Natural Sciences Plan Given Faculty Approval

The Faculty yesterday approved sweeping changes in the Natural Sciences program, as recommended by the Report of the Committee on Science in General Education. The committee, headed by Jerome S. Bruner, professor of Psychology, called for a "continuation and strengthening of instruction" in Nat Sci courses.

Recommendations include raising the mathematical level of the Nat Sci courses, since it is becoming "increasingly necessary for the student to be conversant with the mathematical language of science." The report also favored an increase in the permanent instructional staff of the scientific departments of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Substitutes Possible

Chairman Bruner introduced a motion, not included in the report, which recommended that students be permitted to substitute two full courses given by scientific departments for the required lower-level science requirements. This regulation allows either Biology 2 or Chemistry 2 to be counted as a full course, since each assumes prior knowledge of the subject. It also permits the Physics 12 a, b, c sequence to be regarded as two full courses, since these three half-courses also assume prior study in calculus.

According to the proposal, a student may also meet his Nat Sci requirement by completing one full course, or two half courses not regularly open to freshmen. The various scientific departments will compile a list of such courses with the approval of the Committee on General Education.

The above changes are planned to avoid penalizing students who wish to fulfill their Nat Sci requirement by other means than the General Education courses. Formerly, students were required to complete three full courses in the sciences.