Executive Summary

Executive Summary for Science

Statement of Purpose

The K-12 Science Curriculum is the Easton, Redding, and Region 9’s (ER9) plan for science instruction and learning. It provides the framework for what students need to know and be able to do in order to apply science concepts and inquiry processes in a real world environment. The committee developed the following vision:

We seek to prepare students for a world with increasing scientific and technological demands. They will be able to use scientific knowledge and scientific ways of thinking for individual and social purposes. Accordingly, all students will engage in meaningful experiences that illuminate the basic concepts and processes of science, promote enjoyment of learning about the natural world, and foster skills of scientific inquiry.

Guiding Principles and Beliefs (Adapted from the Science Committee’s belief statements)

A set of guiding principles frames the K-12 Science Curriculum to ensure that students will:

Develop as independent learners with a strong interest in science
Be confident in their ability to do science with a well balanced approach to the use of scientific concepts and skills
Employ the scientific method in the observation and experimentation of the natural world
Communicate using scientific terms and processes
Make connections between science and other areas

Science teachers believe:

In a cooperatively developed, standards-based, well articulated curriculum with clearly stated outcomes and criteria for assessing student performance
That students learn in different ways and the teacher needs to have a varied approach to instruction
In a curriculum design that provides flexibility for the teacher to use creative approaches to implement the curriculum
In pursuing professional development opportunities that support the improvement of student performance in science

Standards

The ER9 K-12 Science Curriculum aligns with the content and performance standards of the Connecticut K-12 Science Program Evaluation Guide (SPEG) developed by the , Connecticut Academy for Education in Math, Science, and Technology (CT Academy). The document also aligns with the Connecticut Framework for Science (these standards are scheduled for revision in June 2004) and is complementary to a combination of standards developed by the National Research Council (National Science Education Standards—NSES) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Project 2061). In addition, the CT Academy has developed a Curriculum Trace Map that provides detail and additional standards to complement the Connecticut Framework.

The primary expectation for students learning the content of science in ER9 is that students will demonstrate mastery in a range of scientific concepts organized around the disciplines of physical science, earth and space science, and the life sciences. In addition, students will demonstrate mastery in applying the scientific method and related inquiry skills to observe and experiment with real world problems. These experiences will support students in the continued development and appreciation of scientific literacy in a changing world. The middle school teachers have developed a Science Handbook to assist students with the study of science and provides guidelines for the successful writing of laboratory reports.

In association with these science expectations, students will develop mastery in basic inquiry skills including the ability to:

Pose scientifically oriented questions
Use a variety of approaches for gathering and analyzing evidence related to the questions
Formulate explanations from the evidence
Connect explanations to scientific knowledge
Communicate and justify explanations

The ER9 Science Committee has laid out the content standards from the Connecticut Framework at the various grade levels and categorized them according to four broad conceptual areas:

The Nature (Scientific Inquiry) and History of Science
Earth and Space Science
Life Science
Physical Science

* To view the Science Curriculum Map below you will need to have the program, Adobe Acrobat Reader

The curriculum is presented in a developmentally appropriate manner in a grid format that lists content and skills for each grade level. See the Science Curriculum Map for a summary of the curriculum document.

The Curriculum

The Science Committee designed the curriculum around the concept of a learning spiral. Within the framework of the K-12 structure, science concepts and skills are introduced and reinforced at specific grade levels. Students have many opportunities to demonstrate mastery of these concepts of skills within increasingly complex learning environments. Units of study are organized around big ideas/concepts, a set of essential questions to generate an inquiry approach to scientific study, and specific student performance standards.

Students in k-4 focus on the experiential phase of scientific learning where a number of scientific concepts and skills are introduced and reinforced. Teachers often connect science instruction in the elementary level with the fiction and non-fiction books the students are reading. This reinforces the idea of integrating science into the primary instruction of reading and mathematics. In this elementary phase, students complete common locally developed activities and assessments that are aligned closely to the science standards designated for these initial years. In grade 5, students begin to formally identify and apply the components of the scientific method that serves as the fundamental skills foundation for the sciences. The State of Connecticut is currently in the process of revising the science standards in preparation for the state wide science tests that will commence in grade 5 in the spring of 2008, as required by the "No Child Left Behind" federal legislation.

As students mature, they develop more abstract understandings of the concepts and skills. Instruction in grades 6-8 is designed to have students demonstrate mastery in science concepts and in the implementation of the scientific method through formal standards-based lab experiments. To assist the student in the use of the scientific method, the committee has created a Science Handbook as a guide for skill development. In 2008, grade 8 students will be begin to take the state-wide science assessment as required by the No Child Behind legislation.

