FOSTERING SCIENCE CLUBS IN THE HIGH SCHOOLL Lours A. ASTELL, WEST CHICAGO COMMUNITY HIGHSCHOOL, WEST CAICAGO, ILLINOIS Two statements of apparent significance represent the keynote of this treatment on the fostering of science clubs in the high school. The first, by Professor Dewey, is that "the future of our civilization depends upon the widening spread and deepening hold of the scientific habit of mind;" and the second by Wiggam is to the effect that the spirit and methods of science are worth vastly more than the discoveries of science, since it is through this spirit and by these methods that the future discoveries will be made.% Something of the magnitude of these statements comes to us when we consider the opinion of Edison who, with more than 1450 patents in his own name, says that in the next forty years there will be more inventions and discoveries than in the past four hundred years. The enormity of these figures, even though they constitute a prediction, should give teachers of science a still greater vision of the importance of their task. Out of this extended conception there can be, there must be, a united and more painstaking effort to adjust the pupil to that enormity which will engulf him in his own lifetime. As long, then, as extra-curricular activities are accorded a place in our educational system, the major or academic subjects, including science, are entitled to the advantages of clubs or other supplementary organizations designed to inculcate in the student the greatest possible measure of training and leadership. Through science clubs there may be established a further regard for truth, a greater accuracy of observation, a more perfect fidelity of report, a much-needed improvement in the humanizing spirit, a maximum independence of character, and an added respect for law and order. In short, such clubs can give the student a more thorough conception of the spirit and methods of science as applied to the accrued results of science. That clubs for the academic subjects were largely deserted with the advent of the commercializing influence of athletics in the school and the increasingly attractive phases of life beyond the school is no reason why such clubs should continue to remain deserted. In making this statement I do not wish to decry the merits of athletics as they contribute to the individual's mental and moral supremacy. The fact remains, however, that unless the physical does contribute to the mental and moral aspects, our cause becomes dangerously parallel to that of nations founded on physical force. Presented before the Chemistry Section of the Illinois High-School Conference, at Urhana, Nov. 23,1928. ¶A. E. Wiggam, "The Religion of the Scientist," World's Work, 50, No. 4 (Aug., 1925).
From quite another angle, it is time that we, as science teachers, were doing the constructive things within our power to prevent the origin of further legal barriers to scientific progress. Science clubs can contribute a sympathy for, and an understanding of, science with its manifold benefits for civilization. What group, other than science teachers, is more responsible for the development of this sympathy and this understanding of science? That we have failed to maintain a confidence in science to any extent implies that our emphasis has been misplaced to that extent. Science clubs do have a place, an increasingly important place, in the highschool curriculum as organized a t present. But to establish the validity of science clubs is merely the initial step in establishing clubs. The instructors who sponsor these clubs must be given consideration. I say this out of the bonds of sympathy, as a science teacher who has enjoyed some of the experience that comes from the range of science positions as they occur over the state. I know that the average science teacher is busy with a multitude of details which arise in consequence of conducting simultaneously several courses in science. I know how natural is the tendency to feel that we have given all we should give or all we are paid to give. I know, too, with confirmations from the very recent past, the joy that comes from giving enough to hold students through the strong bonds of interest that develop when these students are given responsibilities and opportunities beyond the limits of their expectations. The immediate results are reconverted into an increased classroom interest, which is a primary objective in the mind of every classroom instructor. Added investments of time are not lost. All this leads to a logical question. What are the things a science club can do? The question has come to me often enough to warrant an answer in the form of ten important principles from my own experience in such club work. 1. It can offer an endless variety of closed meetings for the membership, with emphasis on student participation. Demonstrations, talks accompanying or contributing to the use of slides and film-slides and films, plays, stunts, field trips, and informal parties are all important activities which will command student attention and interest so necessary to the success of a club. 2. The sponsorship of one or more scientific lectures, annually, for the school and the community can be a complete justification for the existence of any club. 3. The entertainmentof clubs and civic organizations by means of special programs is a powerful method of cementing relationships between the school and the community. The practical aspects of increased community loyalty for the administration and the cause of education, together with a further appreciation of science, are the logical derivatives.
