Work In Secondary Schools Research Articles

Biology in the School

AMONG the ever-growing list cf books on the teaching of the biological sciences, the present work will find an honourable place. It is the result of many years of experience on the part of a public school science master. The book is intended as a volume of reference, and as such it is admirable. The spirit is eclectic, and Mr. Peacock suggests many lines along which secondary school work in biology may be undertaken and he avoids the pitfall of the rigid syllabus and method of treatment. “The ideal syllabus has not been constructed and when it has been, much of the infinite joy of learning and of teaching biology will have gone. Biology should be introduced into schools not only because of a practical value equal to, or greater than, that of the other sciences, but also because of its cultural value and the national necessity of thinking biologically.” Biology in the School By H. Alan Peacock. Pp. xvi + 354. (London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1937.) 10s. 6d. net.

A UNIVERSITY TEACHER'S VIEW OF THE HIGH SCHOOL COURSE IN FRENCH*

Author's Summary.— This paper deals with the secondary school work in French, considered as a preparation for the continued study of French in the university. The writer discusses various phases of the work (pronunciation, grammar, reading, translation, composition, conversation), and offers suggestions as to the emphasis which may properly be laid on each. Accuracy should be the principal aim throughout the course, and pupils should learn to respect the study of French as a serious intellectual discipline.

The Honor System in Secondary Schools

A short time ago, at a meeting of school principals and superintendents, the opinion was expressed that an honor system for examinations and written work in secondary schools is an impossibility-that it cannot work in any school under any circumstances. Inasmuch as the school is a training ground for life, it seems to the writer that the development of opportunities for responsibility on the part of boys and girls is about as important a purpose as the school can serve.

MATHEMATICS AND EFFICIENCY IN SECONDARY SCHOOL WORK—A REPLY

MATHEMATICS AND EFFICIENCY IN SECONDARY SCHOOL WORK—A REPLY

TWO YEARS' PROGRESS IN MATHEMATICS IN THE UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL

The number of capable teachers of secondary mathematics, who are striving to improve the educational quality of secondaryschool work is already large and it is rapidly growing. Good secondary teachers are coming to regard it a professional duty to try each year one or more definite things that promise to improve the teaching, to benefit the taught, or to enrich the quality of the subject-matter of their specialty. Attitudes of mind have changed during recent years, and to advocate progress in mathematical teaching has grown half-popular. Enlightened opinion today recognizes-nor fears the academic banboth the need and practicability of marked improvement in the matter and method of secondary-school mathematics. The recent awakening of pedagogic interest in mathematics is already accomplishing much in the'textbook line. More than a score of secondary texts of the subject, all bearing the imprint of a new order, and some of them from publishing houses that are accustomed to cloaking commercialism under the ermine of conservatism, and all in a brief twelvemonth, is highly encouraging. The pools of tradition are being stirred to their depths. The official representative of a house that is nothing if not conservative said in substance to the writer the other day: There are getting to be so many who are wanting the mixed type of mathematics in the high school, that we had to get a book written to cater to this audience. The easy-going unconcern for innovation that afflicted teachers of mathematics only a brief time since now appears in print only rarely and in places so out-of-the-way as to work little harm. And what has been achieved is but an earnest of greater and better things in the next decade. Traditional rigidity, institu-

The Teaching of Chemistry in the Secondary Schools: A Study of Recent Practice and Results

During the last few years there have appeared in the educational periodicals a number of. articles on the course in chemistry which should be given in the secondary schools. Committees have reported and many methods of teaching have been suggested. These outlines set, let us say, the standards or the ideals of the teachers. It is interesting now to observe in a comparative manner the prevailing practice and the results. In the fall of 1904 it was my pleasure to read the chemistry notebooks which were presented for entrance to Cornell University, as part of the necessary credentials, by those who entered without examination. Accompanying each notebook was a card upon which were written certain facts about the course pursued by the student. These facts gave data showing the nature and extent of the course. The study of these books and data was the best possible way, short of an actual visitation, to learn the methods and results of secondary-school work. Here were the credentials which the teachers and students were willing to have reviewed as evidence of the quality and quantity of their work. Yet it was not specially done, as for an exposition, but represented the honest, faithful daily work of both student and teacher under ordinary conditions. The data gathered in 1904 were amplified by those from the credentials of 1905, the whole classified and rearranged, and this paper written after the two years' investigation. No attempt was made to arrange the subject-matter presented, for that was more or less common to all the courses. The time spent on the laboratory work, the character of the record of the

The College Requirements and the Secondary-School Work

Previous articleNext article FreeThe College Requirements and the Secondary-School WorkJohn C. Kirtland, Jr.John C. Kirtland, Jr. Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Volume 13, Number 10Dec., 1905 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/434772 Views: 65Total views on this site Journal History This article was published in The School Review (1893-1979), which is continued by the American Journal of Education (1979-present). PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.