Method is more closely associated with personality and with native ability than is subject matter. So much more must preparation in this field be general in nature. It must mainly concern the general principles of the scientific method. Specific problems and minor details will have to be worked out in actual practice. The final method found most satisfactory by any teacher, will be to some extent unique, but will be largely determined by three factors; the aptitudes of the teacher, himself, the group that he is teaching, and lastly, the consideration of the individual pupil. Ability to adapt ones procedure so as to most nearly meet these requirements, will come about only through experience. Ability to profit by experience, the human attribute which makes possible the progress of civilization, is a no less valuable asset to a teacher than to any other member of society.

Balliet points out that science teaching has passed through three stages in the past generation. The first stage is characterized by the textbook method, occasionally supplemented by illustrative experiment, performed by the teacher. The second stage is characterized by individual laboratory experiment, a manual for a guide, and by a lack of application of the principles except for a few traditional cases. The third stage improves upon the second by leading the pupil, after formulating his generalizations, to apply them to the facts and phenomena of nature. "But", continues Balliet, "we must advance to a fourth stage. We must not only apply the generalizations, but make the explanation of the facts and phenomena of nature—the interpretation of nature—the very goal of science teaching." All problems should be chosen then in the light of this last aim. The problems must be natural, not in any way artificial, and they should be those of the immediate environment of the pupil. To meet these obligations may be in some cases difficult, but it should not be impossible.

In biological science there is a rich field permitting a considerable choice in method. There are observations, projects, experiments, excursions, individual reports, book readings, quizzes, and conferences. In a single well chosen problem or project nearly all of these will be employed. Biology lends itself ideally to the problem method of teaching. By using some every day problem of the pupil, his interest is assured. Even a seemingly simple problem if skilfully directed, will ramify into several fields of biology before its solution is completed. And the number of practicable problems is almost limitless, but not all are equally good for the purpose, so the teacher must often tactfully modify the pupils choice. Original choices are likely to be too complex for the pupil to solve at his stage of progress, so must be simplified, without his feeling that he has been interfered with, without causing a wane in his interest. It is clear that the real problem in the problem-method is the teacher's. Practically, it is quite impossible to handle individual projects in large classes. In the writer's experience, he has had on the average 80 different pupils per day in four separate classes. It is clearly beyond the power of any teacher to direct simultaneously eighty different projects, and it would be a physical impossibility to furnish the necessary laboratory apparatus. So, for this reason the teacher may find it necessary to divide, as diplomatically as possible, the classes into congenial groups, each with its problem, so that the total number of problems will be so limited that each one may be given adequate attention. It seems that such must be the limitation of the problem-method under the conditions prevailing in the public schools today.

The procedure in solving a problem will consist of these steps in the order named, 1) understanding of the purpose, 2) the procedure or method of attack, 3) observation of results, 4) and the use of these in making some generalizations or arriving at some conclusions. Then there must follow a testing of these generalizations or conclusions by further experimentation. Accuracy must be the keynote of all work, accuracy in recording experiments, accuracy in observation, accuracy in drawing, which serves as a shortcut method of description. Neatness is very desireable but should never supercede thinking and understanding. If the problem has stimulated some accurate logical thinking on the part of the pupil, then time spent on it has been well spent. If, besides, it has yielded some valuable useable information, the solving of the problem has been a marked success. The laboratory method has been such an emancipation from the textbook slavery that there is some tendency to elevate it to an end in itself, whereas it must serve only as a very valuable means to an end. "The ideal laboratory is only a reasonably good substitute for the out-of-doors."

So far as preparation in the methods of science teaching is concerned, much good may be accomplished in teachers courses and in practice teaching. But it must necessarily be of a general nature, for the unique individual method, determined by the interaction of teacher and pupil and the reaction of both to subject matter can evolve only hand in hand with teaching experience.

Before proceeding further it might be well, by way of summary, to remind ourselves that the minimum qualifications for a teacher of biology must include the following; a) a large fund of the most interesting and most valuable facts of biology, b) a full realization of the values and vital relations of biology to humanity, c) ability to develop a course meeting the unique needs of the community, d) familiarity with purchase and useability of laboratory equipment, e) knowledge of the history of science, f) spirit of and sympathy with research, g) a knowledge of physical science as related to biology, h) and knowledge of the laboratory method and its value in the promotion of accurate logical constructive thinking.