NEW CHALLENGES FOR ANIMAL SCIENCE TEACHING

Abstract

Knowledge in its timelessness represents man's continuing efforts to understand his environment and himself. From antiquity the process has been unending and incomplete; the grist for the inquiring mind is the unknown. Societies have prospered in proportion to their understanding of existing knowledge and to their capability for extending intellectual horizons to their personal satisfactions and betterment. The past century is noted for the rapid expansion in technical and scientific knowledge; it has been an era when man individually and collectively found means for utilizing science as a tool for social and economic progress. The explosion of knowledge has occurred in agriculture and biology, posing a challenge to the researcher and the teacher seeking to interpret its relevance to theory and the practical production of crops and animals. The educator has a dual challenge: first, to keep abreast of the science cogent to his specialization; and second, to revise and to adapt teaching methods and techniques in such a manner as to accommodate the breadth and quantity of knowledge germane to the students future career. In this framework, there are some general considerations about man's capability to comprehend knowledge that seems apropos. One of these is the quantitative limitation of the human mind to assimilate knowledge. A second factor is the recognition that the size of the knowledge pool grows at an ever faster rate. When these two facts are combined, it is patently evident that educators have the responsibility of sifting facts that have been learned about our universe,