498
JOURNAL oa CEEMICAL EDUCATION
MARCH, 1929
4. Through the organized effort of such club membership the club may sponsor benefit programs to purchase for school and club use auxiliary equipment of scientific nature, such as delineascopes, stereopticons, and projectors of the various types. Educational research is developing the importance of such equipment for visual aids. This is borne out by the fact that every accredited high school in the state of Ohio must have a moving picture machine or a stereopticon. Schools frequently are not able to purchase such equipment directly. What more fitting tribute, then, can a science club make to science than to purchase a product of science designed for the advancement of education? The tax-payer, the parent, and the student, each from a different and worthwhile angle, will be quick to appreciate what is being done if such projects are properly handled. The club for which I am now acting as sponsor, very recently traded an old moving picture machine in on a new one of the more modem type for auditorium and classroom use and met the very large balance due by means of the proceeds of a single benefit program. This achievement was of added significance due to the weather conditions which prevailed throughout the day and evening of the program. Great as was the financial aspect in this c a s e f o r the club netted a greater profit than that obtained from any other single evening program in the history of the school-this profit was as nothing compared with the training in detailed and organized leadership of the 110 members of the organization, together with the development of a cooperative spirit on the part of the civic organizations and the community as a whole. The members were used in the presentation of three preliminary programs to the assembly and to the various civic bodies, then used in a closely knitted sales force of the entire membership. Each member had a sales quota. Teamwork was emphasized by making it obligatory for those who had completed their quota to help some other member complete his quota before entering into the competition for the greatest number of sales. 5. Affiliationswith such organizations as the Illinois State Academy of Science,3 the Izaak Walton League of A m e t i ~ aand , ~ the National Association of Audubon Societies: followed by participation in, or functioning through, these worthwhile organizations, represents another valuable opportunity. When student delegates are sent to meetings of the state academies of science and to similar meetings in something of the numbers and with something of the regularity enjoyed by these same students in the a Doctor Lyd J. Thomas, Seaetary. University of Illinois, Natural History Building, Urbana. Illinois. ' Harry C. Goodwin, Chairman of theExecutive Committee, Izaak Walton League of America. Rochester, New York. 5 National Association of Audubon Societies. 1974 Broadway, New York City.
VOL.6, No. 3
SCIENCE CLUBSIN
THE
HIGHSCHOOL
499
various phases of state athletics, there will be a tremendously increased interest in science. 6. For individual members there should be pins and credentials of membership in the form of neat cards bearing, among other things, evidence of the affiliations of the organization. This form for the card may serve to indicate the possibilities of such a device: If the pin and the card are EDISONIAN SCIENCE CLUB Afiliated un'th the IZZinois Stale Academy of Science CREDENT~LS oa
..................................... .Number........ a , . ........ .in the West Chicago Community High School
as to.. ....................................membership irom ................ 192 .... to ................ 192.... "It may well be that men of science, not kings or warriors or even statesmen, are to be the heroes of the future." ................................ .Secretmy
not standardized for all clubs affiliated with the academy of this state, there might well be a certificate issued by the academy to the separate clubs which would set forth the facts of affiliation. 7. All the members in good standing a t the time of departure from the school system should be given the status of permanent honorary membership and should receive credential cards on this basis. There should be an annual program for these members as another and a most effective means of rendering service to the cause of education through maintenance of ties so frequently neglected in educational work as practiced. 8. The constitution should be thoroughly developed and thoroughly utilized in the meetings, in order that the membership may continue to function even in the event that the sponsor's successor takes no active interest in the work. Continuous perpetuation is highly desirable. Much can be done toward safeguarding it under this plan. 9. The club can carry out the principles of vision as applied to adjustments for the student and the community, in full recognition of the fact that unless scientific activity contributes largely to a general vision and to a common good i t does not deserve the name of science. 10. All the general principles and the psychology which contribute toward the success of any club, either local or national, may be utilized by the science club to advantage. Included in these principles and in this psychology is the initial organization of the club toward the end of the school year. Such a plan gives time for a proper mental set on
