Excerpt from Civic Science in the Community

Man's place in relation to science. - Living things, man included, live in an environment which is made up of certain definite factors, and with these factors living things react and interact. Some of these factors are materials - things, other factors are forces. The ultimate result of the complex we call life is the interaction of the materials and forces with the living things on the earth. Man, however, is supreme among animals because of all the animals he alone can control the factors of his environment. He has control of fire and water and electricity. His home has evolved from the cave of primitive man to the complex housing systems of the present age. His communal life has brought with it new problems - the disposal of wastes, the safeguarding of water and milk supplies, the need of community sanitation and hygiene. His higher civilization- demands use of machines, the need of which his forefathers neither knew nor felt, of transportation and communication, of more varied and practical education as well.

Children's interests in science. - In the midst of such a life as this our children are growing up. Science beckons to them from every side. In every device used at home for comfort and better living, science speaks. The telephone and telegraph, the trolley and the automobile, the airplane and submarine, have all become part and parcel of their daily lives. Many of the common things of science which directly affect the lives of children are equally interesting to both sexes. But in any scheme of modern education we must take individual differences into consideration. We no longer educate in the mass. Sex, age, environment, capability, heredity, all are important factors which must be recognized by the modem teacher as having a place in educational practice as well as theory.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.