ABSTRACT
AsIrwinSilvermanhaspointedout,"Ifthetrendofthe1970'scontinues, thiserainthesocialsciencesandelsewheremaybecalledtheageofrelevance [Silverman,1970,p.583]."Itisindeedinthisdirectionthattherecent announcementofthereorganizationoftheNationalResearchCouncilinthe UnitedStatesmustbeseen.Itshowsawillingnesstoreplace"traditional divisionsorganizedalongdisciplinarylineswithastructurebettersuitedto dealingwithproblemsthatrequiremultidisciplinaryaction[Science,March 30,1973,p.1307]."Ithasbeennotedalsothat"Themajorityofrecent committeesonscienceeducationhavespelledouttwobasicthemes:1)theneed tobroadenuniversitycurriculatomakesciencestudentsmoreresponsiveto society'sneeds,andmoreinformedofthediverseoptionswithinascience career,and2)theneedtoraisethescientificliteracyofthepublic.These themesarerelated;actiononthesecondwilldependlargelyonaccomplishing thefirst[Zinberg,1973,p.1187].
