SCIENCE TEACHING AND DEVELOPING THE SCIENTIFIC

ATTITUDE

By: Dr. Cecilio Putong

It is pleasure to participate in this program this morning because, as a member

of the committee assigned to take charge of the observance of this year’s Philippine
National Science Week, which ends tomorrow, I feel that I ought at least to do
something concrete by way of stimulating interest in science education. I believe I
can find no better opportunity than this occasion when I am with you who are in the
firing lines, as it were, in our relentless battle against ignorance and superstition
which for so long have held sway over the minds of a great many of our people. I
congratulate you heartily on your having chosen science teaching as your particular
field of specialization, for as His Excellency, President Elpidio Quirino has said in
his Proclamation No. 354 “human progress greatly depends upon the achievements
in science.” In the degree, therefore, that you bring about a deeper interest in, and a
keener appreciation of, the value of science among our people, in that same degree
will you be contributing toward our national progress and advancement.

A few days ago a Swedish scientist advised the small nations to undertake
atomic research if they did not wish to be left far behind in the world’s onward
march. It was the belief of this scientist that in the years ahead atomic energy will
furnish a large part of the power needed in transportation and in the industries. Our
Filipino scientists would do well to take that advice to heart.

But we are not concerned this morning with such a problem as leadership in
scientific research. Our main concern, I take it, is how most effectively to develop
the scientific attitude in our students and at the same time to disseminate scientific
knowledge and procedures among our people so that they will be equipped with
scientific principles and information as they go about their daily activities.

That there is a dire need for the wide diffusion of scientific knowledge among
our people should be clear to anyone who has eyes to see. Evidence of this need may
be found everywhere. It may be found on the farm where the ordinary farmer is still
following the very same practices which were followed by his forebears. One reason
why our farmers today do not raise as much as they should is that they are still using
primitive methods. They have not learned the value of such desirable practices as
seed selection, crop rotation, and soil fertilization. They seem to resist the
promptings of progress.

Evidence is also found in many homes where no system whatsoever is

followed in the planning of meals for the family, and the food is selected in a
haphazard fashion without regard to its nutritive values. Violations of the rules of
health are in large part due to a lack of understanding and appreciation of the
underlying principles involved. Unable to shake off the fetters of tradition, many
people still persist in unhygienic ways of living. Improper waste disposal is still
common, particularly in the rural areas. Impostors who claim to be faith healers still
draw crowds from among our ignorant masses.

Evidence is also found in the way our people utilize our natural resources.
Unmindful of the baneful effects of their acts upon the welfare of the generations to
come after them, too many of our fishermen persist in the use of explosive. The same
thing is true of those who are exploiting our forest resources. Trees are being
removed from our forests without replacement. Then there is the making of kaingin,
a practice which is still rampant in this country. The inevitable result of these
pernicious practices is the loss of our forests and the denuding of our mountains,
together with the attendant evils of destructive floods and soil erosion.

And there is the common tendency of our people to destroy shade and
ornamental trees, shrubs, and flowering plants that are planted in our parks and
plazas to beautify our cities and towns. Then, too, there is the cruel practice of
needlessly killing birds with guns and slingshots, forgetting the help that these
winged friends of ours give to the farmer in the control of pests.

These are only a few instances of the evils resulting from a disregard of the
principle of science by our people. In the face of this unfortunate situation our
teachers of science need to exert their utmost in making their students see the
necessity of knowing and applying the principles of science in their daily lives. In
other words, we need to make our instruction in science as functional as possible.
There is very little use in a science course which merely seeks to store up scientific
facts in the minds of the students. To be useful, the study of science must cause a
change in the attitudes and actions of the students. To paraphrase a well-known
writer, “education should make the individual behave as he had not behaved before.”
In other words, it should make a new man of him.

What method will bring this about? There are methods and methods, and the
teacher is free to use that which he can use most efficiently. But, in general, the
method to be recommended is that which will develop curiosity and reflective
thinking in the student. Some methods are self-defeating because they produce the
contrary effect; that is, they kill the inquiring attitude of the student. This is best
illustrated by that form of experiment whose purpose is merely to prove that
something is true, as for example, that oxygen burns. I found an experiment of this
kind in the notebooks of students in general science in one of the schools in the City
the other day. Now, this is not an unusual case. I believe it is quite common in our
schools because it is the way many of us have been taught and teachers have the
tendency to follow the method used by their own professors.

