)"would would" corrected to "would" (page 11)"natuer" corrected to "nature" (page 15)"Abilty" corrected to "Ability" (page 17)"Baillet" corrected to "Balliet" (page 17)"taht" corrected to "that" (page 22)"modificacations" corrected to "modifications" (page 24)"succes" corrected to "success" (page 26)"in" corrected to "In" at start of sentence (page 26)"fialures" corrected to "failures" (page 26)"toworrow" corrected to "tomorrow" (page 28)"Teahcing" corrected to "Teaching" (page 30)

"intellegently" corrected to "intelligently" (page 5)"basterial" corrected to "bacterial" (page 9)"would would" corrected to "would" (page 11)"natuer" corrected to "nature" (page 15)"Abilty" corrected to "Ability" (page 17)"Baillet" corrected to "Balliet" (page 17)"taht" corrected to "that" (page 22)"modificacations" corrected to "modifications" (page 24)"succes" corrected to "success" (page 26)"in" corrected to "In" at start of sentence (page 26)"fialures" corrected to "failures" (page 26)"toworrow" corrected to "tomorrow" (page 28)"Teahcing" corrected to "Teaching" (page 30)

4. Some of the punctuation errors, e.g., comma instead of period, extra period, etc. in the original have been silently corrected while those requiring interpretation have been left as such.

5. The titles listed in the table of contents do not match with the headings in the original text. However, no changes have been made in this e-text for these mismatches.

6. Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in spelling and punctuation have been retained.


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