Fundamental Concepts

GOALS

1. To relate science to technology, society, and the environment .

2. To develop the skills, strategies, and habits of mind required for scientific inquiry.

3. To understand the basic concepts of science.

BIG IDEAS

Our courses all focus on the "Big Ideas" in the curriculum. Big Ideas “go beyond discrete facts or skills to focus on larger concepts, principles, or processes.” Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, Understanding by Design (1998), p. 10.

“Big ideas” are the broad, important understandings that students should retain long after they have forgotten many of the details of what they have studied in the classroom. They are the understandings that contribute to scientific literacy. The big ideas that students can take away from each course in this curriculum relate to some aspect of the fundamental concepts that run through our courses from grades 9-12.