First Science Tutorial Meets

Experimental science tutorial got quietly underway in Kirkland House last night. As expected, on the surface it was much like any other group tutorial. One group listened to what amounted to a straight lecture, while the other section aimlessly discussed what it would discuss. The tutors did report one exception to most group tutorials.

In both the discussion group on Natural Sciences and the section on Physical Sciences the tutors faced more undergraduates than they expected. William Shepard (above, left), teaching fellow in General Education and leader of the Physical Sciences section, seemed concerned that too many students had come to discuss Chemistry and Physics. He had thirteen present, and expressed hope for attrition.

Five Listened

In the Natural Science section across the hall, Andrew R. Lang, assistant professor of Metallurgy, delivered an opening lecture to five undergraduate residents, who appeared to discuss the origins of life on earth. He told his audience how life may have sprung from primitive pools of green slime, or arrived from outer space in the form of microscopic spores. The five listened.

After a good deal of talking, Sheppard's section finally decided to abandon, at least temporarily, any historical or philosophical approach to science. They chose instead to examine a book by E. Bright Wilson, chairman of the Chemistry Department, a man who is watching the experiment "very closely."

Adams House has a similar program in the process of expansion, while Dunster has a weekly table for science concentrators and men from the department.