II. Motion and force- - oral (3d, 5th, and 7th years). I. Laws of motion. 2. Attraction of gravitation. a. Weight and fall. b. Center of gravity. c. Specific gravity. d. Action and reaction. e. Friction. f. Inertia. NATURE ORGANIC C. Natural history. III. Zoölogy — oral (2d, 5th, and 6th years). 2. Classification. a. Vertebrates. b. Mollusks. c. Articulates. d. Radiates. Scientific study considered an easy pastime. — One hour, one afternoon a week, was devoted to natural science throughout the grades. The optimistic expectations of Mr. Harris are indicated in this quotation: Thus [he said] an attempt has been made to introduce the study of the sciences with all their infinitude of detail. . . . The general ideas of a science and its mode of procedure and its technics may be acquired with little labor; nay, it may be a mere pastime to do this. On this ground we may introduce certain outlines of natural history and natural philosophy into the lower grades of our schools. But it must be introduced in such a way as to afford a relief from the other studies, and not be placed in the same rank with them. In An example of the extreme logical point of view. recent years there has been considerable critical discussion of the advisability of teaching science, even in high schools, from the same mature, systematic point of view that prevails in the universities. Superintendent Harris's course of study carried this logical, highly formalized point of view even into the elementary school. The course of study continued to be outlined in this same form in the superintendent's annual report for many years. The conception of science as "completely organized knowledge" is likely to prevail among those persons who focus their attention on the final products of scientific investigation as they are formulated in print. It is possible, however, to emphasize the process of scientific investigation—the methods of inquiry used in scientific work—as the essential element in science. From this point of view science is primarily a matter of method. This conception has recently been emphasized by Karl Pearson and John Dewey (see discussion of nature study below). Superintendent Harris, as a student, was primarily a logician and metaphysician; that is, he was primarily interested in the formal organization and the ultimate relations of ideas. Hence his course of study was an extreme example of the ordinary conception of science as a finished product, and the St. Louis children were supposed to be receiving scientific culture through learning the scientific classifications. Practical reasons for introducing natural science. — Superintendent Harris said, in his report for 1870-1871, that in previous reports he had argued at length for the fundamental subjects (reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography) as more important than any of the new "special subjects" which were demanding admission into the curriculum, but that this year he had to report and justify the introduction of natural science. The social justification which he stated was "the importance of natural science as furnishing the theoretical basis of productive industry, and the consequent elevation of the masses of all the people by means of the wealth created thereby." This practical argument was quite different from the psychological argument, namely, "the development of the perceptive powers," which had been commonly used in connection with object teaching. This large practical value of nineteenth-century natural science was radically different from the lack of practical value in the case of seventeenth-century science, which was described by Huxley in the quotation in Chapter VI. Enormous advances had been made in applied science during the later eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, and many famous champions, such as Huxley and Spencer, were endeavoring to secure a place for it in the schools. Herbert Spencer argued for the practical value of natural science, 1859.-The best known and probably the most influential discussion of the practical value of science was Herbert Spencer's essay entitled "What Knowledge is most worth." This essay was published in the Westminster Review, in England in 1859, and later (1861) was issued as the first chapter in Spencer's "Education." It was written as a criticism of the dominant classical education which prevailed in English secondary schools. In his "Autobiography" (Vol. II, p. 42) Spencer says, "When this essay was written, its leading thesis, that the teaching of the classics should give place to the teaching of science, was regarded by nine out of ten people as simply monstrous." The basis of Spencer's argument is illustrated by the following two brief quotations from the portion of the essay in which he described the practical applications of each science: Pass next to physics. Joined with mathematics, it has given us the steam engine, which does the work of millions of laborers. That section of physics which deals with the laws of heat, has taught us how to economize fuel in our various industries; how to increase the produce of our smelting furnaces by substituting the hot for the cold blast; how to ventilate our mines; how to prevent explosions by using the safety lamp; and through the thermometer, how to regulate innumerable processes. That division which has the phenomena of light for its subject, gives eyes to the old and myopic; aids through the microscope in detecting diseases and adulterations; and by improved lighthouses prevents shipwrecks.. Still more numerous are the bearings of chemistry on those activities by which men obtain the means of living. The bleacher, the dyer, the calico-maker are severally occupied in processes that are well or ill done according as they do or do not conform to chemical laws. The econom ical reduction from their ores of copper, tin, zinc, lead, silver, iron, are in a great measure questions of chemistry. Sugar-refining, gas-making, soap-boiling, gunpowder manufacture, are operations all partly chemical ; as are also those by which are produced glass and porcelain. . . . Glance through a work on technology, and it becomes at once apparent that there is now scarcely any process in the arts or manufactures over some part of which chemistry does not preside. Spencer's essays influential in America. - Many incidents indicate that Spencer's essays were very generally read. We noted at the end of Chapter XIII that the second essay which criticized English Pestalozzianism was quoted in the United States in the early sixties. Superintendent Harris in his report for 1870-1871, from which we quoted above, said, "Many educational writers of the present day, who have investigated the question of 'what knowledge is most worth,' assert the paramount importance of the various physical sciences." Hence we may infer that, although Spencer's essay was written primarily as an attack on English classical secondary schools, it was also influential in developing a place for natural science in elementary education. From natural science to nature study. As noted above, the St. Louis course of study of 1871 typified the tendency to organize the study of nature in the elementary school from the point of view and in terms of the completely organized, classified, and tabulated results of scientific investigation. It is an example of the logical point of view in the selection and arrangement of subject matter. While not entirely due to Pestalozzi, it was thoroughly in harmony with some Pestalozzian tendencies, especially as they will be described in the next chapter. Nature study takes psychological point of view. — The opposite method of selecting and arranging subject matter, namely, the so-called psychological or natural method, is typified in the "nature-study" movement of recent years. While this movement is not a Pestalozzian one, it will pay to notice it briefly in this connection. Nature Study Review (1905) defining the movement. We shall not go into detail but shall note one important date in the development of this movement, namely, the founding of the Nature Study Review, the first number of which was issued in January, 1905. It is edited by thoroughly trained scientists, occupying important higher teaching positions, but interested at the same time in the educational problems of the elementary school. The first problem discussed in the Review was Nature Study and its Relation to Natural Science. An introductory editorial note indicated the undefined character of the subject as follows: Hence it has come about that nature study is understood to mean: (1) elementary agriculture; (2) simple object lessons on plants and animals; (3) informal teaching about things seen by the pupils, for the sake of developing interest and habits of observation; (4) serious elementary biology and physical science; (5) popular picnics in the woods; (6) sentimental talks and reading about plants and animals; (7) teaching children to love nature. Nature study subordinates scientific classification. — Various articles were contributed, most of them taking the point of view that nature study and natural science are not the same. The general tendency is expressed in the two following definitions by one of the editors of the Review: Nature study is primarily the simple observational study of common natural objects and processes for the sake of personal acquaintance with the things which appeal to human interest directly and independently of relations to organized science. Natural science study is the close analytical and synthetical study of natural objects and processes primarily for the sake of obtaining knowledge of the general principles which constitute the foundations of modern science. . . . True elementary science with its foundations in classifications and generalizations is not adapted to pupils as young as those in our elementary schools. Nature study may train in scientific method. It must not be inferred, however, from this strong contrasting of "nature study" and "natural science" that the "nature-study" leaders believe there should be no element of scientific work in |