Adequate Preparation for the Teacher of Biological Sciences in Secondary Schools

by J. Daley McDonald

Taken as a whole, the chief criticism to be made is that the subject has been so subdivided to insure no overlapping of courses, that it becomes necessary to take every course in order to obtain a well rounded preparation in the field. This requires more time than any individual can devote to it, for he must also have preparation in Botany, Physiology, and Bacteriology and Hygiene, and in these departments the arrangement of courses is essentially the same. The general course in Zoology is inadequate, for it is planned for an introduction to the more advanced courses and is careful not to steal too much from their fund of interesting information. The aim is to lay a thorough foundation rather than to discuss the more interesting facts and general principles of biology, though I am glad to believe that the present trend is decidedly in this latter direction.

Here we find adequate preparation for a teacher of Zoology, but in no secondary school of the state will a teacher be employed for Zoology alone. In high schools the biological science curriculum the first course must be Biology, and it must be all-inclusive, for it is all of the biological science that the majority of the pupils will take. It would be a great step in advance if every school required even that much for graduation.

Of the courses in Invertebrate Zoology and Vertebrate Zoology, it can be safely said that they overlook the importance of field work. Boys and girls sometimes have a surprisingly large superficial knowledge of the plants and animals of their vicinity, and this knowledge is of the sort obtained through observation of their ways in nature, that is, it is a field knowledge. The teacher must be prepared to use this to the greatest possible extent, but how can this be expected if the teacher knows little if any more than the children about the habits of plants and animals. Such training would have to be obtained through some of the field work of the Museum of Vertebrate zoology. But no work in that department is required for the Teachers Recommendation. A knowledge, though not an intensive knowledge, of each of the subjects that make up the three groups included in the requirements is quite necessary but it is out of the question for a person to take them all unless he specialize in Zoology. Not all can be expected to major in Zoology, and those that do will find it necessary to omit much that is essential in the other departments of biological science. Each department should have a general course covering fully its field of work so that those majoring in some other department may in minimum time gain a fair knowledge of its field. It is very doubtful if such a course is given in any department at present.

At present only a meagre view is had of the history of Biology, until the fifth year when it is given as seminar work. And at no time, in any course, are the aims and relations of biology presented in such a way as to be helpful to one attempting to plan the most valuable type of high school course. Graduate research has been sufficiently considered previously, and the teachers' course will be considered last.

It will be conceded generally in thinking of the solution of the problem that the ideal arrangement would be a real teachers' course, at least five years in length. This could be comparatively easily accomplished by a slight modification of the departments concerned and their hearty cooperation with the Department of Education. The disregard for method on the part of the former and the failure to realize the importance of a thorough knowledge of subject matter by the latter, can are obstacles that can be easily overcome I am sure. The student would enter upon this course with the intention of becoming a teacher, just as does any student enter upon his professional course with the intention of becoming the professional man for which his training is preparing him. Few freshmen now come to the University of California with the intention of becoming teachers in the secondary schools, that I admit, but the reasons and the remedy for that are not for discussion here. Suffice it to say that when reward is adequate, then the profession will grow and come to be made up of the highest type of men and women.

The time of the Teachers Course is not far distant and it might be worth while to see what could be done without radical modifications in the curricula of the departments as they now are. For a working basis I would like to present the following skeleton programme, which seems practicable. In this schedule all preparation except that in subject matter and method is understood to be included in "electives". A major in Zoology is assumed. Each biological science department would have a course of similar plan built about its major as a core.

First year,
Geography or Geology
Aims of science and its human values.
Chemistry
Electives
Second year,
Zoology,
Physics,
Electives
Third year,
Zoology—advanced courses
Botany,
Physiology
Electives
Fourth year,
Zoology—advanced courses
Bacteriology, and Public Health
Electives
Fifth year,
Zoology—research
History of Science
Teachers' Course, correlated with and supplementary to practice teaching.
Electives

The reasons for selection and sequence of subjects in this schedule are fairly evident from what has gone before, but a few points will bear additional explanation.

A course in the aims and values of science should be introductory, for in the absence of general knowledge concerning values, such as has grown up with other professions, the student must be given early in his work an enthusiasm for it and a sort of guide for future choice of subjects for study. The difference in aim between university and secondary school science must be clearly understood at the start. Too often, university courses accept science as an end in itself and it is taught from that point of view, whereas the prospective teacher must hold to his point of view, that to humanity generally science is only a very effective means to an end; it is just a faithful servant.

The schedule just submitted may seem to be overbalanced with science courses, but it must be somewhat so, especially if courses are not to be completely reorganized. Science would not need to consume quite so large a part of the time if special courses were given for teachers—another argument for a high grade, strictly professional course.