The Establishment of General Science as Part of General Public Education of Free Public High Schools

本研究试图通过对1893 - 1920年美国中学科学课程的报告的回顾，来分析美国中学科学课程作为普通公共教育的目标和结构的建构和完善过程。1893年十人委员会的报告中，“自然地理”被确认为四年制高中一年级的课程。这是美国高中普通科学课程建设的开端。自然地理学的概念是理解与人类生活有关的自然环境。因此，它被引入作为进一步专业科学的入门科学课程，同时作为一门课程，为那些只能在高中学习一门科学课程的学生提供对物理环境的一般了解。自然地理学逐渐无法适应新出现的公共教育的要求，即学生应该为他们未来的工作做好准备，应该为他们提供一个生活在一个发展中的工业社会的科学常识。因此，自然地理学从美国中学中消失了，有人提出，取代自然地理学的新学科的结构应包括解决问题的过程，称为“项目方法”或“问题方法”。这门新学科最终被命名为“普通科学”，将科学教学作为美国普通公众教育的一部分。

This research attempts to analyze the processes of constructing and improving the aims and structures of science curriculum as general public education of secondary schools in the United States by reviewing the committees's reports from 1893 through 1920.In the report of Committee of Ten in 1893, "Physical Geography" was given the recognition of the first-year subject in four-year high schools. This was the beginning of constructing science curriculum of general science teaching in high schools of the United States. The subject of physical geography was conceptualized in the notion of understanding the natural environment in connection with the life of people. Consequently, it was introduced as an introductory science course for further specialized sciences,at the same time as a course which provided a general understanding of the physical environment for students who could take only one science course in high schools.However,physical geography gradually became unable to accommodate the newly occurring demands of public education that students should be prepared for their future jobs and should be provided with a scientific commmon sense for living in a developing industrial society. as a reult,physical geography disappeared from American high schools.It was proposed that the structure of the new subject replacing physical geography should be organized so as to include the process of solving problems called "Project Mehtod" or "Problem Method". The new subject finally received the name of "General Science",characterizing science teaching as part of the general public education in the United States.