First week. WHY STUDY BIOLOGY? Relation to human health, hygiene. Relations
existing between plants and animals. Relation of bacteria to man. Uses of
plants and animals. Conservation of plants and animals. Relation to life of
citizen in this city. Needs of plants and animals: (1) food, (2) water, (3)
air, (4) proper temperature. Study of a single plant or animal in relation
to its environment. Problems of city government: (_a_) storage,
preservation and distribution of foods, (_b_) water supply, (_c_)
overcrowded tenements, (_d_) street cleaning, (_e_) clean schools.
Biological problems in city government.
Second week. INTERRELATIONS BETWEEN PLANTS AND ANIMALS. Plants furnish
food, clothing, shelter, and medicine. Animals use food, shelter. Man's use
of plants as above. Man's use of animals as above. Plant and animal
industries. Use of balanced aquarium as illustrative material.
Third week. DESTRUCTION OF FOOD AND OTHER THINGS BY MOLD. Home experiment.
Conditions favorable to growth of mold. Food, moisture, temperature.
Destruction of commodities by mold: food, leather, clothing.
Fourth week, fifth week. DESTRUCTION OF FOODS BY BACTERIA. Experiment. To
show where bacteria are found. Soil, dust, water, milk, hands, mouth. Use
and harm of decay. Relation to agriculture. Experiment. Conditions
favorable and unfavorable to growth of bacteria: boiling, cold, sugar,
salt. Bacteria in relation to disease briefly mentioned. Bacteria in
industries.
Sixth week. USE OF STORED FOOD BY YOUNG GREEN PLANT: (_a_) for energy,
(_b_) for construction of tissue. Experiment. Structure of bean seed. Draw
to show outer coat, cotyledon, hypocotyl, and plumule. Test for starch and
sugar (grape). Test for oil, protein, water, mineral matter. Use of all
nutrients to seedling.
Seventh week. OTHER NEEDS OF YOUNG PLANTS. Home experiments to show (_a_)
temperature, (_b_) amount of water most favorable to germination.
Experiment. To show need of oxygen. To show that germinating seeds give off
carbon dioxide. Proof of presence of carbon dioxide in breath. The needs of
a young plant compared with those of a boy or girl.
Eighth week. DIGESTION IN SEEDLING. Structure of corn grain. Experiment. To
show that starch is digested in a growing seedling (corn). Experiment. To
show that diastase digests starch. Discussion of experiments.
Ninth week. WHAT PLANTS TAKE FROM THE SOIL AND HOW THEY DO THIS. Use of
roots. Proof that it holds plant in position, takes in water and mineral
matter, and in some cases stores food. Influence of gravity and water.
Labeled drawing of root hair. Root hair as a _cell_ emphasized. Osmosis
demonstrated.
Tenth week. COMPOSITION OF THE SOIL. Demonstration of presence of mineral
and organic substances in the soil. What root hairs take from the soil.
Mineral matter necessary and why. Importance and sources of nitrogen. Soil
exhaustion and its prevention. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Review bacteria of
decay. Rotation of crops.
Eleventh week. UPWARD COURSE OF MATERIALS IN THE STEM. Demonstration of pea
seedlings with eosin to show above. Demonstration of evaporation of water
from a leaf. Action of stomata in control of transpiration. Cellular
structure of leaf. Demonstration of elodea to show cell.
Twelfth week. SUN A SOURCE OF ENERGY. Heliotropism. Demonstration.
Necessity of sunlight for starch manufacture. Necessity of air for starch
manufacture. By-products in starch making. Oil manufacture in leaf. Protein
manufacture in plant. Respiration.
Thirteenth week. REPRODUCTION. Necessity for (_a_) perpetuation, (_b_)
regeneration. Study of a typical flower to show sepals, petals, stamens,
pistil. Functions of each part. Cross and longitudinal sections of ovary
shown and drawn. Emphasis on essential organs. Pollination, self and cross.
(NOTE. At least one field trip must be planned for the month of May. This
trip will take up the following topics: The relations between flowers and
insects. The food and shelter relation between plants and animals.
Recognition of 5 to 10 common trees. Need of conservation of forests. An
extra trip could well be taken to give child a little knowledge and love
for spring flowers and awakening nature.)
Fourteenth week. STUDY OF THE BEE OR BUTTERFLY WITH REFERENCE TO
ADAPTATIONS FOR INSECT POLLINATION. Study of an irregular flower to show
adaptations for insect visitors. Fertilization begun. Growth of pollen
tubes.
Fifteenth week. FERTILIZATION COMPLETED. Use of chart to show part played
by egg and sperm cell. Ultimate result the formation of embryo and its
growth under favorable conditions into young plant. Relation of flower and
fruit, pea, or bean used for this purpose. Development of fleshy fruit.
Apple used for this purpose.
Sixteenth week. MATURING OF PARTS AND STORING OF FOOD IN SEED AND FRUIT.
The devices for scattering the seeds and relation to future plants. Resume
of processes of nutrition to show how materials found in fruit and seed are
obtained by the plant.
Seventeenth week. PLANT BREEDING. Factors: (_a_) selective planting, (_b_)
cross-pollination, (_c_) hybridizing. Heredity and variation begun. Darwin
and Burbank mentioned.
Eighteenth and nineteenth weeks. THE NATURAL RESOURCES OF MAN: SOIL, WATER,
PLANTS, ANIMALS. The relation of plant life to the above factors of the
environment. The relation of insects to plants (forage and other crops) and
the relation of birds to insects. Need for conservation of the helpful
factors in the environment of plants. Attention called to some native birds
as insect and wood destroyers.
Twentieth week. REVIEW AND EXAMINATIONS.