But what is the objection to the method? The objection is that it does not
arouse the student’s curiosity because he knows already what is intended to be
shown. In other words, the experiment is merely a verification of a fact which is
known to him. What is desirable procedure, to my mind, is to put the child in a state
of expectancy by not telling him beforehand what is to happen but leading him
instead to speculate and then to explain the phenomenon he sees. The same thing is
true of the general procedure in the classroom discussions. The method used should
induce a maximum of active, vigorous thinking on the part of the students regarding
phenomena observed in the laboratory as well as during field trips. Textbooks and
references are useful and even indispensable, but they should only serve to enlarge
and strengthen the concepts formed by the student through the use of his own
thinking powers.

In other words, we should encourage in our students the spirit of inquiry as a

means of developing the scientific habit of mind. We should place them in
problematic situations and teach them to recognize problems and to analyse them
into their factors, to examine facts, to make tentative conclusions, and to subject
them to rigid observation and experiment with a view to securing validity. But as
Twiss has advised in his book on the Principles of Science Teaching, let us avoid
having our students memorize the finished products of thinking done by mature,
experienced, highly trained minds, “for this is not the way to develop effective
national thinkers.”

At this juncture, it would seem pertinent to ask, what of the curriculum? In

going over the report of the UNESCO Mission which made a survey of our schools
two years ago, I was drawn to some of the comments made by the mission. In one
place in the report the Mission said:

“The natural and the social scientists are developing new theories of matter,
of energy, and of human society, the application of which is revolutionizing
the world. People participate most effectively in shaping the future if they
know the fundamental principles operating in both the natural and social
sciences. In order that Filipino children may have a thoroughly modern
elementary education, more attention that is now given in many schools need
to be devoted to the development of a better understanding of the modern
world.”

Then the Mission went on to mention the matter of aviation as one example of what
should go into the elementary curriculum.

But the reference to our natural resources is so vital that I wish to quote it in
full:

“The great natural resources of the Philippines are, for the most part,
virgin, awaiting the vision and industry of the Filipino people to develop them
into consumable wealth. Many references to this potential wealth are now
included in the courses of study and school textbooks. Unfortunately, almost
all of these printed references are out of date and, therefore, inadequate and
misleading. In too few classrooms is there evidence that pupils understand the
need for planned development of these resources or their potential benefit.
The elementary school should assist children to understand the need of
conserving the national resources and of using them wisely, by: (1) presenting
clearly the extent and location for the Philippine mineral, forest, fish,
agricultural, animal and power resources; (2) developing an appreciation of
the planning, initiative, hard work, and technological skills required to extract
and process these resources; (3) exploring the benefits that will accrue to the
Philippines and to the world through the development of these riches; and (4)
 helping the pupils to understand the meaning of conservation through ideas
such as the importance of a planned program of replenishing forests, the need
of preventing soil erosion and loss of fertility, or the urgent necessity of
replacing fish in inshore waters at a rate that will maintain an adequate
supply. Wherever possible, opportunities should be provided whereby
children can engage in conservation activities in line with the foregoing
objectives.”

These observations refer to the elementary curriculum, but I must say that they
are also pertinent in the secondary curriculum.

I believe that these ideas should also be stressed in our secondary schools in
community assemblies so that our people not only will understand them but also
will be guided by them.

In this connection, may I suggest that we provide our library with an

abundance of local materials? Practically all the references I saw on the shelves of
the library in a certain school were written by American professors for American
students and depicted American conditions. How can we familiarize our students
with our own flora and fauna, with the wealth of our mineral, forest, fish, and other
natural resources, and with our particular problems of conservation, health, and food
production if we do not provide them with the proper literature? And yet we have
here magazines, journals, brochures, and other materials that can be had if only we
would look for them. Let us give our students the materials that will be most useful
to them in their thinking and let us do this, not next year, but immediately.

I have only one more point to make, and that is the social impact of science and
technology upon the world. We know that the human race has made vast strides in
its efforts to conquer and control the forces of nature. The progress that has been
made in this century is amazing. The splitting and only recently the fusion of atoms
to produce energy of tremendous proportions is an epoch-making achievement. But
there is serious concern among thinking people that this advance in the physical
science has not been matched by a similar advance in the moral background and the
social attitudes of the people of the world and that if this situation should continue,
there is danger that such progress would lead to the destruction of our civilization.
Our teachers should, therefore, ponder this serious problem and help in bringing
about greater good will and less tension among nations. As an Italian delegate said
at the Fifth UNESCO Conference in Florence two years ago, the intellect must be
made “an instrument of understanding and union and not an instrument of
dissension and war.”