Here is a very early draft of a document about our science curriculum. It comes from our first curriculum meeting back in November, and it will form the basis of our discussion of science curriculum at our next curriculum summit in January. It is a skeleton document in many ways, and that’s o.k. One of my concerns is that we keep the document open enough so that the teachers can come in and really fill it with their ideas. With that…

Scientific Course of Study at the Science Leadership Academy

Scientific learning at the Science Leadership Academy informs the learning that will happen throughout the building. The core values of inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation and reflection have their roots in the scientific method and scientific community. In addition, all science coursework at SLA will reflect three main components:

  • Inquiry
  • Performance-Based Assessment
  • Quantitative / Analytic Process and Product

With a focus on both scientific writing and quantitative analysis, science study at SLA will have a strong interdisciplinary focus. Staff development will have a focus on these ideals – including but not limited to workshops with the Philadelphia Writing Project to look at the teaching of scientific writing.

The science course sequence will reflect a belief that science is integrated – that the distinctions between fields of study within science need to be broken down. To that end, the first two years of study will be an integrated biochemistry sequence, starting with a focus on microbiology, followed by a focus on chemistry and ending with a focus on macro biology. A possible sequence could be:
Semester I: Origins of Life – Cellular Biology – Organisms – Anatomy – Physiology
Semester II: Periodic Table and Nomenclature – Molecules – Naming Compounds – Chemical Reactions – Chemical Equations – Conversions
Semester III: Electrochemistry – Advanced Redox – Acid / Base (pH) – Nuclear Chemistry – Quantum Chemistry – Electromagnetic Properties
Semester IV: Classification – Evolution – Communities – Ecosystems – Watersheds and Physical Geography – Earth Science – Space Science.

[Added because it wasn’t explicitly stated originally] Another thing this does allow us to do is have an 11th grade physics course that is heavily math-oriented and that builds on their understanding of the biochemical fields.

We’re looking at some other models as well… and I think the scope and sequence will go through a few dozen revisions before we have students in the building, but I am very excited that we have a core statement of belief about science learning, and I think starting with a two-year integrated biochemistry course really gets up and running in the ways that we need to go.

What this draft does not address is our ideas about a capstone course. That’s another document, and I’ll post that up soon as well.