Science
The overarching goal of the Science department is for all students to have sufficient knowledge of science and engineering by the time they graduate high school to engage in public discussions on science-related issues, be careful consumers of scientific and technical information, and enter the careers of their choice. The major goals of the Science curriculum are to:
Implement a guaranteed and viable district science curriculum that is aligned with learning expectations set forth in the Connecticut Core Science Curriculum Framework and the Next Generation Science Standards that helps children continually build on and revise their knowledge and abilities, starting from their curiosity about what they see around them and their initial conceptions about how the world works.
Achieve scientific literacy preparing students to be confident and capable lifelong learners who are equipped with the skills needed to access, understand, evaluate and apply information and present coherent ideas about science, integrating common core science literacy skills into the curriculum.
Develop a thorough understanding of scientific explanations of the world through experimentation of the disciplinary core ideas and applying these understandings to solve environmental and societal challenges.
Foster each student's understanding and use of technology and engineering, including the ability to assess the relevance and credibility of scientific information found in various print and electronic media.
The Science curriculum is aligned with learning expectations set forth in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Information regarding these standards can be found on the Connecticut State Department of Education website.
Science Units and Skills/Student Outcomes
What students should know and be expected to do by the end of the unit
Weather and Climate
Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season
Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world
Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard
Adaptations and Survival Needs
Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive
Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing
Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all
Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of pants and animals that live there may change
Traits and
Life Cycles
Life Cycles
Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction and death
Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms
Use evidence to support the explanation that traits can be influenced by the environment
Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago
Electricity, Magnetism
and Motion
and Motion
Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object
Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion
Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other
Define a simple design problem that can be solved by applying scientific ideas about magnets
Additional Resources
Where to go for additional information and support
