FOREWORD TO THE TEACHER vii 



Classroom psychology and teaching procedures have 

 shown that while the pupil in seventh grade is an individ- 

 ualist, the same pupil at the eighth or ninth grade level 

 has a quite different outlook on school life. He has be- 

 come a school citizen with the responsibilities of citizen- 

 ship as a part of his mental outlook. It would seem very 

 logical therefore to make our seventh grade science center 

 on the individual and his personal reactions to his envi- 

 ronment by integrating his science interests, leisure-time 

 activities, and health education material with the science 

 concepts fundamental to an exploratory knowledge of his 

 environment. On the other hand, as the ideals of citizen- 

 ship and co-operation are developed at the eighth grade 

 level, it would seem logical to make science concepts lead 

 to a better understanding of such problems as are con- 

 cerned with the purity of water supplies, the protection 

 of food supplies, the control and prevention of disease in 

 the community, and such other science topics which show 

 the need for co-operative effort for environmental improve- 

 ment on the part of school children. As the outlook of 

 the child broadens in the third year of the junior high 

 school, a third cycle of science activities will develop at 

 a still higher terrace of difficulty. At this age level the 

 child might well transfer his science interests to the wider 

 field of the nation and the world. 



The underlying theme for junior high school science 

 should be first, at the lowest level, simple knowledges 

 about the interesting and useful science in the immediate 

 environment of the individual. In the second year under- 

 standing is more the goal, while in the last year interpre- 

 tation and application of science are the desired outcomes. 

 The philosophy of presentation should result in the ulti- 

 mate generalization that man of all the animals is the 

 only one who can control and artificially change his 

 environment. As such he has dominion over the earth. 



