McDonogh School - Dragon Yearbook (Owings Mills, MD)

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ALviN S. CHILCOAT Head of Deparlmenl mllthellllltili With the emphasis that has been placed on the exact sciences recently in the United States, McDonogh's Mathematics Depart- ment has acted accordingly by introducing several changes into the program of previous years. Designed to meet the challenges brought about by Sputniks and the recent world-wide focus on science, the mathematics department has set new standards for meeting these increasing demands: allowing more capable students to work up to their full potential. An accelerated program was introduced in different degrees to the department. With it came the necessary change of arranging classes into sections of students with similar ability. This has made it possible for more work to be done in the classrooms for the advanced sections, and it follows that these students have been exposed to more material than usual. Sophomore geometry expanded its program as well, leaving the confines of basic, text- book plane geometry and exploring the realm of solid geometry usually left to later years. The idea behind this change is the solid geometry will be changed wholly from part of the seniors, course to part of the sopho- mores'. In this way the senior class will have more time to spend learning trigonometry and some advanced work. It is the hope of the mathematics in- structors that this accelerated program will, in the future, make it possible for some stu- dents to complete five years of work in four and be able to skip freshman mathematics in college. XY'illiam Lingenfelter. Alvin S. Chilcoat. Howard C. Eyth, Raymond B. Oliver.

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ln the fields of literature and composition it has heen the goal of the English Depart- ment to provide material which fills the needs of the individual students. XVith this purpose in mind. the English Department has partici- pated in the Advance Placement Program this year for the first time. The study of literature, hoth classical and modern, is designed to arouse interest on the part of the pupil in material for pleasure read- ing and for serious study. In the classroom and especially through independent reading, significant works in the fields of the novel and the drama are introduced. At the same time, along with the develop- ment of interest, an attempt is made to im- prove the student's level and rate of reading. In all classes the importance of reading with understanding is recognized. The student must have a knowledge of individual words which permits the easy comprehension of the main idea in a paragraph. He should see its relationship to previous information. inter- pret what he reads, and draw conclusions on the hasis of those interpretations. CHARLES C. KINARD Head of Depurtmenl Concerning composition, the English De- partment demands correct spelling and word usageg a special effort is made to enlarge the students vocabulary. The department then endeavors to comhine these individual skills ldy developing the pupils ahility to write five- hundred-word compositions hased on topical outlines. In addition. the importance of communi- cating ideas through oral recitation is empha- sized. This study tends to complete the course hy comhining literary topics with the organi- zation involved in composition. Hugh Burgess, Thomas Swift. Charles Kinard. Kenneth Campbell. Douglas I. Smink.

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Frederick Maisel. Kenneth Horner. Robert White. Ogden Ramsay. ln conforming with the trend in recent times, the Science Department underwent a few changes this year directed toward in- creasing the influence of science as part of high school education. These introductions included improvements in the physics course and mandatory projects for all students in the general science. biology. and chemistry classes. The projects could be either written or constructed, but they were to deal with some phase of the particular science which a pupil was studying. From among the best, some of the projects were selected to be sent to the Third Baltimore Science Fair in Aprilg all ol them were displayed before the Patrons Club. Seniors taking physics this year were di- vided into two sections-one whose members studied the usual material and the other which was composed of students interested in accelerated work. This latter section was able to complete a normal year's work before the College Board Achievement Tests in March and then continue with advanced work. ln this one section the purpose of the acceleration was to prepare the students better for the College Entrance Examinations and to enhance the chances of their doing well in college. Another idea was that these students might be more capable of passing examina- tions for various scholarships. The Science Department feels that the introductions this year have been beneficial. and next year the plans are to remove certain minor difihculties in organization which have arisen from these changes. ROBERT C. WHITE Head of Departmenr