period. I have assigned as long lessons as I was accustomed to do under the old single period scheme and have found 90 per cent of my pupils able to hand in all the work completed. The maximum and minimum assignments take care of the good and slow pupil.

In second semester algebra, the same scheme is followed as in first semester algebra. Some home work is required of the pupils not able to keep up with the pace set by the class.

In first semester geometry, more time is required for construction work, and accordingly less time is left for recitation in the first period than in either algebra class. For this reason, some of the teachers use ten minutes of the second period for recitation. One teacher reports that, as a rule, he follows the same scheme as in algebra.

In the second semester geometry classes, fifteen minutes of the second period is used quite often for recitation. The pupil would not be able to get his lesson in one period even if he had the opportunity of studying all the second period.

Sometimes in the development of a new subject, all the second period must be used for recitation and explanation, and at such time the teacher has the greatest opportunity to show the pupil how to study.

GENERAL SUMMARY

The need of understanding the problem of individual differences is perhaps more urgent in supervising the study of mathematics than in any other subject. The teacher can easily become a drill master and nothing more. By industrious preparation of every assignment, employing a variety of texts, periodicals, mathematical puzzles, and by seeking ever for original problems among the pupils themselves, much of the inevitable monotony can be relieved. Whenever a prin

ciple can be illustrated in practical application, this should be done, for reasoning can employ reality just as well as symbols or theoretical situations! It is, moreover, fundamental to know what difficulties the pupils have and why they have them. Deal with symptoms and causes, not with ideal mentality.

CHAPTER XIII

HOW TO SUPERVISE THE STUDY OF SCIENCE

I. GENERAL VS. SPECIAL SCIENCE COURSES

SUPERVISED study has been referred to as the laboratory method. It would seem, therefore, that little need be said about supervising the study of the sciences, for they already are employing the ideal method. A few considerations, however, demand attention. The present discussion on special vs. general science has arisen as a form of reaction toward the claim by science teachers that science is practical; it is by far the best means of training pupils to think (one hears uproarious laughter from the classicists!), and furthermore the scientific method alone leads to truth. The author once engaged in a useless debate with a biologist who claimed that life, love, ambition, hate, æsthetic enjoyment, flash of insight, etc. are so many varieties of chemical reaction. He loved his wife and children because ions or electrons entered into peculiar combinations stimulating certain modes of responses. (It is easy to see how feeding a man to make him loving is a direct application of this physiologico-chemical-affection theory. Ergo, increase domestic science courses.)

Careful study of the secondary school program of studies and evidence from many fields of industry have quickened the suspicion that little science is a dangerous thing and that

too much science may lead to perverted specialization. For this reason the organizing of general science courses in place of the usual physics, chemistry, botany, zoölogy, etc., in high school seems to hold a strong advantage. Again, there are a variety of plans available. The following may prove suggestive:

1. The earth as a planet. Giving in a brief general way something of the universe-its magnitude, distance of stars, etc. 2. Water and its uses.

(a) Composition, showing electrolysis and synthesis.

(b) Different physical states, and applications of each.
(c) Climatic influences.

(d) Commercial relations.

3. Air.

(a) Physical properties.

(b) Chemical properties.

(c) Temperature changes and the seasons.

(d) The water and the air.

(e) Weather.

(f) Dusts, molds, and bacteria.

(g) Insects.

4. Work and energy.

(a) By running water.

(b) Machines.

(c) Energy and its transformation.

(d) The sun as a source of energy.

(e) Energy for plants and animals.

5. The earth's crust.

(a) Effect of natural forces.

(b) Structure and composition of soils.

(c) Origin of soils.

(d) Necessary constituents to support life in the soils. 6. Magnetism and electricity.

(a) Compass.

(b) Earth as a magnet.

(c) Simple battery.

(d) Conductors and non-conductors.

(e) Simple applications.

7. Sound and light.

(a) Simple experiments to show relative velocities.
(b) Applications.

II. THE AIM IN STUDYING SCIENCE

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Any who have watched pupils at work in science courses may well wonder what cultural or practical value can come from such loose-jointed endeavors. Scientific vision? Never. Love of science? Statistics don't so indicate. Scientific method? Perhaps. Love of nature? The pupil instinctively does love nature. Understanding of natural laws? Possibly. There can be little doubt that something definite must be kept in view, and this something needs to be within the pupil's reach. A reasonable aim seems to be to awaken in the pupil an intelligent interest in his natural environment, an interest that ultimately may lead him to investigate how nature ever increasingly can be harnessed into service for man. But this ultimate goal, it will be admitted, is far beyond the reach of many. The average citizen needs to know enough science to make him respect the systematic advance of progress. He should be persuaded to respect the scientist, the inventor, the explorer as much as he does the financier or the soldier. Careful and patient gropings for more light must be regarded as the usual method of reaching greater truth. The individual, even from a practical point of view, should know the insect life of his community, its dangers or its advantages, and how