FOREWORD TO THE TEACHER ix 



workers in the junior high school curriculum, but also 

 such experimental work as is available. Interest studies, 

 controlled classroom experiments, research studies in the 

 use of science material, the pooled experiences of teachers, 

 the work of the Science Committee of the National Edu- 

 cation Association, and the outstanding recommendations 

 of the Thirty-first Yearbook have all been used in an 

 attempt to make this series educationally as well as 

 scientifically sound. 



Certain unique features in the series stand out. In 

 the first place the texts are written from the pupil view- 

 point and great care has been taken to present the material 

 so that it may fit the age level of the pupil. Concepts 

 grow and what may be meaningful to the ninth grade pupil 

 could not be understood clearly by the pupil in the seventh 

 grade, therefore a cyclic plan of treatment is used which is 

 believed to be psychologically sound. Young people are 

 interested in the science of the world around them, not in 

 blocks of a given part of science. As Cox so well says : 

 " A child of the junior high school age lives in a world of 

 things, forces, phenomena, and people. He does not live 

 in a plant and animal world in the seventh year, and in a 

 health world his eighth year, and a physical science world 

 his ninth year." l 



Emphasis throughout the series is placed on thinking 

 rather than on the reproduction of facts. Factual mate- 

 rial is necessary. In this series of texts the factual material 

 is used in a purposeful way to the end that simple science 

 problems may be solved. These problems are fitted to 

 the age level of the pupil so that even in the seventh grade 

 he may become habituated in the methods used by the 

 scientist. A conscious effort has been made to give the 

 pupils reasons why the method of the scientist is useful 



1 Cox, P. W. L., The Junior High School Curriculum, Scribner, 1929. By 

 permission of the publishers. 



