Ignite a Passion for Science: A Curriculum Designed for Future Thinkers
At our school, we believe that science education is more than memorizing formulas and facts. It’s about nurturing a love for discovery, fostering critical thinking, and empowering students to become the responsible stewards of tomorrow.
Our K-8 science curriculum offers a unique blend of classical scientific principles and contemporary themes, equipping your child with the skills to not only understand the world around them but also actively work towards a sustainable future.
Here’s what sets our program apart:
- Foundational Knowledge: We build a strong base in core scientific disciplines like physics, biology, chemistry, and Earth science.
- Addressing Real-World Challenges: We delve into current topics like environmental and agricultural sustainability, harnessing and storing energy, biodegrading and recycling plastics.
- Future-Oriented Learning: Explore cutting-edge advancements in material science, battery technology, synthetic biology, and modern integrated circuits fabrication.
- Hands-on Learning: Labs and engineering challenges bring science to life, fostering critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
- Science Fair: This is a non-competitive and fun event that allows students to gain experience in scientific method, present their findings and foster communication and collaboration skills.
- Developing Future Leaders: Our goal is to ignite a passion for science in each student, empowering them to become critical thinkers, effective communicators, and responsible citizens who can tackle the scientific challenges of the 21st century.
We plan to use the Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (BFSU) series by Benard J. Nebel, Ph.D. From the publisher’s web site (pressforlearning.com):
The BFSU curriculum contains four learning progressions: Nature of Matter; Life Science; Physical Science and Technology; Earth and Space Science. Lessons build in systematic steps and integrate with one another along the way forming a logical, ever-expanding continuum of learning.
Teachers are guided to conduct lessons in a manner that entices students to learn and draw conclusions through their own hands-on experience, observations, thinking, and logical reasoning. The emphasis throughout is on developing an understanding of basic, crosscutting concepts and core ideas fundamental to one or more areas of science.
In addition to reinforcing the comprehension of the science, suggested reading and writing assignments in each lesson will make BFSU highly useful in bringing students to master common-core standards for literacy. Likewise, BFSU aligns with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
Users will find BFSU both rigorous and flexible. Early lessons, while understandable by 5-6 year-olds, are important lessons for older students as well and can easily be presented in an age-appropriate manner. Each learning progression should be pursued in order, but switching among the progressions may be done to attune lessons to time of year, special opportunities, or personal interests.
Kindergarten – Grade 2
Nature of Matter
- Organizing Things into Categories
- Solids, Liquids, and Gases and Change with Temperature
- Air Is a Substance and the Concept of the Atmosphere
- Matter I–IV: Particulate Nature, Air Pressure/Vacuums, Evaporation/Condensation (Water Cycle), Dissolving & Solutions
- Distinguishing Materials
- Magnets and Magnetic Fields
- Air: A Mixture of Gases
- Rocks, Minerals, Crystals, Dirt, and Soil
Life Science
- Distinguishing Living, Natural Earth, and Human-Made Things
- The Plant and Animal Kingdoms
- Life Cycles & Identification of Living Things
- What Is a Species?
- Adaptations, Food Chains, and Energy Flow
- How Animals Move I–IV: Skeleton/Muscles, Body Designs, Nervous System, Energy to Run the Body
- Plant Science I–II: Structure, Reproduction, Germination
- Plants, Soil, Water, and Erosion
Physical Sci & Tech
- Concepts of Energy I–III: Making Things Go, Kinetic/Potential Energy, Distinguishing Matter and Energy
- Sound, Vibrations, and Energy
- Energy and Force
- Inertia & Friction
- Push Pushes Back
Earth & Space Science
- Gravity I–II: Earth’s Gravity, Rate of Fall, Weightlessness vs. Mass/Weight
- Day and Night and the Earth’s Rotation
- Reading and Drawing Maps (N, E, S, W)
- Land Forms and Major Biomes of the Earth
- Time and the Earth’s Turning
- Seasonal Changes and the Earth’s Orbit
- Rocks and Fossils
Grade 3 – 5
Nature of Matter
- Atomic/Molecular Motion I–III: Brownian Motion & Diffusion, Temperature, Heat and Pressure
- Chemistry I: Elements and Compounds
- Will It Sink or Float? Concept of Density
- How Metal Ships Float and Making a Hydrometer
- Heat, Volume and Density
- Convection Currents: Observation and Interpretation
Life Science
- Cells I–III: Microscopes & Cell Theory, Growth & Division, Whole-Body Functions
- Fungi and Bacteria I–III: Decomposers in Nature, Commercial Uses, Disease and Health
- Microscopic Organisms I–II: Diversity & Kingdom Protista
- The Life of Plants I–II: Growing Plants, How a Plant Grows Its Parts
Physical Sci & Tech
- How Things Fly
- Center of Gravity, Balance, and Wobbling Wheels
- Movement Energy and Momentum
- Mechanics I–II: Levers, Inclined Planes, Pulleys, Gears, Hydraulic Lifts
- Electricity I–II: Circuits, Conductors, Static Electricity, Series/Parallel, Fuses
- Light I: Basics of Light and Seeing
Earth & Space Science
- Cause of Seasonal Changes
- The Water Cycle and Its Ramifications
- Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Movements of Tectonic Plates
- Mapping the Earth: Latitude and Longitude
- Climate and Weather I: Wet Tropics and Dry Deserts
Grade 6 – 8
Biology
- The Life of Plants III: Basic Plant Anatomy and Physiology
- Anatomy & Physiology in Relation to Cells I–VI: Metabolism, Nutrition, Heredity, Genetics, DNA, Reproduction, How Materials Cross Membranes
- Viruses: Their Attack and How We Repel Them
Earth Science
- Ecosystems I–II: Basic Structure, Population Dynamics
- Darwin’s Observations and Reasoning
- Climate and Weather II–III: The Coriolis Effect, Turbulence at 60˚ Latitude
- Determining Latitude and Longitude
- Eons of Earth History
- Pollution—Not a Simple Matter
Physics & Space Sci
- Light II–III: Mirrors, Refraction, Optical Instruments, The Electromagnetic Spectrum
- Electricity III–V: Magnetic Fields, Electromagnets, Motors/Generators, Production & Measurement
- Gyroscopes & Elasticity
- Distinguishing Force and Energy
- Laws of Energy (Thermodynamics)
- The Moon, Tides, The Solar System and Beyond
Chemistry
- Chemistry II–VII: Atoms: Unveiling Their Nature
- How Atoms Bond
- Hydrogen Bonding and the Behavior of Water
- Acids and Bases
- Chemical Reactions and Energy
- Nuclear Chemistry and Radioactivity
- Nuclear Energy