Man: A Course of Study, a project initially designed for middle school and upper elementary grades, stresses a cross-cultural view of human behavior. The organizing questions of MACOS are:

• What makes human beings human?
• How did they get that way?
• How can they become more so?

Students examine behavior within a framework of cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural analysis to attain a more profound awareness of human nature and human culture. They develop a view of their own history and culture through multiple lenses.

Several assumptions guided the design and development of the course:

1. As students increase their awareness of their own culture, they also experience an increased self-confidence and comprehension of their operating assumptions about life.

2. Learning is largely a social process by which children and teachers articulate and share ideas with one another.

3. The world can be observed, conjectured about, ordered, and understood using the modes of inquiry of the biological and social sciences.

4. An individual life can be viewed as part of the larger flow of human existence within a given environment.

Recurrent themes include the concepts of life cycle, learning, parental care, adaptation and selection, aggression, affection and love, social organization, language, technology, and values and beliefs. These themes are repeatedly examined from different perspectives throughout the course.

History of Development

This project was developed by Education Development Center Inc. under a grant from the National Science Foundation. The project was designed by a diverse group of scientists, educators, and other specialists. Teachers were closely involved in all stages of design, writing, and evaluation. The project was published commercially.

The project developed a series of resource materials for teachers. It included nine books containing background information on the course content, suggested lesson plans, strategies for evaluation, a series of inservice seminars for teachers, and bibliographies. The MACOS publication, Man: A Course Of Study, An Evaluation, gives the details of this development and the evaluation process.

Organization of the Project

Man: A Course Of Study has two major sections. The first contains a series of animal studies of salmon, herring gulls, and baboons; the second studies the lives of the Netsilik Eskimos in the Pelly Bay region of Canada. Students address fundamental questions about human nature by comparison and contrast with several animal species and with another human culture. The Netsilik material emphasizes the uniqueness of human beings and the basic similarities that unite all races, ethnic groups, and cultures.

Instructional materials fall into three categories: film and other visual aids, written materials, and interactive devices, such as games. Film, the primary source of data in the course, was used to simulate field observations. Thirty booklets of differing styles and purposes replace the usual textbook. In addition, field notes, journals, poems, songs and stories, games, construction exercises, and observation projects allow children to learn in varied ways.