Auburn High School - Follies Yearbook (Auburn, IN)

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Science j INCE knowledge which is acquired first hand makes e most lasting impression and the ability to observe closely, to form correct judgments, and to think logically is of inestimable value, laboratory practice in all branches of science is given a prominent place. A carefully written note book with scientific drawings is a part of the required work. CHEMISTRY. A choice of Chemistry or Physics is given in the Senior year. One year is given to the study of Chemistry. Two double periods for laboratory practice and three recitations per week are arranged for. The laboratory is eouipped so that each pupil may do individual work. Four months are devoted to acquiring the general principles of Chemistry: the theory of electrolytic dissociation is carefully considered. The acid-forming elements are studied, keeping in mind their relative importance, their principal compounds, and the reason for grouping certain elements. Afterwards the base-forming elements are studied in a similar manner. The extraction of the metals from their ores and their applications are givon emphasis. The course provides six weeks’ work in qualitative analysis. ■ PHYSICS. The great number of inventions connected with ev- ery day life makes it imperative that an education should include a knowledge of the principles and laws of the science of matter and energy. As the course is outlined, attention is given to facts of common observation and the service afforded mankind by a knowledge of the laws of nature. Recitation and class demonstration by teacher and pupils occupy four days in the week. A double period one day of the week gives the pupils the chance to perform a sufficient number of individual laboratory exercises to impress upon their minds the principles and phenomena. The fall term covers the work in General and Special Properties. Mechanics of Solids. Liquid and Gases. The winter term takes up Sound. Heat and Magnetism. Electricity and Light are given during the spring term. BOTANY. The science of Botany affords an excellent opportunity in training pupils to prefer to dig for knowledge themselves than to accept it from others. With this end in view those facts and principles of Botany arc presented which students in high school can work out and comprehend. The student is led to see and discover facts and whenever it is possible nothing is told him which he can discover for himself. Since the higher plant life means more to him now and will mean more to the great majority of pupiis in later life, the work is largely confined to

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German Gourse (•■HE two years' German course is not sufficient to give the pupil a thorough mastery of the German language. but it should give him a sufficient knowledge of its construction to enable him to appreciate the literature and create in him a desire for further study. The first year, as in the study of any new language, is made up of simple translations, drill in vocabularies, sen- tences illustrating the different principles, the turning of English into German and the memory gem6 and idioms. In the second year. Storm's lmmensee |and Hillem's Hoher als die Kirche are first read. Then comes the introduction of the German drama in the study of Schiller's “Wilhelm Tell and his “Jungfrau von Orleans.” Mathematics j|F there be a transfer of training from one menu) pro-cess to another, then there is no subject in the curriculum of the high school that is so adapted to train the reasoning powers of the student as the subject of mathematics. The course as offered in the Auburn High School not only endeavors to train the student in the powers of reasoning. but it seeks to give him such a clear cut knowledge and drill in the subjects taught that he will be led to see the application of this knowledge to the practical every day life, and to the laws of nature. Wentworth’s Algebra and Gcomotry and Moore’s Commercial Arithmetic are the toxt books used. The courto as offered is as follows: Freshman Year—Algebra to Quadratic Equations. Sophomore Year-Plane Geometry. Junior Year—Solid Geometry (First Half.) Algebra from Quadratic Equations (Second Half.) Senior Year—Commercial Arithmetic (First Half.)

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those plants. However, a few of the lower plants are studied, especially those having an economical value. The fall term is devoted to a preparation for and a study of trees, fruits and the dispersal of seeds. During the winter term the study of seeds, storage of food, structures and function of stems, buds, roots and leaves. Special atten- tion it given to plant breathing. transpiration and starchmaking. In the spring a study of a few of the lower plants is taken up and the last six weeks are devoted to a study of flowering plants and ferns, identifying them, studying them, studying their habits and continuing the work in pollination begun in the fall.