3

Wednesday, October 7, 1959

THE COLLEGE NEWS

Page Three



Role Of ‘Science In The Liberal Arts Forms Survey Topic

Nina Broekhuysen
French

“Inasmuch as I consider science
one among several fields of poten-
tial interest to.a maturing student,
rather than the area in which he
should be interested, he can poss-
ibly direct his preference. I do
consider my own exposure to
science sufficient in quantity.

“I have had sufficient acquaint-
ance with the various fields within
science to have had a basis for
further study in~ them, had~ my
mind [been so inclined. However,
except for the one year of Geology
I have had at Bryn Mawr, my sci-
ence courses were far from ade-
quate as concerns facilities. Al-
though in my own case I cannot
say I might have turned to science
if the courses had ‘been more up-
to-date and alive, the deficiency
may (well influence those who are
less sure of their predilictions.”



aia

Sue Schapiro
History

. “My impulse is an answer no,
unequivocally. On second thought,
however, I realize that it is. extent
rather than kind of-scientifie edu-
cation which J feel inadequate in
myself. (I am glad to have had
to take a_ specific, intensive, and
year-long science course at college,
and would not want to see the re-
quirement satisfied by even the
most comprehensive and exacting
general course in science or sci-
ences... Orr silica

“But one course—all I’ve had
time for at Bryn Mawr—is_ not
enough. ‘Whole areas of science
remain foreign enough to be for-
midable, almost completely [beyond
my reach, despite their fascina-
tion and my real interest. Yet,
convinced of the value of our in-
tensive curriculum, I have no so-
lution to a problem which is per-
haps attributable to increased

. specialization in general as it is
: to a four-course system and a de-

manding major in our specific

case.”

Dr. Michels: On Studying Science

EDITOR’S NOTE: Fifteen seniors were asked this question: Do you, as humanities
major, consider the exposure you have had to science, in your educational career so
far, sufficient in quanity and adequate in kind? Their answers are published on this
page. Below is a major interview with Dr. Walter C. Michels of the Physics Depart-
ment, who tackles much the same problem from the professorial perspective.

Liz Hansot
Philosophy

“In order to determine how



Interviewer: [How do you, as a
scientist, understand the relation
between the liberal arts and the
sciences ?

Dr. Michels: ‘Let’s ask this:
what do you mean by a liberal
arts program? It-seems-to-me-that
the justification for amy liberal
arts program is that it cuts across
these cultures, those developments
on thought which have contributed
principally to ‘the society in which
we live. (Certainly, if this is true,
the nature of a liberal arts educa-
tion must change from time to
time. There’s no question what-
ever but that science has been a
dominant influence in the twenti-
eth century, and even somewhat
before that. . Therefore, a liberal
arts program which is responsible
to its purpose of showing the
growth of civilization must incor-
porate the sciences, not as a sup-
plement to that program—because
it cannot be—but as an insepar-
able part of it.

Interviewer: The growth of civi-
lization, yes; but also one direc-
tion in which it can and is likely
to expand,

Dr, Michels: That is right; there
is no question whatever that, during
the next 50 years, science and the
technology that grows out of it—
and I’d like to keep these two very
separate—will have more influence
than they have had in the last cen-
tury. I don’t know whether you
know of a statement George Stew-
art makes in his book, Man—A
Biography, that the conditions un-
der which man lives have changed:
more in the two-and-a-half cen-
turies since 1700 than’ they chang-
ed from the beginning of recorded
history up until -1700. It seems



Jean Yaukey
English

How can you ever say you've
had enough of anything? I he-
lieve that in proportion to the oth-'
er things I have studied I have had

|-enough _science.__I_-certainly—con-|——

sider my Geology course here more
than adequate in kind, and I can
say the same for the Physics, Bi-
ology, and (Math I took in high
school, although they did not at-
tempt to cover the material found
in a college course.

I enjoyed all these courses in a
sort of liberal artsy way. My at-
titude has never been terribly
scientific, as I have related my
knowledge in science .to the arts.
I therefore feel that, because of
the way I study science, I have



taken enough courses in it.

