Science
The objectives of the science department are:
- to provide a safe environment in which students are stimulated to explore
- to investigate scientific concepts that spark student interest and are relevant to the real world
- to encourage students to ask questions and draw conclusions
- to encourage students to think, solve problems, and apply concepts inside and outside the laboratory
- to provide students with scientific skills that are applicable to advanced levels of scientific interest and study.
Lower School
Creating excitement is what Lower School science is all about. The Lower School science lab is definitely a place where students are introduced to a variety of topics and opportunities which spark interest in and curiosity about the nature of the world around them. Students are encouraged to investigate while synthesizing concrete and abstract information. Through hands-on activities students relate science to their everyday lives and imaginings. Topics vary across the grade levels to include life, physical, and earth sciences.
Middle School
The curriculum covers the scientific method, lab skills and techniques, earth science, life science, and an introduction to chemistry and physics. In Grade 5 science, a course with many hands-on activities, students first isolate each aspect of the scientific method using individual and group science lab skills. Sample labs provide the foundation for future short-term and long-term student-driven labs. Grade 6 students focus on earth science in a class that integrates formal lessons with investigatory labs. Beginning with a general scientific overview of planet Earth and its place within the solar system, students continue their exploration through the various relationships among the hydrosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere. Students not only have numerous opportunities to develop an appreciation of how planet Earth came to be, but also understand environmental relationships within the biosphere.
In life science, Grade 7 students explore the basic unit of life, the cell. As the year progresses, students venture into genetics, and the study of heredity, and ways scientists predict the genetic makeup and physical appearance of the offspring of two parents. The Grade 8 class introduces students to chemistry and physics. The first semester covers the basic principles of physics, including wave theory, sound and light; the second semester explores basic chemistry, including matter, atoms, elements and the periodic table. The curriculum is designed to promote awareness of science in everyday life and to prepare students for the more intensive science courses of Upper School.
Upper School
The Upper School science curriculum uses a hands-on, process-oriented approach. Individual and group experiments are based on inquiry that promotes scientific literacy and critical thinking. Upper School students typically take Biology in Grade 9 and Environmental Science or Chemistry in Grade 10; in the junior and senior years, students choose among Chemistry, Physics, Advanced Placement Biology, Advanced Placement Chemistry, Sports Medicine and Forensic Chemistry (two semester-long senior electives), and P.A.I.D. (Physiology, Anatomy, Injury Prevention and Diseases) a year-long senior elective. All courses include labs, field studies, and long-term and short-term research projects.