Abstract
THE recent issue of the School Science Review (No. 92, Nov. 1942) contains an interesting article, “School Science Teaching after the War”, by Mr. E. T. Harris. Mr. Harris points out that science teaching before the War was greatly affected by economic and social conditions which, in some cases, created a hostile attitude. But now, due to its contribution to the war effort, science is valued and appreciated. The changed social conditions likely to prevail after the War should give impetus to the modern movement to stress the applications of science, but the principles should not be omitted. “. . . Science is a social phenomenon, and is only to be understood in relation to the human society in which it has developed and is developing. Its principles and its applications are closely interrelated aspects of the same social phenomenon, and they must be studied in conjunction.” In discussing how this principle may be applied in teaching, Mr. Harris cites the introduction of general science and the greater attention which biology is receiving nowadays (see NATURE, 149, 456; April 25, 1942). There are two aspects to the study of science, (I) its historical and logical development and its social uses, and (2) its application to the pupil's life-his home, body, food, etc. Later in the science course should come a broadening of these early ideas, so that science is regarded as a struggle of mankind to master Nature for knowledge, power, and freedom.
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School Science Teaching. Nature 151, 78 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/151078b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/151078b0