Page Four F.HE. COLLEGE NEWS nei Wednesday, October 7, 1959 Students Evaluate Sciences . Tony Ellis Philosophy Of her future education, Tony. Ellis said: “If I go on wth philos- ophy ll obviously meed more science.” At Bryn Mawr, she feels she should have taken more science than she has—one year of chemistry—but although she real- ized this need at the time of deei- sion, it didn’t seem worth the sac- rifice it would have entailed in liberal arts study. “I took chem- istry because it seems the most Helen Ullrich Sociology- Anthropology Helen Ullrich, a sociology-an- thropology major, and a one time possible chemistry major, feels that she has had a sufficient anount of science. But she nevertheless feels that Geology, the only 101 science course that she missed, would also have been of great value to her. “¥ feel, therefore, that a fifth science course should ibe offered to disciplined, the most scientific of the sciences offered at Bryn Mawr, and at that time I was sure I’d only take one year of any science.” Tony stressed the desirability of exposure to science on the lev- el of the secondary schools “in order to provide a foundation and start interest; so that you can see the value of science and apply it She suggested a high-school program of at. least three years of math and four of Tony herself took two as you go on.” science, years of math and one each of biology and chemistry in high school—this of her own accord. Although she considers that in a single year of scientific expos- ure some broadly inclusive course might be the most generally app- | plicable for the liberal arts major, she twas generally very much op- posed to the survey approach, in science as in any other subject. Tony’s extra-curricular experi-| ence with science is probably more, extensive than that of most lib- eral arts majors. “I played with math with my grandfather during my school years, and experiment- ed in the first. three years of col- lege with physiology and anatomy labs, Most of my scientific knowl- edge has fbeen absorbed outside of the regular curriculum, and, while not sufficient in quantity, seems adequate in kind. I make a point of reading Time magazine on the latest advances in medicine, al- though in this I regret my lack of scientific background of ‘knowl- edge.” Baber “It seems as if the Communist bloc is ‘calling the moves’ in re- gard to many things. If this is so, then the increased enmphasis (placed on science in our country ‘is a reaction based on fear. To meet the Communist challenge, a better balance between the arts and the sciences is needed, not a complete reversal as made by the/| Communists. “There’s a great deal to be said for the discipline of a science, the more rigid deadline of a lab, the absolute preciseness of experi- ments. (Perhaps the most impor- tant thing is that one experiences undeniable rights and wrongs, truths that can he proved; there is often a beautiful certainty in a science. In arts, one studies a subject from so many angles that frequently the student forgets to make up her own mind as to what position she will hold. : “A more general kmowledge of the practical sciences introduced at high school level would benefit a liberal] arts major. Theoretical scierices, e.g. mathematics, have relevance especially for philosaphy majors and perhaps should be taken at the college level. Aside| from ‘Communist challenges’ and the like, it is a shame that a lib- eral arts major should be as ignor- ant today as she is of scientific principles; and vice versa. Can’t a good thing; it’s necessary. what I would like to see is logic all students to- fulfill their science requirements. This course would combine the content and labora- teries of the other four sciences, physics, chemistry, geology and biology, and would be taught by members of all four departments.” Helen proposes that the course should not be easier than conven- tional scienee courses and should be. designed to give students “a knowledge of the essentials of all sciences.” This course would also be of great value in helping a pros- pective seience major decide in which field she wishes to major. “The importance. of science to la Liberal Arts major,”’ Helen em- \phasized, “lies in the introduction of the student to the scientific methed.” Nancy Porter Political Science “Since I’m not scientifically-in- clined, I feel that I’ve had all the science F need or desire, but I don’t mean to imply that a person with a mind toward the sciences might not do well to take more courses in them. “f took the 101 Geology course here, beeause like most people, I hadn’t taken it in high school. I thought it was an excellent intro- duction for us non-scientists, and deep enough ‘for the future Geol- ogy majors. A course in general science seems to me rather high- schoolish, and a separate course for the unscientific would just put an extra burden on the science department. Se - "‘Praining in scientific thought is invaluable in any field, and science really is bound up with Political Science, sinee emphasis on science is part of the political situation these days. But for a political seienee major, I think a study of seientifie development today and in the future would have more value thaw another basic science course. Trudy Hoffman English “I think one year of science is But offered as a science; it trains the mind in the same way a science course does—or math could be main purpose of the science must be to train_a way of thinking. “I think science is fascinating, the way lit. is after two weeks. ‘Geology ‘was interesting, but 1 can’t use it for anything except looking at mountains and so on, As to taking more science if her schedule. allowed the lit. courses fof her maojr and that too, Trudy says, “I would take more science, but only if it just consisted of lec- ‘tures. I just haven’t the time nor energy nor amount of interest that labs require. “T think a course in general d| science would be stupid. Then in- e| formation would be the point, and Faso Os, anmelden lace Dr. Michels: Science in a liberal Arts Education Continued from Page 3, Cal. 4 ‘have for science. What you want to induce here is the willingness and ability to read seience—not in the highly technical sense, but at least in the sense that it is writ- ten for the layman, This means ‘that the student needs to have enough examples of the way science works—examples he un- derstands—to get over his fear, and an intimate enough knowledge of scientific language and concepts to be able to read scientific writ- ings without serious difficulty. Interviewer: Yes, but how do you go about doing that in an in- troductory course? Dr. Michels: One presentation; of course, is the historical develop- ment of a science. But here the temptation is to build a nice, log- ical chain and to say that because A happened B happened later. But while this is often true of the mi- nor steps in the growth of a science, it