Carolyn N. Kinder
The genes you are born with influence your behavior. Your social environment including your family, friends, school, and neighborhood also influence your behavior. The core of this unit will deal with those institutions as determinants of who you are, and what we become.
The purpose of the unit is to investigate the effects of institutions on human behavior. It will explore various niches that are encountered as man exists in the ecosystem and will discuss both the effects of heredity and the environment on human behavior. It is with this in mind that the stage will be set so that our primary goal is to provide a framework which can be related to our everyday ideas for our changing behavior.
The unit is designed to provide knowledge, understanding and awareness. It can be taught in grades five through eight. It will consist of subject content, lesson plans, a list of resources, field trips, a children’s reading list, a teacher’s reading list and a bibliography. Teachers of any subject can use the unit as a springboard to help students understand themselves. It is hoped that the biology teacher will use the unit to teach a fundamental course in human behavior. The teaching time will vary, but it is suggested that the unit can be taught in two to three weeks.
(Recommended for Life Science and Biology classes, grades 5-8;)
Key Words
Behavior Genetics Biology Family Life Social Psychology Sociology Institutions Social Control