Sheila Gopen—Economics

I believe that Bryn (Mawr’s re-
quirement of one intensive labor-
atory science is good and that my
course in physics benefited me a
great deal. However, I do not

consider my overall exposure to
science sufficient in quantity,- liv-
ing as I am in a world of scien-
tific change. Although I would
not recommend a general science
course, I do think that somewhere
in an educational career there is
a place for an introduction to
more than one science, Perhaps
this may just be the responsibil-
ity of the high school.

Many times people are afraid
of a new science and never take
it. At Brym Mawr, where the 101
course is strenuous, students tend
to go into those courses with
which they are already acquainted

~—~and “consequently —do—not~get-ex-

posed to other scientific fields.
I’m very glad that I, a liberal

until my sophomore year to fulfill
my science requirement. As a re-
sult, my approach was more ma-
ture and I (would definitely advise
others to do the same. I feel that
too many students rush _ into
science as something they want
to get out of the way.

At Bryn Mawr I think a course
such as History of Scientific
Thought is an excellent idea for
the student who has already ful-
filled her single science require-
ment. However, I think that it
should be offered more often and
made more attractive to the non-
science major. Perhaps this would
ibe one way to give the liberal
arts student a look at the prob-
lems and accomplishments of the
various branches of science. Such
a course could even introduce some
sciences not included in our curric-

ample—while presenting them all
in a manner familiar to the liberal



arts major from the start, waited

Jarts student,

es

ain: nettle wsei0 tren



likely that this change will con-
tinue for.some time to come at an
accelerated pace. And yet, rela-
tive to the importance of the un-
derstanding we must have of
science over the next generation,
the emphasis ;we put on science. in
our educational scheme is very
small. This is evident when edu-
cation in the sciences is compared
with that in the humanities or in
technology.

Interviewer: I think that no one
will contest the importance of an
introduction to science for students
of the humanities. Our problem
is really one of quantity of science
in proportion to education in other
fields and also the kind of pres-
entation of science that should be
made, is it not?

Dr. Michels: Quantity is one
problem. There must tbe some bal-
ance in a curriculum that includes
science, but what that balance
should be I don’t know. But it’s
also true that the problem of how
to approach the teaching of
science, in a liberal arts program
—or im any other program for that
matter—is something we’re a long
way from solving.

One approach has been to treat
introductory courses as_if they
were primarily for the purpose of
preparing for further. work in the
subject. Given the requirements
in the majority of colleges and
universities today, for most of the
students these will be terminal
courses, and to design the courses
for the ‘relatively few majors is



‘Sally Davis
Latin

“I had physics and chemistry in
school and first year geology here
—I certainly don’t consider this
‘adequate preparation’ in science.
I would like very much to have
taken both Physics and Biology,
but have found it absolutely im-
possible with a 4-course schedule.
I would certainly not be in favor
of a survey-type science course.”













Joan Strell
History

In answer to the question Joan
Strell said, “In quantity, yes, be-
cause my exposure to science has
not been limited to the basic
laboratory courses.” Joan has had
additional contact with science in
the study of the Scientific Revolu-
tion of the sevententh century in
the Enlightenment course and in
summer iwork,

“As for kind,” she says, “I do
feel that required laboratory work
is necessary, not for what you re-

approach one gains to subject





akon ——

nonsensical.
there is.a danger here, for some
of the courses that break away
from this older attitude, to my
mind, have gone so far that they

Is this bad?

On the other hand,

have really stopped being science

courses,

Interviewer: I suppose

it would be possible to intellectu-

alize many of the methods or tech-

niques of science.
Dr. Michels: Perhaps.

of science,

you
mean that the emphasis shifts
away from the laboratory work
and the intensive study of detail.
I would think that

A great
many institutions have tried cours-
es in the philosophy and history
(As far as I can make
out, these often fail to give any

much science one wants to take,
it is useful to consider the desira-
bility of studying the sciences at
all. A Humanities major becomes ©
acquainted in the sciences with a
method which refuses to accept
facts not related and structured

as much as possible into a coherent
whole. There is a great deal of sat-
isfaction-to be derived from work-
ing a system of commonly agreed
presumptions, and to be able to
resolve problems in terms of these
presumptions. ([Isofar as science
is concerned not with facts for
their own sake but with facts in-
tended to change a relatively con-
ceived order of experience, those
willing to take more advanced
courses, having once learned the
technique, obtain. from their lab-'
oratory work better experience of
the discipline.

ciplines by its history and under-

ology ?

understanding of science. You can
give something: that can (be par-
roted; but until you actually get
in there and try to use the tools,
the techniques, and especially the
kind of thinking involved, I don’t
know of any way that you really
come close to understanding them..