is rarely true of the major, the truly great steps, which are often ibased on intuition. Another approach is to skip most of the history and present the subject as a logical structure which at each stage is intermesh- ed with experimental observation- al evidence. Interviewer: But can you get any idea of how a science devel- ops if it is presented as a struc- ture with an internal structure and well-defined delimitations ? Dr. Michels: I think you have hit, in the very form of the ques- tion, one of the difficulties here. The temptation is to build a nice, closed, beautifully logical system, which, by its very completeness, kills the interest of any student. It is one of our big failures that we have not pointed out to stu- dents that ‘the structure is fluid, that it’s not entirely, but only partly, logical, that it is and will remain incomplete. — Interviewer: This problem ' is compounded (by the fact that little original research goes on at the elementary level. Dr. Miehels: Research—if it is thought of as that which a person engages in to find out something previously unknewn to him—can} go on at the elementary level. In the laboratory here we try to de exactly this: we try to get the students very, very early—actual- ly at the end of about three-weeks+} —into a research situation, work- ing in small groups on developing ‘their own problems and their own techniques for solving them. Interviewer: ‘What I’m most con- cerned about is what can best be done in the limited time you have to train a humanities student, Dr. Michels: This is, of course, what we're all concerned about, _ Judy Polsky Philosophy-French Judy Polsky, a Philosophy and French major, feels that her ex- posure to seience has certainly been neither adequate in quality nor in quantity. However, : she regrets the lack of science large- L ly on the grade school level. used. One year of a science can’t | in itself provide enough informa- ‘tion to be of lasting value, so the “In grade school I jwas most receptive to the idea of experi- menting, whereas by high school my tendency towards the liberal arts was already quite marked. |My schooling previous. to Bryn | Mawr was entirely in public schools, and even in my one year of high school physics .1 was de- terred by the lack of lab equip- ment.” “My college science has also been rather inadequate, but I don’t have time to be able to spend any | more course time at this point. I regret that. I didn’t have a chance ‘before entering college.” dudy. stated the possibility of continuing her studies, in French at, least, but said that even. in that case she planned no further course|| work in science; “Some reading || .amd I don’t think that anybody I know ‘will pretend to have a com- pletely satisfactory answer. We are all reshaping our work; a lot of experimenting is going on. Interviewer: Is there any direc- tion in which the teaching of physics—since that is your field— is moving? Dr. Michels: Yes: toward the freer laboratory, wherever poss- ible. . Also there is a shift from the quantative side of physics to the strictly reasoned, non-quanti- tative side, in am attempt to spre- sent physics as it has really grown and exists, not simply in the eas- iest, most connected, way. Interviewer: I may seem to be harping on this subject, but has ‘there been more teaching of science as part of the historical process, that is, in the light of its reper- eussions in society at large? Dr. Miehels: Yes, there have been many attempts, but remem- ber: no matter how greatly science has influenced society, the inter- action is seldom direct. The big- gest part of the interaction has come through that intermediate between science and _ society— technology. The two are distinct; and F don’t think science can take full responsibility for technology. Interviewer: [Perhaps not, moral- ly. But if you are going to jus- tify emphasis on scientific educa- tion by saying that science has had @ powerful influence on our society, must you not, im that ed- ucational process, attempt to show what effect it has had? Dr. Michels: I think this must ‘be done, (but whether it’s the job of the scientist or the historian, I’m not sure. (Science often both receives impetus from the society and gives imipetus to it. You can say either that. the 17th century produced great progress in astron- omy because there was an econ- omic demand for better navigation, or you can say that good naviga- tion resulted from progress in as-. tronomy, Probaly both are true and neither is true; and both the historian and the scientist are concerned \with the question. Interviewer: One last, topical Dieticion, Librarian Bid College Adieu During the summer, Miss Mar- jorie Bacheller, college dietician, and Mrs, Ethel W. ‘Whetstone, the library’s head of circulation, re- tired their posts at the College. ‘Miss Bacheller came to Bryn Cawr as dietician in the midst of war-time rationing (1942-48). Her success ‘with short supplies at that time ‘was equalled by her remark- able record of having to substitute cause of a crop freeze, no less!). ‘She will spend her winters in New York and summers in ‘Weston, Vt. Mrs. Whetstone joined the Library staff in 1946 and become Head of ‘Circulation in 1954. (She was al graduate of the University of ‘North (Carolina, worked in the U. 8. Army Library at Fort Bragg before her marriage and her sub- sequent move to the Main Line. ‘She will now make her home with her husband in Wichita, Kansas. Day only once since the war ye question: how do the science re- quirements at Bryn Mawr meas- ure up to your idea of a minimum introduction to stience fdr the non-science major? |. Dr. Michels: As I said adits, there are no absolute standards by which one can judge the adequacy of a curriculum or of a course, It is certainly true that Bryn Mawr College has avoided the watered- down courses about science, rath- er than in science, that have been developed in some attempts to produce courses for non-scientists. On the other hand, our present science requirement is less than that in many institutions—there is considerable justification for the growing insistence on a full year each of biological and of physical science as part of a lib- eral arts program. ‘The catch, of course, is that adding to the science requirement would cut out something else; [ do not feel qual- ified to form the value judgment required except in company with my colleagues. B. Ll. Letter to the Editor To the Editor: ‘We don’t want to seem finicky, ibut, as we are seniors and have been loyal if not faithful readers of the College News all that knock- down,drag-out time; and, as we are exercising remarkable restraint despite the extreme (provocation, we do hope that our few slight suggestions won't ibe ill-taken. Suggestion 1: Though anagram- ists ourselves, we could by no means ~decipher® “the paper, smack in the middle of a most intelligible (for onee) article: xqrpotz.