_Harvey B. Lemon_

VII THE TEACHING OF GEOLOGY
_T. C. Chamberlin_

VIII THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS
_G. A. Miller_

IX PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN THE COLLEGE
_Thomas A. Storey_

IV

THE TEACHING OF BIOLOGY

BIOLOGY AND EDUCATION

=Biology the science basal to all knowing=

The life sciences, broadly conceived, are basal to all departments of
knowledge; and the study of biology illumines every field of human
interest. To the believer in evolution the human body, brain, senses,
intellect, sensations, impulses, habits, ideas, knowledges, ideals,
standards, attractions, sympathies, combinations, organizations,
institutions, and all other powers and possessions of every kind and
degree are merely crowning phenomena of life itself. The languages,
history, science, economic systems, philosophies, and literatures of
mankind are only special manifestations and expressions of life and a
part, therefore, of the studies by which we as living beings are
trying to appraise and appreciate the meaning of life and of the
universe of which life is the most significant product. Life is not
merely the most notable product of our universe; it is the most
persuasive key for solving the riddle of the universe, and is the only
universe product which aspires to interpret the processes by which it
has reached its own present level.

All knowledge, then, is _biological_ in the very vital sense that the
living organism is the only _knowing_ thing. The knowing process is a
life process. Even when knowledge pertains to non-living objects,
therefore, it is one-half biological; our most worth-while
knowledge--that of ourselves and other organisms--is wholly so.
Because all our knowledge is colored by the life process, of which the
knowing process is derivative, the study of life underlies every
science and its applications, every art and its practice, every
philosophy and its interpretations. Biology must be taught in sympathy
with the whole joint enterprise of living and of learning.

=Adaptation without losing adaptability the goal of life and of education=

The most outstanding phenomenon of life is the _adaptation_ of living
things to the real and significant conditions of their existence.
Furthermore, as these conditions are not static, particularly in the
case of humans, organisms must not merely be adapted, but must
continue thereafter to be _adaptable_. Now learning is o