Conant Publishes Pamphlet on Nat. Science Teaching

President Conant has written a pamphlet on his experience as head of the general education course, "The Growth of the Experimental Sciences" (Natural Sciences 4), it was announced yesterday.

The purpose of the pamphlet, which will be distributed privately to all members of the Association of American Colleges, is to show the problems which occur in teaching a course of this nature. President Conant warns, however, that "a case-history approach is both controversial and experimental."

Sample Exam Question

The pamphlet gives sample examination questions used in the course, and an example of the case material used in discussing the overthrow of the phlogiston theory. Its title is the same as the title of his course.

Natural Sciences 4, inaugurated last year, was limited to freshman and sophomores this year. It deals historically with case-histories in chemistry, physics, geometry and astrology. Extra lectures in the Theory of Relativity, the Quantum Theory, and Atomic Physics were given in the course occasionally.

The course is the practical application of the President's book "Understanding Science," which outline just such a course.

Conant was assisted in Natural Sciences this year by Professor Duane E. Roller of Wabash College and assistant professors Fletcher G. Watson '36 and Leohard K. Nash. The course will be repeated in 1940-50, and will be limited to 150 freshman and sophomore students. It is designed for men expecting to major in the social science or humanities, and who have never taken a college science course before.