Nat. Sci. Two Trial Section Given for 12

Twelve students in Natural Sciences 2 will take to the laboratories this fall in one of the most significant experiments of General Education's ten-year history.

Chief purpose of the new lab section, according to Edwin C. Kemble, professor of Physics and lecturer in Nat. Sci. 2, is to enable pre-medical students at the College to fulfill their physics requirement without ever taking Physics 1. The Admissions Committee of the Harvard Medical School is already considering approval of the second half of Nat. Sci. 2--with labs--as a substitute for Physics 1b.

By next fall, if the lab innovation is successful, the Medical School may approve the whole of Nat. Sci. 2 as a full-fledged physics course for pre-meda.

Although the lab section this year is limited to 12 carefully-selected students, it will probably be expanded next fall to include the entire enrollment of Nat. Sci. 2, Kemble said. He pointed out, however, that this will depend on how well the experiment succeeds and how much laboratory space is available.

Holton to Direct Labs

Nat. Sci. labs, under the direction of Gerald J. Holton, associate professor of Physics, will be held this year in the unfinished basement of Burr and will have to borrow all their equipment from the physics lab on a week-to-week basis.

In time the other lower-level Nat. Sci. courses might also adopt Nat. Sci. 2's lab idea, according to William H. McCord, newly appointed assistant secretary of the Committee on General Education.

Making Nat. Sci. 2 acceptable for premed students will not change the essential General Education character of the course, Kemble emphasized. He pointed out that students in the lab section, though they will be excused from writing two long papers, will still have to do the course's collateral reading.

The 12 students--including two from Radcliffe--who will participate in Nat. Sci. 2's 36 hours of lab work this year were picked from a group of approximately 50 who applied, Kemble said. None of the 12 is at present pre-med, he added.