vi FOREWORD TO THE TEACHER 



and especially health education. At the earlier levels 

 the ultimate outcomes from the child should be the organ- 

 ization of the integrated knowledges in such a way as will 

 make for some first-hand experiences with the factors of his 

 environment and an understanding of the part played by 

 such factors in his life activities a desire to know more 

 about and to help in the improvement of his environment ; 

 while at the highest grade level of the junior high school 

 understanding of control and usage of the factors of the 

 environment might well be the ultimate aim. This 

 integration, especially of positive health materials, has 

 been made in the pages which follow. 



To properly present learning elements in an integrated 

 science curriculum at different grade levels, it is obvious 

 that the mental age, and especially the point of view of 

 the pupil, must be carefully considered. A terraced plan 

 of attack must be used in which the capacities, interests, 

 and science backgrounds of the seventh grade child must 

 be considered as a distinct level in the development of the 

 concepts treated in the course. Children grow much in 

 capacity between the seventh and ninth grade levels. At 

 the seventh grade level the teacher must use simple 

 language. The science vocabulary should be restricted 

 to the use of relatively simple terms. The experiments 

 and demonstrations should be easy to understand and to 

 perform. The teaching techniques should all be adjusted 

 to the levels of the immature youngster of this group. 

 At the eighth grade level, after a year of exposure to the 

 junior high school activities, our boy or girl comes back to 

 school in the fall with a perspective much enlarged and 

 with a social viewpoint quite different from that held in 

 the previous year. The instruction at this level and the 

 quality of work will therefore be not only at a higher 

 terrace of difficulty but should be given from quite a 

 different social point of view. 



