Biology and You

This is a functional article of study in biology for everybody. The basic contents are composed of real life problems that youth face daily.

Basic areas of living according to biology

The needs and interests of the most people are in five basic areas of living:

1. Personal living.
2. Personal-social relationships.
3. Social and civic relationships.
4. Economic relation­ships.
5. Area of reflective thinking.

These are used to give real meaning to this article of study. Needs are conceived as desirable directions of growth and reasonable achievements, which make for his welfare and that of society.

Importance of this article for you

This article is an attempt to provide the framework for a course in biology that applies and expands the philosophy of our more progressive school.

“To be func­tional an experience must give the student something to do, now, so that his life is enriched. He may do it with his hand, head, or his heart. But busy work, facts for fact’s sake, learning for mental exercise, using technical termi­nology, committing to memory long involved sequences of facts or processes–all of these are not functional experiences. Functional education seeks the immediate good, and the immediate beauty.”

Therefoere, this course of study differs in technique and content from biology text-books and syllabi now being used in most schools of life. All of the articles are listed in “how to” form about problems that lead to a course of action rather than to lessons to be learned. Whereas, most biology text-books seek to give the us a

“better understanding of his environment”

this article writter seeks to have him do something about improving his environment.

What to do according to biology to improve living?

The Crawford has pointed out that this functional method adheres to eight sound psychological principles:

1. Person is motivated.
2. It provides for learning by doing.
3. The person makes good use of difficulty, frustration, or thwarting.
4. His units are capable of considerable expansion.
5. These units of learning correspond to the action patterns in which it is to function.
6. Furthermore, person provides for teacher stimulation.
7. In addition, perosn provides .for much thinking and knowing, but organizes this for the guidance of action.
8. It makes good use of dynamic attitudes. Such men as Dewey, Kilpatrick, Rugg, and Bonser have advocated this same functional viewpoint in their earlier works.

How this article came about biology and you

The problems for this article of study were gathered from several sources. Such as, people studying biology were asked to write out “how-to” problems they would like to work out in their life. Moreover, People who had completed the biology course were asked what they had learned and what they wished they had learned. In addition, text-books and courses of study of several school systems were scanned for functional problems. Hence, when the problems were all compiled, one fact was outstanding.

This was that the interests and needs of biology students are centered on problems that directly concern them, such as health, recreation, gardening, pets, safety, and sanitation. These are the themes that pre­ dominate in this course outline.

This course of study does not cover all of the concepts and topics that most text-books consider important in a survey course. However, the major ones or most concern to youth themselves were treated as fully as feasible for a one-semester course in biology, or for two semesters, depending on how thoroughly the problems are investigated.

It is hoped that this article of study will provide a fresh approach to the study of biology that will prove to be both interesting and meaningful.

1. How to solve your own problem (Biology and you)

2. How to make yourself attractive to others

3. How to develop and maintain a body

4. How to develop and keep a sound mind (Biology and you)

5. How to help improve the family diet

6. How to control and destroy household pests