AN INVESTIGATION OF TYPES OF CLASSROOMS FOR CHEMISTRY AND OTHER SCIENCES IN SMALL HIGH SCHOOLS*
During the years 1024 to 1927 one of the authors of this paper conducted three science surveys in the state of South Dakota. Dur. by. auestionnaire ing this time a large number of STATUS OF HIGH SCHOOLS the small high schools in the state and in adjoining states ACCREDITED 4YR. 278 were visited. From the results 3 YR. 33 of these surveys and personal -~ .Y. .. R -75- 1 IYR 18visits the greater part of the NON-LICCREDITED data used in this paper has been 4 YR. II secured. On these personal 3 YR. 6 visits it was found that the fa. -2 Y.R... 17 1 l YR. 24 cilities for science teaching in N.C.A. ACCREDITED BY No. OF SCHOoLs small high schools over the state 4YR. 5710Le-27 are very similar. I t is probable 1.-TYPES OF HIGHSCHOOLS FOUND IN FIGORE that the conclusions reached for SOUTH DAKOTA the state of South Dakota will apply also to the other states of the northwest, if not, to the other states of c the nation. In order that the reader may fully understand the high-school science problem of South Dakota, i t may be well to state that in 1926-1927 there were 469 (see Figure 1) high SCIENCE~OFKRED~IN~S.D.~SCHOOLS schools of which 278 were fourBY FfRCWT OF SCHCClS REPORTING year state accredited schools.' Ninety-five per cent of these GEN.SC1 319 , four-year a c c r e d i t e d high schools were located in towns PHYSICS 572 7 7 whose population was 2500 or less. Thirty-five per cent BIOLOGY 2487. have an enrolment of less than TRYg~I~S:Z fifty students; forty-one per C H E M I S as?,+ + 1916-17 ==z+=- / cent an enrolment of fifty to 100; seventeen per cent an enrolment of 100 t o 200; and *Read before the Division of Chemical Education at the 76th Meeting of the A. C. S., September 12, 1928, at Swampscott, Mass.
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'Directory
of
Secondary Schools and Educational Institutions, 192&1927.
partment of Public Instruction, Pierre, South Dakota.
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only seven per cent an enrolment of 200 or more. South Dakota high school is the small high school.
In short the typical
Some Facts Concerning Small High Schools g o m a careful study of the data obtained from the science surveys of 1024, 1925, and 1926;2,3 the Directories of the Secondary Schools of South D a k ~ t a and ; ~ the Biennial Re-
~ i ~ t ~ d aort o f the state ~ ~ ~ ~ .SChNCE.OFFERED.INS.D:SCHOOLS. ent of Public In~truction.~ BY PERCENT OF S C t W S REPORTING we find that the typical fourBOTANY year accredited high school qf this stata i s situated i n a town ZOOLOGY :,82 & 8% p of about 500 inhabitants; has a 19L-en total enrolment of sixty pupils; PHY GEO.?~ 1925-26629% 1916-17 0 that the science is mainly general FIGURE 3.-TIiE MINORSCIENCE SUBJECTS FOUND science or physics (see Figure 2 HIG,, SCHOOLS OF S o U ~ HDAKOTA and Figure 3) or a combination of the two sciences with a n enrolment of ten to twenty pupils; that the school o.fers one or two sciences; and has rather inadequate facilities for the teachi n z of science. This typical high school has three or four teachers (see Figure 4), with twenty-five per cent of all PREtWNRNCE.OF.S)(R~SCH~LS these teachers serving as prinBY NUMBER O F TEA H E R S SCHOOLS :TOTAL NUMBER- 278 tip+ o r superintendents. 0ut7of a total of 530 who taught 96-34.5% science i n 1926-1927, thirtyseven per cent serered also as 57-20.59. principals or superintendents. -5 Sixty-two per cent of these science teachers faughtjive orsix 6 % classes per b y ; handled a twoOVER 6 i + . Z. . or three-subject combination, ,Y% usually science, mathematics, or Frcum 4.-THE NUMBER o*. TEACHERS PER hzstory, . and i n addition superScHooL vised at least one outside activity such as football or basketball (see Figure 5). Jensen, J. H., "High-School Science Survey of South Dakota," Tnrs J O ~ N A L , 4, 897-904 (July, 1927). Jensen, J. H., "High-School Science Survey of South Dakota," unpublished report. ~
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