Bishop McNamara High School - Mac Times Yearbook (Kankakee, IL)

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rmmmf ,Q srrs H , A Bbg Independent Study in Contemporary Issues This was the first year for the experimental Contem- porary lssues course offered to Seniors. The course exemplified most fully the general trend in many courses toward more independent and individualized study. It integrated the areas of literature, sociology, and religion on contemporary problems of man'and society. The year was divided into three areas for study. Students first investigated the Human Condition : poverty, race, crime, war. They continued from here to investigate how such condi- tions are dealt with under the impetus Toward Change : revolution and protest, violence or nonviolence, or drugs and apathy. Finally they studied the Future Vision to see possible outcomes of change for the future of man: the threat of technology, ecology, the ideas of Chardin, etc. Most of class time was spent in directed independent study. Films also contributed to the course. The fruits of such study were debates, panel and group discussions, and major and minor research papers on the various issues. Top: jackie Dornburg, Judy Blanchette, Chris Chandler, and Toni Simmons present a debate in Contemporary Issues while their classmates listen with varied interest. Middle: Mike Boudreau finds his niche in the library to do his reading for the next C.l. discussion. Right: Sheila Brown gives a slide presentation on the problems of the black man in society. 20

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Science Labs: Investigation Through Experimenfafion The classes which most clearly involved testing one's theoretical knowledge were the labs of biological and physical sciences. ln Biology, students did such things as dissect frogs and grow their own cultures of bacteria for studying the distribution of microbes, not to mention trying their hand at wine-making with grape juice and yeast. Chemistry students, in their study of chemical properties and reactions, did experiments such as collecting gases, analyzing substances with colorful borax bead tests, and, of course, filling the school with the nauseous smell of sulfur dioxide Earth Science students didn't have a lab as such, but they were often involved in various projects related to their studies of weather and formations of the earth, as in building detailed constructions of volcanoes Physics students studied waves with ripple tanks, velocities with weighted carts, and nuclear collisions and momentum with ordinary objects like marbles and nickels. s it 2 I l 1... Bbg 1 9 W

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SMR Business in the Classroom Individual responsibility in preparing for the real thing was the name of the game for the secretarial courses of the Business Program. The students in Typing ll, Steno, and Office Practice were divided into small groups to work on projects at their own pace and develop skills such as speed and accuracy. Students and teacher evaluated the work together in terms of an actual life situation. At the end of the year, the class vvas set up like a real office to simulate hovv the work flow of the various departments is dependent upon one another. Left: Sue McKenna resembles Rodin's Thinker as she checks the spelling ofa word for a typing assignment, Lower left: Debbie Quigley, Terri Schmidt fface hiddenj, Kathy Al- berts, and Ann Mason line up to compute yearbook returns. Below: Ann Ohrt and Paula Yonke obtain experience using the mimeograph machine in Office Practice. V, ...W wf T'M Bbg Bbg Ml