Interviewer: The purpose of an
introductory course, then, is not
to give a broad understanding of
one scientific field, or of science
as distinguished from other dis-

lying philosophical and logical as-
sumptions; but is rather an at-
tempt to get at scientific method-

Dr, Michels: Scientific method-
ology is a meaningless phrase; the
methods science uses in attacking
a given problem are roughly the
same methods used in any field,
except that in some fields the ex-
perimentation is not so easy to do.
But, no—I would say that one ma-

“Technological activities exist

by demand, and the liberal arts
major has likewise responsibility
to influence technology to achieve
these goals.
such control it is advisable to have
at least a theoretical knowledge
of the discipline. What.technology
has achieved in the past will re-
main, but the meaning that is con-
ferred on it in the present depends
on the use to which it is directed
within society. :

In order to exercise

“The science courses offered at

BMC are very well taught; within
this context more exposure’ to
them would certainly be useful.”



science courses—three
school, and two at the college lev-
el,
has proven useful to me as a psy-
chology major.
than that, is the influence of the
methods of science on my patterns
of
tion that in any science course,
repeated contact with and manipu-
lation of the methods and prac-
tices of science is a primary way
of inducing a student to think and
question both critically and care-
fully. Experience in a laboratory
can engender such a spirit of ex-
periment.

jor purpose of introductory cours-

es is to overcome this antipathy,

even fear, which a lot of people

Continued on Page 4, Col. 3

Anne Stebbins
Psychology

“The question * perplexes_.me



“|somewhat, as I am not certain
what is meant by “sufficient” and
by “adequate”.
equate for a student not concern-
ed with science? Or sufficient and
adequate for the optimal develop-
ment of such a student’s intellect?

Sufficient and ad-

“If educators are interested in

producing highly specialized Lib-
eral Arts students, then I- should
say that my exposure to science
would probably suffice for three or
four of these specialists.
educators are concerned with en-
couraging an independent spirit
of curiosity, inquiry, inventiveness
and persistence, then my exposure
is barely enough for one Liberal
Arts major.

But if

“I have had experience in five
in high

The content of these courses

More important

thought, It is my finm convic-

“I think, therefore, that all stu-

dents should take at least one,
science course, either general or
-ulum—such ‘as astron specific, which ;would make poss-

of the course, but. for the ible for them this type of first- ,
hinan ate : t experience which} ness that non-scientists envy but
can be conducive to -a-broader,| cann on-&

matter and the actual manual tech-/more creative and yet more an-
ee _ Jalytical pattern of thinking.”



Joanne Field
= English |

Ideals aside, I have begun to
think that no one can ever have -
adequate knowledge of anything.
Certainly I, as a liberal arts ma-
jor, don’t know nearly as much
science as I probably should, but
if we are to face such cold facts
as Bryn Mamwr’s deep, narrow and
crammed curriculum, I don’t be-
lieve that a better solution than
the present requirement can easily
be found.

A first year course that must
give a firm working basis to the
specialist can be a little over-
whelming to the unprepared, the
irrational enthusiast or the unin-
terested; still, science is science,
and I think the liberal arts major
is entitled to the real thing in pref-
erence, for instance, to a historical
survey or general-science course.
Now, though we may know little,
we can at least acquire some ink-
Jing of what science is~

1 don’t think the granted de-
ficiencies in the scientific back-
grounds of liberal arts majors can
ibe remedied by additional requir-
ed courses either. The problem
of time is obvious, and the inter-
dependence of the scientific fields
makes adivanced study in one the
study of all. I believe, further-
more, that a recognized lack of
aptitude rather than interest pre-
vents non-science students from
going on, Certain fields are con-
genial to certain people, and for
those without the peculiar mental
vitality and technical resourceful-



‘annot understand, further com- |

pulsory training in science might



be entirely fruitless.

*