First week. THE BALANCED AQUARIUM. Study of conditions producing this. The
role of green plants, the role of animals. What causes the balance. How the
balance may be upset. The nitrogen cycle. What it means in the world
outside the aquarium. Symbiosis as opposed to parasitism. Examples.
Second week. STUDY OF THE PARAMOECIUM. Study of a hay infusion to show how
environment reacts upon animals. Relation to environment. Study of cell
under microscope to show reactions. Structure of cell. Response to stimuli,
function of cilia, gullet, nucleus, contractile vacuoles, food vacuoles,
asexual reproduction. Drawings to show how locomotion is performed, general
structure. Copy chart for fine structure.
Third week. A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. One day. Development
of a multicellular organism. (Use models.) One day. Physiological division
of labor. Tissues, organs. Functions common to all animals. Illustrative
material. Optional trip to museum for use of illustrative material to
illustrate the principal characteristics of (_a_) a simple metazoan,
sponge, or hydrazoan, (_b_) a segmented worm, (_c_) a crustacean (Decapod),
(_d_) an insect, (_e_) a mollusk and echinoderm, (_f_) vertebrates.
(Differences between vertebrates and invertebrates.) The characteristics of
the vertebrates. Distinguish between fishes, amphibia, reptiles, birds,
mammals. Two days for discussion. Man's place in the animal series,
elementary discussion of what evolution means.
Fourth week. THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF ANIMALS. Uses of animals: (1) As
food. Directly: fish, shellfish, birds, domesticated mammals. (2)
Indirectly as food: protozoa, crustacea. (3) They destroy harmful animals
and plants. Snakes--birds; birds--insects; birds--weed seeds; herbivorous
animals--weeds. (4) Furnish clothing, etc. Pearl buttons, etc. (5) Animal
industries, silkworm culture, etc. (6) Domesticated animals.
Animals do harm: (1) To gardens. (2) To crops. (3) To stored
food; examples, rats, insects, etc. (4) To forest and shade
trees. (5) To human life. Disease: parasitism and its
results,--examples, from worms, etc.; disease carriers fly,
etc. Preventive measures. Methods of extermination.
References to Toothaker's _Commercial Raw Materials_. Use
one day for laboratory work from references.
Fifth week. THE STUDY OF A WATER-BREATHING VERTEBRATE. Two days. The fish,
adaptations in body, fins, for food getting, for breathing. Structure of
gills shown. Laboratory demonstration to show how water gets to the gills.
Drawings. Outline of fish, gills. Required trip to aquarium. Object, to see
fish in environment. One day. Home work at market. Why are some fish more
expensive than others. Economic importance of fish. Relation of habits of
(_a_) food getting, (_b_) spawning to catching and extermination of fish.
Two days. Means of preventing overfishing, stocking, fishing laws,
artificial fertilization of eggs, methods. Development of fish egg.
Comparison with that of frog and bird.
Sixth week. THE FACTORS UNDERLYING PLANT AND ANIMAL BREEDING. Study of
pupils in class to show heredity and variation. Conclusion. Animals tend to
vary and to be like their ancestors. Heredity, role of sex cells,
chromosomes. Principles of plant breeding. Selective planting, hybridizing,
work of Darwin, Mendel, De Vries, and Burbank. Methods and results. Animal
breeding, examples given, results. Improvement of man: (1) by control of
environment, (_a_) example of clean-up campaign, 1913; (2) by control of
individual, personal hygiene, and control of heredity. Eugenics. Examples
from Davenport, Goddard, etc.
Seventh week. THE HUMAN MACHINE. Skin, bones and muscles, function of each.
Examples and demonstration with skeleton. Organs of body cavity; show
manikin. Work done by cells in body.
Eighth week. STUDY OF FOODS to determine: (_a_) nutritive value. Exercise
with food charts to determine foods rich in water, starch, sugar, fats,
proteins, mineral salts, refuse. One day. (_b_) Nutritive value of foods as
related to work, age, sex, environment, cost, and digestibility. Foods
compared to determine what is really a cheap food.
Ninth week. HOW THE FUEL VALUE OF FOOD HAS BEEN DETERMINED. The dietaries
of Atwater, Chittenden, and Voit. The 100-calorie portion table and its
use.
Tenth week. THE APPLICATION OF THE 100-CALORIE PORTION TO THE MAKING OF THE
DAILY DIETARIES. Luncheon dietaries. A balanced dietary for pupil for one
day. Family dietaries. Relation to cost. Reasons for this.
Eleventh week. FOOD ADULTERATIONS. Tests. Drugs and the alcohol question.
Twelfth week. DIGESTION. The alimentary canal of frog and of man compared.
Drawings. (One day.) The work of glands. Work of salivary gland. Enzymes,
internal secretions. Experiments to show (_a_) digestion of starch by
saliva, (_b_) digestion of proteins by gastric or pancreatic juice, (_c_)
emulsification of fats in the presence of an alkaline medium. Functions of
other digestive glands. Movements of stomach and intestine discussed and
explained.
Thirteenth week. ABSORPTION. How it takes place, where it takes place.
Passage of foods into blood, function of liver, glycogen.
Fourteenth week. THE BLOOD AND ITS CIRCULATION. Composition and functions
of plasma, red corpuscles, colorless corpuscles, blood plates, antibodies.
The lymph and work of tissues. The blood and its method of distribution.
Heart a force pump. Demonstration. Arteries, capillaries (demonstration),
veins. Hygiene of exercise.
Fifteenth week. WHAT RESPIRATION DOES FOR THE BODY. The apparatus used.
Changes of blood within lungs, changes of air within lungs. Demonstration.
Cell respiration. The mechanics of respiration. Demonstration. Ventilation,
need for, explain proper ventilation. Demonstration. Hygiene of fresh air
and proper breathing. Dusting, sweeping, etc.
Sixteenth week. EXCRETION, ORGANS OF. Skin and kidneys, regulation of body
heat. Colds and fevers. Proper care of skin, hygiene. Summary of blood
changes in body. Explanation of same.
Seventeenth week. BODY CONTROL AND HABIT FORMATION. Nervous system, nerve
control. The neuron theory, brain psychology explained in brief. Habits and
habit formation. Hygiene of sense organs.
Eighteenth and nineteenth weeks. CIVIC HYGIENE AND SANITATION. THE
IMPROVEMENT OF ONE'S ENVIRONMENT. Civic conditions discussed. Water, milk,
food supplies. Relation to disease. How safeguarded. How help improve
conditions in city.
Twentieth week. REVIEW AND EXAMINATIONS.