Natural science in education / being the report of The Committee on the Position of Natural Science in the Educational System of Great Britain.

Date:
1918
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Natural science in education / being the report of The Committee on the Position of Natural Science in the Educational System of Great Britain. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    atoms and molecules. Quantitative experiments which take a long time can often be replaced with advantage by simpler descriptive exercises, not involving measurements but requiring some independent thinking. The description of manufacturing processes should not be neglected although minute details would naturally not be introduced. Boys are always keen about large scale work, and while such work is being described many opportunities wil] occur to the teacher of exemplifying principles which the boy will already have come across in his work in mechanics and physics. The sharp division which is at present made between inorganic and organic chemistry should disappear, and ‘ideas’ such as fermentation, saponification, &c., should find a place in the course. The chemical processes in the life of a plant should not be omitted, for example, the way in which carbon dioxide is transformed into sugar, the utilisation’ of atmospheric nitrogen by the leguminous plants, and the part played by nitrogen compounds in the food supply of plants could be pointed out while carbon and nitrogen were being studied. Similarly, the study of silica would naturally lead to a discussion of the part played by air and water in the weathering of rocks. 52. We have already laid stress on the point that some knowledge of the main facts of the life of plants and animals should form a regular part of the teaching in every secondary school. Systematic work in zoology, including dissection of animals and the use of the compound micro- scope, belongs to a later stage of school life, but the main facts as to the relation of plants and animals to their surroundings, the changes in material and in energy involved in their life and growth should form part of a well-balanced school course. There is a considerable measure of agreement among our witnesses to the effect that the course might include