The assumption behind this paper is that teachers should adopt the strategy of simplification of a learning task by integration that captures the inherent tendency for the integration of the objective world into subjective wholes, rather than through simplification by isolation of topics. An effective way of establishing the theme of a course is to use thematic organizers to portray a holistic picture of the entire domain of the course. This thematic approach was adapted for a course in tests and measurement taught in the school of education of a university. Two thematic organizers were produced, one for the entire course and one for the section on classroom statistics. The construction of thematic organizers is a continuous process, subject to revision because of improvement in the instructor's understanding of material and changes in course requirements. The guiding principle was that without knowing the theme, students could not organize their domain-comprehensive knowledge on the way to domain-specific professional knowledge. Formal evaluation has not been made of this application of the whole-theme approach, but informal observation indicates that students have maintained positive attitudes and have benefited from the approach. (Contains 23 references.) (SLD)