301-913-500-4013 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS NO. 299 FOUR TIMES A MONTH OFFICIAL SERIES 93. OCTOBER 15, 1913 Biology in the High School By DR. I. M. LEWIS AND MR. CARL HARTMAN Published by THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AUSTIN, TEXAS Entered as second-class mail matter at the postoffice at Austiv Texas Cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. It is the only dictator that freemen acknowledge and the only security that freemen desire. President Mirabeau B. Lamar. The benefits of education and of useful knowledge, generally diffused through a community, are essential to the preser­vation of a free government. President Sam Houston. BIOLOGY IN THE HIGH SCHOOL. BY DR. I. M. LEWIS AND MR. CARL HARTMAN. ONE UNIT IN BIOLOGY. GENERAL STATEMENT The principles which should guide the teacher in the organiza­tion and presentation of the course in the biological sciences and the E>election of the illustrative material have been set forth in pre­vious bulletins in zoology and botany. The teacher desiring to introduce the present course in biology will do well to consult the suggestions made i_n the former bulletins, which the present state­ment is intended to supplement. KIND OF COURSE One might distinguish two types of courses in biology. The one is a mixed cou:rse, often called general biology, in which organic life, plant and animal, is looked upon as a unit. In such a course the general principles of form and function of living things are il­lustrated by plant or animal as occasion arises. This type of course is rather difficult to carry out and is open to the further objection that it is likely to lead to a partial or one-sided view of the subject, owing to a one-sided training or possible bias on the part of the teacher. The course has its decided advantages, how­ever, and can be successfully taught by the skillful and well trained teacher. Some textbooks arranged upon this plan are: Needham's General Biology (Comstock Publishing Co.), Conn's Biology (Sil­ver, Burdette and Co.) and Bigelow's Applied Biology (The Mac­millan Co. )-all advanced texts of college grade. The other arrangement is that of a half-year each of zoology and botany given in consecutive order. For the present, this plan is suggested as the preferable one, in view of the conditions obtaining in the high schools of this State, particularly in the smaller high -4­ schools likely to take advantage 0£ affiliation in this course. It is a matter 0£ indifference whether zoology or botany is given :first. AVOIDANCE OF DUPLICATION At :first thought one would not conclude that the two courses1 zoology and botany, thus taught in consecutive order, deserve the inclusive term biology. But the two subjects can and should be made supplemental and should be articulated into a unified course. Many principles common to both plant and animal life should be touched upon but once during the year's work, and useless repe­tition avoided. Thus, for example, the nature of protoplasm, the cell theory, cell division, conditions of life, metabolism, response to stimuli, and kindred topicB, discussed during the first half of the course. need not be repeated in the second half. It is an easy step to apply the principles acquired in connection with the study of plants (if botany is given the first half of the year) to the study of animals. Similarly, if zoology is taught first, the general principles mastered in connection with animal study can be applied to the study of plants. Instructive comparisons, may, moreover, be made between the life of animals and plants and their mutual relations pointed out. PURPOSES OF THE COURSE. Recognition of half-year credits in zoology and botany under the term biology has £or its object the encouragement of the study of the biological sciences in the high schools which can not require for graduation two full years in these subjects. Some of the aims which the teacher of the subject should have in mind in giving the course may be stated as follows: 1. To equip the student with an insight into the fundamental laws of living things, of which he himself is one. The principles of biology are an important intellectual equipment of the modern citizen. Evolution, adaptation to environment, the struggle £or existence, the development 0£ the individual, reproduction, eugen­ics, the conservation movement and other similar topics can be mastered in their elements by the student of such a course. 2. To afford the student mental discipline in mastering the generalizations 0£ the sciences. Technical detail and the memoriza­ -5­ tion of mere names should be all but eliminated and the emphasis placed on the mastery of principles. 3. To give him brt:>ad sympathies with life about him-with the important living objects of his environment. The student should receive from the course vital interests in plants and animals and an observant attitude of mind, so that he may increase his store of knowledge from day to day, from the small beginnings made in the course. 4. To impress upon him the importance of plants and animals in the economy of nature and in relation to the needs of man. The use of plants and animals for food, clothing and shelter; the role of bacteria, yeasts and molds in the industries, the household and the farm; the relation of microorganisms to disease; the use of insects in pollination and in other ways and their harm as enemies of crops and as carriers of disease--these and hundreds of other topics can and should vitalize the subject and make it of greatest use to the student. 5. To influence the pupil's moral nature, as for example, by teaching him the inexorable laws of nature, showing the effects of parasitism, the effects of the struggle for existence, the benefits of mutualism and social co-operation and presenting other subjects, from which moral lessons may be drawn. SELECTION OF ILJ,USTRATIVE MATERIAL In general it may be said that the teacher is poorly prepared for the work who can not go into the field and gather material needed for the courses. Some of the principles that should guide the teacher in the selection of the material are given as follows: 1. The illustrative material for the laboratory should be taken almost exclusively from the immediate environment. In the inland a few marine :forms may he secured for the museum and should be used for demonstration merely. 