Science

The Middle School science curriculum is designed so that students have an opportunity to discover, explore, manipulate, contemplate, and experience real science. Quantitative and problemsolving skills are sharpened through a variety of hands-on, inquiry-based and collaborative learning opportunities by way of design thinking and lessons within a laboratory setting.

Science 6

Introductory Earth Science focuses on the study of Earth and its place in the universe. Experimental Design, Measurement, Coding, Geology, Meteorology, Oceanography and the Environment are major topics. The overlying theme will be energy, as it is the driving force for each of the units.

Science 6 Course Standards

1. Students can construct a scientific explanation of the transformation between gravitational potential and kinetic energy.

2. Students understand the Law of Conservation of Energy and how energy converts from one type of energy to another (kinetic, gravitational potential, electrical, chemical, thermal, sound, radiant, and nuclear).

3. Students can construct an explanation of how oceanic convection currents are caused by changes in water density due to the Sun’s transfer of radiant heat energy and the differences in salt concentration.

4. Students can relate the Earth’s tilt as it revolves around the Sun to the varying intensities of sunlight at different latitudes and how this affects changes in day lengths, seasons, and climate.

5. Students can analyze and interpret data from weather tools that measure conditions, weather maps, satellite images, and radar to predict probable local weather patterns and conditions.

6. Students understand what Earth is made of and how materials move through the rock cycle.

7. Students develop the ability to draw conclusions about the transfer of energy through a food web and energy pyramid in an ecosystem.

8. Using provided evidence, students can draw conclusions about the patterns of abiotic and biotic factors in different biomes; specifically the tundra, taiga, deciduous forest, desert, grasslands, rain forest, and marine and freshwater ecosystems.

9. Students can use appropriate measuring tools, simple hand tools, and fasteners to construct prototypes of a possible solution to a real-world problem.

10. Students can build empathy through research and direct interviewing skills while developing a solution to an authentic, real-world problem.

11. Students develop the ability to design and conduct an experiment using the proper scientific tools and making appropriate measurements.

12. Students build the ability to support a claim based on empirical evidence and support the claim using that evidence and making direct connections through reasoning.

Science 7

This course introduces major topics in life science. These areas include cell structure, functions and processes, genetics and heredity, ecology, and the six kingdoms of life. The students participate in laboratory work, research, and design thinking projects. The course is taught with an emphasis in developing an appreciation for the living world.

Science 7 Course Standards

1. Students can explore the classification of living things.

2. Students can identify the structure, function, similarities, and differences of cell types (prokaryotic vs. eukaryotic, plant vs. animal).

3. Students can identify, describe, and model cell organelles with their individual functions, and their roles working together within the cell.

4. Students can investigate and observe cellular transport and its role within the life of a cell.

5. Students can describe and identify the cellular processes – photosynthesis, cellular (aerobic) respiration, anaerobic respiration – and their roles within the life of a cell.

6. Students can model and describe mitosis, showing the repairing, replacing, and growing (multiplying) of diploid body cells.

7. Students can identify stages of meiosis, showing the process creates haploid sex cells used for sexual reproduction, comparing sexual and asexual reproduction, and discussing the advantages and disadvantages of both.

8. Students can identify, describe, and model a DNA structure, identify DNA’s specific function with a cell, investigate how DNA is replicated, and how mutations can occur.

9. Students can explore genetics and heredity – how traits are passed from parents to offspring using Punnett Squares to predict possible genotypes and phenotypes.

10. Students can explore the structure of viruses and bacteria in order to compare and contrast them and their roles within an individual organism and society.

11. Students can investigate and identify protists, fungi, and plants, comparing structure, growth, and their requirements for survival.

Science 8

Introductory Physical Science encompasses basic physics and chemistry, such as force, motion, transfer of energy, chemical bonding, atomic structure, and chemical interactions. Lab skills and critical thinking skills continue to be developed.

Science 8 Course Standards

1. Students can interpret how the values and principles of the culture of science impacts the explanations that are created in scientific endeavors.

2. Students can conduct investigations, ask questions, and attempt design challenges that show the relationships between science, technology, math, and engineering.

3. Students can design an investigation, collect quantitative data, and develop arguments for how that evidence shows the relationship between the motion of an object and the forces acting upon that object.

4. Students can collect and use qualitative and quantitative evidence to develop arguments that different types of fields exist and that those fields exert forces on matter.

5. Students can construct and present arguments, supported by empirical evidence, to show examples of physical and chemical processes that are an integral part of Earth and biological systems.

6. Students can compare and contrast specific examples for how energy transfers from one form to another and how these transfers are significantly connected to Earth, and chemical, physical, and biological systems.

7. Students can describe how scientific activities have provided evidence to develop our current, but changing, understanding of Earth’s place in relation to the solar system, galaxy, and universe.

8. Students can compare historic atomic models and use models to show how characteristics of matter are determined by the atoms and molecules that make up the material.

9. Students can develop and use a model that describes how chemical reactions result in the rearrangement of atoms and the storing and/or releasing of energy.

10. Students can investigate and compare properties of waves, how those waves transfer energy, and are used in communication systems.