Life Science.
Life science for preadolescent students ought to be oriented to help them a) understand themselves and other human beings as distinct organisms, b) appreciate the universal need to be in touch with their own nature, and c) to learn to live in harmony with nature and to minimize the separation between the social and natural environments. A desirable life science program will focus on on many if not all of these:
There are many examples of life science programs for the middle school which meet most of the above criteria. Here are descriptions of a few.
Wildlife Inquiry Through
Zoo Education (WIZE).
This grade 7-9 program, developed at the Bronx Zoo, New York, explores issues related to wildlife survival in the 21 st century. The program uses a nontraditional, multidisciplinary approach to help students understand concepts related to population ecology, wildlife conservation, and species survival. The program consists of two modules: Module I (Diversity of Lifestyles) and Module II (Survival Strategies). The program, which involves about 15 weeks of instruction, is a hands-on approach in which students learn that animals are members of populations that interact with one another, and that the ecological processes affecting animals, also affect humans.
The instructional materials include student resource books, photo cards, Discovery Cards, worksheets, teacher's manual, audio cassettes, filmstrips, and wildlife games. The program is activity oriented, and includes zoo visits. The two modules form a continuum in the study of wildlife ecology, although either could be used separately in a life science or general science program.
The materials have been approved by the National Diffusion Network and are available from Curator of Education, Bronx Zoo, New York Zoological Society, 185th Street and Southern Boulevard, Bronx, New York 10460.
Stones and Bones. This program, developed by the Los Angeles Unified School District under the direction of Sid Sitkoff, is an interdisciplinary program that focuses on active student involvement through laboratory activities. The program has three strands or pathways designed to study human beings: general science pathway, biology pathway, and semester course pathway. The general science pathway is designed for the non-college-oriented student. The program consists of 20 laboratory investigations on topics such as geologic time, measuring radioactivity, mapping, behavior of primates, and replica casts of fossil hominids. The students also simulate an archaeological excavation. The biology pathway is a 4 to 6 week introduction to physical anthropology. The program is comprised of 11 investigations focusing on topics such as primate behavior and distribution, interpreting archaeological records, primate locomotion and morphology, and replica casts of fossil hominids. The semester course involves the students in an in depth study of the development of humankind. Through a series of laboratory investigations, students study phylogeny through time, continental drift, locomotion and behavior of primates, classification and morphology, as well as examine 14 fossil replica casts of Australopithecus, Homo erectus, Neanderthal, and Cro-Magnon.
Stones and Bones has been approved by the NDN, and awareness materials are available from the Los Angeles Unified School District, Office of Instruction, 450 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012.