the part of the members during vacation months. Large clubs, with or without sectional divisions, offer outstanding possibilities when functioning as a whole. In this connection I may say that, while clubs of less than fifty members are the general rule, my experience has been limited to clubs' of more than that number. The nature of the activities selected depends largely on the number of members. The only important consideration is to select activities such as will make opportunities for all the members to feel that they are of consequence to the welfare of the club. Bulletin board work in the form of daily memoranda and of membership thermometers has never failed me in placing the total enrolment where I thought it should be. These characteristics and objectives of science clubs are not the only worthwhile ones which can be, or are being, developed. The "Modern Alchemists" of Bloomington (Illinois) High School, with a membership limited to thirty-five and under the sponsorship of Mr. H. W. Garnett, has developed a science week for the school during which industrial and student exhibits, posters, and demonstrations attract the attention and interest of students generally. The student exhibits are developed from the collections made on field trips. For these trips business men and interested parents furnish the cars. The club has numbered among its trips one to the starch works of Decatur and another to the cement works a t La Sdle. The chemistry club of the Rockford Senior High School, which is under the sponsorship of the chairman%f this session and is affiliated with the Illinois State Academy of Science, conducts assembly programs for the junior and senior high schools, gives a formal banquet and two picnics annually, entertains the parents, and gives prizes for commercial products as duplicated by the students. There is a great variety of possibilities for science clubs everywhere. These clubs are worth developing from many points of view, but the chief consideration is that of developing leadership in the student and an increased interest and appreciation for the spirit and methods of science on the part of the students and the community. That we, as teachers, must include these activities in our program is further indicated through Professor Judd's words: "The scientific attitude of mind is by no means a simple attitude, and it is not one which is readily assumed by the immature thinker."' We must develop these clubs because the need for this scientific attitude is increasing rather than decreasing, and because the club offers certain dynamic opportunities for the development of clear vision and sane 6 Miis S. Aleta McEvoy. Chemistry Department, Rockford Senior High School, Rockford, Illinois. Professor Chsrles H. Judd, "The Psychology of High Schwl Subjects," Ginn & Co., p. 304, 1915.
VOL.6, NO. 3
SCIENCE CLUBS1N THE HIGHSCHOOL
501
attitudes toward the problems of today, all of which means progress generally as well as scientifically. Selected References I. Texts: Blackburn. Lura, "Our High School Clubs," Macmillan, 1928. Englema, J. O., "Moral Education in School and Home," Sanborn, 1918. Foster, Charles R., "Extra-Curricular Studies in the High School," Johnson Publishing Company, Richmond, Va.,1925. Judd, Professor C. H., "Psychology of High School Subjects," Ginn & Co , 1915. Judd, Professor C. H., "The Psychology of Social Institutions," Macmillan, 1926. McKown, Harry C., "Extra-Curricular Activities," Macmillau, 1927.
U. Periodicals: oa CHEMICAL EDUCATION: 1. JOURNAL Bell, Fannie I,.,"Posters in Chemistry," 5, 15747 (Feb., 1928). Billinger, R. D., "A Night in Alchemy," 5, 71&24 (June, 1928). Brayton, H. R., "Creating Interest in Freshman Chemistry,'' 5, 4 4 5 7 (April, 1928). Dunbar, Ralph E., "The Chemistry Open House a s an Aid in Instruction." 5,531-5 (May, 1928). Haub, Hattie D. F., "Students' Research Work in High-School Chemistry," 4,1241-59 (Oct., 1927). Jacobs. Adeline H., "Chemistry Posters," 2 , 7 9 2 4 (Sept., 1925). Mahannah, J. E., "Chemistry Projects in High School," 5, 11124 (Sept., 1928). "Motion Pictures for Science Classes," 5,1294-6 (Oct., 1928). 2 . School Science end Mathematics: Astell, Louis A,, "A Ritual and Other Devices far High-School Science Clubs," 27,952-5 (Dec., 1927).8 Astell, Louis A,, "Initiation Ceremony of the Edisonian Science Club," 28, 7 7 1 4 (Oct., 1928).0 Meister, Doctor Morris, "Managing a Science Club;' 23, 20&17 (March, 1923). Otto and Friedman, "A Chemical Vaudeville Show," 28, 75543 (Oct., 1928). 3. Science Classroom: Meister, Doctor Morris, Editor. This aid t o the teaching of science contains much valuable material relative to club work. References are too numerous t o he included here. Address: The Popular Science Publishing Company, 250 Fourth Avenue. New York, New York. 4 . The School Review: Roemer, Joseph, "Introducing a Program of Extra-Curricular Activities in a Junior High School," 36,516-21 (Sept.. 1928). 8 Q
Single reprint copy from author a t 10 cents. Single reprint copy from author a t 15 cents.
