Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-14
Biology Pupils
AT Get
Far-0ut Course
BY HARRIET GRIFFITHS
3 Star Staff Writer

Star Staff Writer
You've got to dissect the
salivary glands Of a fruit fly
to get anywhere in Walter
johnson High Schools ad-
vanced biology course, they say.
Enough know-how in micro
techniques to make the dissec-
tons, stain them and study
their giant chromosomes is one
OF the accomplishments ex-
pected of students in the
stepped-up biology program at
the Montgomery County school.
What's more. it's de rigueur
to be able to talk in such terms
as "hydrophobic colloid," wit
rification isotonic solution"
"mitochondria," "Brownian
movement" and competitive
inhibition"
Definitions Of these and 9TH
er terms equally battling to the
average groWnup were asked in
an actual test given last month
by Allan M. Harrison. head of
Walter Johnson's biology de-
partment.
Teaching Stepped Up
Pupils at this school and
others accelerating science
courses to keep up with today's
advanced knowledge are spout
ing many things their parents
never knew about in their own
high school days.
We've got to teach the stu
dents more, and teach them
BETTER" says Mr.. Harrison.
We've had to design a course
to take them farther quicker"
The youngster come away
from their biology lessons still
knowing the construction of a
flower or an earthWorm, but
also on familiar terms with
thermodynamics and photo
SynthesiS.
Besides strengthened basic
content, the course takes into
consideration the biologists
need for a working knowledge
of other sciences.
More Analytical
What we had to do was
to get to the fundamental ma
ture of the thing, take a
mechanistic approach, and in
troduce chemical, physical and
mathematical m e t h I'd S into
biology work." Mr.. Harrison ex~
planned. 1--WE have gotten away
from the purely descriptive.
and gotten into the analytical
aspects"
Walter johnson added al
second year of biology about
five years ago. 1t is offered stu
dents who have earned at least
a grade Of B in the first year,
and who have taken or plan to
take chemistry.
Mr.. Harrison developed the
advanced course, looking for
things that would be Of value
later on to students planning
to go on into some biological
work. But it is also intended to
give the pupils a broader base.
The course is cited by the
American Institute of Biolog-
ical Sciences as an example of
what one high school is doing
on its own in the revolution in
present-day biological educa-
ton. The institute has a major
biological science curriculum
study program supported by the
National Science Foundation.
Radiation Included
Mr.. Harrison's advanced
course takes in, besides the
traditional aspects of biology,
sociological aspects of science,
such as human geological prob
lens related to the population
explosion and the biological
connotations of social problems.
This year." he reports, I'VE
are adding certain amount
of radiation biology" He has
plans next year for some stu
dents to get into some aspects
of aerospace medicine.
This is typical of the gradual
development of the course, some
of whose graduates have been
accepted for advanced college
biology courses at leading uni
versities.
In the Washington area,
there is an added motivation
for giving students a superior
science course, Mr.. Harrison
points out. cts a center of
scientific activity, and many of
the students come from profess