The focus in kindergarten through sixth grade is to make use of a hands-on, student inquiry approach to discovering science. Through this process, the students will develop their skills as scientists as they begin to understand the nature of science and to develop a solid base of content background knowledge. This universal set of skills and knowledge will provide a firm base to build their higher order skills as they continue their education. To accomplish this task, the FOSS curricular program (www.fossweb.com) will be implemented in these grades.

In grades seven and eight, the skills and content developed in the primary grades will be revisited and expanded to develop students’ higher order thinking skills. In addition, new content and skills will be presented to create a larger science foundation. These years will act as a bridge between the basic ideas of elementary and more advanced ideas of high school.

In ninth through twelfth grades, students will begin to build on the foundation that was laid in the previous years. The students will be exposed to a wide range of information in the four major content areas; environmental – earth and space, biology, chemistry, and physics. This will provide the students with an overview in all of the sciences. In addition, students will have the opportunity to take part in courses that will allow for a more in-depth study of specific topics that may be related to their career aspirations.

In all, it is the goal of the science department that all students become scientifically literate. Not only will they have the appropriate content knowledge, they will also have developed an understanding of how they can scientifically approach both information and challenges that they may meet in their future endeavors.