2. The commonest forms should be studied most. What more common plant is there than the bean plant and yet what better example can be E'elected for illustrating a typical life history! In zoology, insects should receive a proportionately large share of attention on account of the wide distribution, their variety of :form, habit and adaptation to environment, not to speak of their economic importance. --6­ 3. Live animals and plants should be studied in their natural cmironments. Field trips should be taken as often as possible, with sections of the class, and the student should be led to make observations for himself. At the suggestion of the teacher, the individual student can visit points in the neighborhood and make his observations, reporting on them in the form of essays or oral reports to the class. Such ecological work should constitute a large part of the work of the course. The old type "Natural History,'' supplemented by a presentation of the general biological principles that have been evolved in recent decades, is the ideal for the high school biology. Of course, some study of dead animals and dead plants is es­sential for the study of anatomy, which is needed for the proper understanding of function. It might also be suggested that living animals and especially living plants can be studied to advantage by rearing or growing them in the laboratory. At this point it might be well to r>tate that in the opinion of the writers of this bulletin, the use of elaborate keys for the identi­fication of plants and animals should be dispensed with. This state­ment applies with particular force t(I botany. The study of botany has not yet recovered entirely from the well deserved bad repute into which it fell several decades ago,_ when the usual course consisted in the "analysis" and "naming" of "flowers" and little else. The teacher should guard against the selection of a text which includes a "Key to the Flowering Plants,'' "Key for South­ern Schools,'' etc., as this entails a needless added expense to the pupil. The edition without this unnecessary appendix should be the one ordered. 'rEX.TBOOKS a. BTOLOGY.-The names of several texts in general biology have been mentioned above. There does not seem to be a general text on this subject suitable for high school use. Hunter's Elements of Biology (American Book Co.), is really three short textbooks in one: botany, zoology and human physiology. It is not, therefore, a well-woven or articulated text in general biology. If this text is used, Sharpe's Manual in Biology (American Book Co.), is the laborator~' guide that should he used with it, as the latter was expressly written to accompany the former. -7­ b. ZooLOGY.-J:!'or the half-year in zoology the texts recom­mended for the full-year will suffice on the principle that it is bet­ter to use a text which is fuller than necessary, rather than one that does not present enough material. With the more complete text, moreover, the teacher ca.n select what is the more applicable to his particular region or local conditions and thereby make his course more :flexible and individualized. The books of the following list are designated for a year's work. 1. Practical Zoology, Alvin Davidson (American Book Co.) . Publishers also issue laboratory guide to accompany this text. 2. A T extbook in General Zoology, Glenn W. Herrick (Am. Book Co.). 3. Zoology, Practical and Descriptive, Buel P. Colton (D. C. Heath and Co.). 4. A Textbook in General Zoology, Linville and Kelly (Ginn and Co.). Publishers also issue a laboratory guide to accompany this text. 5. Animal Activities, N. S. French (Longmans, Green Co.). This is perhaps the simplest of the five texts here listed and possi­bly the best adapted for the half-year course. GENERAL WoRKs.-'l'he following general works for reading by the students should be represented by one or more copies in each high school library. 1. Nature Study and Life, C. F. Hodge (Ginn and Oo.). 2. Animal Life, David Starr and Vernon L. Kellogg (D. Ap­pleton and Co.). 3. Animal F'orms, D. S. Jordan and H. Heath (D. Appleton and Co.). It will be well also to consult a good encyclopedia on various topics, should the school be fortunate to possess such a work. The various publications of the Biological Survey and of the several Bureaus of Entomolbgy, Forestry and Plant Industry, as well as the appropriate Farmers' Bulletins-all of the Department of Ag­riculture, Washington, D. C.-are to be recommended for the study of the various economic forms. 'l'he teacher will do well to have several laboratory guides, es­pecially The Study of Animals, hy \Vhitne:v, Lucas, Shinn and Smallwood fD. 0 Heath and Co.) . -8­ c. BoT.A.NY.-For the half-year in botany, a. number of books ar~ available; but those here listed are, as in the case of the books recommended for the course in zoology, suited also :for a year's work in the subject. The teacher will be obliged to select the ma­terial from the text which he adopts. 1. E ssentials of Botooy, Joseph Y. Bergen (Ginn and Co.). 2. Practical Botany, Bergen and Caldwell (Ginn and. Co.). 3. Practical Course in Botany E. F. Andrews, (American Book Co.). 4. Botany for Schools, G. F. Atkinson (Holt and Co.). Local conditions, both as to equipment and vegetation vary so that a perfectly satisfactory laboratory manual is practically out of the question. Laboratory directions, written for the local condi­tions, certainly give best results. The following laboratory man­uals all have their good points. The teacher can modify those most nearly fitted to his equipment so as to get very excellent re­sults. 1. Studies of Plant Life, Pepoon, Mitchell and Maxwell (D. C. Heath and Co.) . ~-Laboratory Botan.lJ, Willard N. Clute (Ginn and Co.). 3. J.fanual of Experimental Botany, Frank Owen Payne (Am­P.rican 'Book Co.). 4. Laboratory and F'ield Manual of Botany, Bergen and Davis (Ginn and Co.). 15. A Laboratory Manual of Botany, Otis W. Caldwell (D. Appleton and Co.).