A group of scientists and science educators at Stanford University will develop a student text, a set of student activities, and a teacher's resource book for a two-year course in human biology designed for seventh and eighth graders. The course will include a large component of human physiology as well as topics in anthropology, psychology, and sociology that are relevant to the maturation of adolescents. Because the course focuses on the development of the very age-group that will study these materials, it should prove to be highly motivational. A team of middle-school science teachers will test early versions of the materials in class, and will provide feedback and assistance as revisions are made. A series of three two-week summer institutes for thirty participants per year has been planned to facilitate the rewriting process. The development of a college-level version of this human biology course was supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York; this course is now offered to several hundred Stanford under-graduates each year. Carnegie has also provided support for preliminary work on the current project, and the staff of the Stanford Human Biology Program is available to assist in the new task. In addition, the project will benefit from the advice of an eminent group of scientists and educators who have agreed to serve on the project's Advisory Board. Teachers of this course will be challenged by its scope and by the sensitivity of some of the topics to be treated. The project staff will assist on two levels. All adopting teachers will be able to acquire a set of videotapes designed to provide background for the print materials. Teachers who need more help with the fundamental course content will have an opportunity to participate in a summer institute that will focus specifically on these materials. The project time-line calls for three years of materials development, testing, and revision. Evaluation will begin before the end of this period and continue beyond. Teacher education efforts, in part supported by royalty revenue from textbooks sales, will continue for several additional years. The Innovative Projects Division of the Addison-Wesley Publishing house will assist in all phases of development process and will publish and market the finished products. The company will also share responsibility for the teacher education activities.
