Abstract
A GREAT change in the character of the books concerned with the teaching of science has taken place during the last twenty years or so. A quarter of a century ago the claims of science to a place in the school curriculum were being advocated vigorously, and men of science had still to convince reigning schoolmasters that no education was complete which ignored the growth of natural knowledge and failed to recognise that an acquaintance with the phenomena of nature is necessary to intelligent living. Speaking broadly, it may be said that most classicists even admit now that there are faculties of the human mind which are best developed by practice in observation and experiment. One consequence of the success which has followed the persistent efforts of Huxley and his followers—to secure in the school an adequate recognition of the educative power of science—has been that modern books on science teaching are concerned almost entirely with inquiries into the best methods of instructing young people, by means of practical exercises, how to observe accurately and to reason intelligently.
The Preparation of the Child for Science.
By M. E. Boole. Pp. 157. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1904.) Price 2s. 6d.
Special Method in Elementary Science for the Common School.
By Charles A. McMurry Pp. ix + 275. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1904.) Price 3s. 6d. net.
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S., A. The Preparation of the Child for Science Special Method in Elementary Science for the Common School . Nature 71, 316 (1905). https://doi.org/10.1038/071316a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/071316a0