Xll 



BIOLOGY AND HUMAN LIFE 



Many of the questions assume that the teacher and pupils have 

 actually seen, handled, experimented with, tested, smelled, and 

 taken apart or put together ; they can be answered, if at all, 

 only as a result of field or laboratory or museum study. In other 

 cases the replies to questions must be in the form of inferences 

 calling for further testing or verification. There are also sug- 

 gestions for civic studies in terms of what is actually being done 

 tn the community— how we obtain our means of livelihood, how 

 we manage our joint affairs, how we meet our common enemies. 

 It is not to be expected that every pupil will obtain an accept- 

 able answer for every question. On the other hand, many of the 

 questions are of a type that permits endless variation in terms 

 of local conditions or matters of current importance ; it may 

 not be sufficient, then, if the pupils can answer only the ques- 

 tions given. At best the questions are to be used as stimuli for 

 thought and investigation. 



The outlines, or summaries, at the ends of the chapters, often 

 in combination with the questions, are intended to assist in the 

 organization of ideas. They should show relationships of topics 

 to one another within the subject of the lesson, but they should 

 also suggest relationships between these topics and others pre- 

 viously studied, as well as others not yet touched upon. In 

 other words, while a useful summary or outline must answer 

 questions that arise in the course of the study, it should also 

 raise new questions : there are no periods in these outUnes. ^ 



Most of the reference readings are to government publica- 

 tions of various kinds. It would be well for each school to 

 obtain from the Superintendent of Documents, Government 

 Printing Office, Washington, D. C, a list of the price Hsts. From 

 this list the various price hsts can be ordered, and from these 

 price lists we can learn what pamphlets and books are available. 

 Every teacher should acquaint himself with the more impor- 

 tant types of government publications and with the methods of 

 obtaining them for the school with the least cost or effort. In 

 many cases documents can be obtained with the cooperation of 

 the congressman. Besides the pamphlets in the various price 