When students enter the high school, they take a challenging and varied assortment of courses based on their demonstrated mastery of basic science concept and skills. Course sequences include courses in Biology, Earth Science, Chemistry, Physics, and AP courses in Biology and Chemistry. Biology, Chemistry, and Physics have honors level sections. An honors level student may take a sequence of courses that includes Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and an AP course in Biology or Chemistry. Students in the regular level may take a sequence of courses that includes Earth Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Students who have identified special needs may take Modified Earth Science, Modified Biology, and Applied Chemistry and Physics. Even though there are levels of courses, students are placed according to demonstrated achievement and teacher recommendation. Movement between the levels is available when appropriate. The Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) assesses all students in grade 10 and students who fail to meet the state goal in science can retake the assessment in grade 11 and grade 12. Beginning with the Class of 2006, all students, in addition to the 4 credit science requirement, must meet the high school standard for science inquiry in order to graduate from Joel Barlow High School.

Types of Instruction

Throughout the science curriculum, students are encouraged to ask questions about the science phenomena they are observing and studying. Teachers use a variety of instructional strategies to deliver and build science concepts and skills with students. These include directed instruction with the teacher working with the whole class to introduce a concept or skill and lead the students through guided practice and discussion. Sometimes students will work as pairs or in small groups and practice problems or explore science applications of the concepts and skills. Students will do independent work by completing homework or by completing performance-based tasks applying the appropriate science concepts and skills to authentic situations. Students will use discipline specific computer software, the Internet, and probe technologies to discover and/or investigate scientific concepts as well as to practice and apply the concepts and skills in laboratory exercises. The opportunities for students to conduct scientific experiments exist at each grade level. These opportunities become more formal in grade 5 as the students begin to use formal inquiry components in assigned lab experiments. Teachers in the elementary schools have begun to develop a resource of inquiry based lessons/activities that are available for optional use by teachers.

Additional information on the science curriculum is available on the Web sites of the specific schools listed as hyperlinks below. At the specific school site, click on the curriculum link and follow the path to the appropriate grade level. Use the browser back button to return to this page.

SSES, RES, HKMS, JRMS, JBHS

Types of Assessment Directly Aligned to the Science Curriculum

Common Assessments

In the primary grades, the teaching of science often occurs in conjunction with a particular core level reading selection or conjunction with cross disciplinary topics. At this level, the assessment of reading and math skills are the priority, but through the use of common science activities and performance assessments teachers can track the progress of students over time in science. This is done with task specific rubrics and rubrics that identify the components of the scientific processes that are used in learning. Science teachers in grades 2-4 have developed a set of common assessments for each grade level to evaluate each student's progress with respect to the specific standards listed for the grade level or in the course of study. The teachers use a common rubric. Although the common assessments are used at all grade levels in each district, individual teachers and grade level teams have some flexibility as to when the common assessments are administered.

Toward the end of grade 4, all students in Easton and Redding take a locally developed science test of objective and performance-based questions that provides feedback to the science committee on what content and skills students have acquired in science. This test is not a test to assess individual student progress in science. Its purpose is to identify the strong and weak points of the K-4 science curriculum. These data are analyzed and used to revise the curriculum.

The middle school science teachers have developed a lab and project based rubrics that assess student competencies in the use of scientific inquiry. These are used in conjunction with common assessments developed by the middle school teachers. The rubrics are in the Science Handbook referred to in the Standards section. In addition, there are task specific assessment criteria aligned to the standards that teachers use to evaluate the individual projects.

The high school is responsible for preparing the students to take the CAPT test in grade 10. These teachers rely on a strong articulation of the k-8 curriculum, so that they have a clear understanding of how the k-8 teachers have prepared the students for the same test. In 2008, the State of Connecticut will begin to administer a science test to students in grades five and eight. These assessments will assist the k-8 teachers in preparing the students for high school science. The high school has recently developed a rubric to meet the high school graduation requirement in science. In addition, they are developing a course portfolio of lab and related assessment activities for high school teachers to use.

Connecticut Assessment

Currently, the State of Connecticut assesses students in science at the end of grade 10 as part of the CAPT battery of tests. Students who do not make the goal level on this test may take it again in subsequent grades. There are no state assessments in the k-8 grades, but that will change in the spring of 2008 when all students will take a state assessment in science at grades 5 and 8. This is to meet the requirement of the No Child Left Behind federal legislation that requires each school district to assess science at least once in k-5, 6-8, and 9-12.

Recording Student Performance

Since the curriculum activities and assessments are closely aligned to specific science concepts and skills, the teachers use a variety of recording devices to track each student's progress as measured against the standards. These devices include:

Science rubrics that are task specific and/or assess student progress in relation to specific science content and skill standards. These results are usually incorporated into grades on the report cards
CAPT scores placed in permanent records
Other Standardized Testing in placed in the permanent file
Assessments of Portfolios/Folders: Students beginning with the Class of 2006 may use information from these processes to validate that students have met the graduation requirement in science.

Summary

The ER9 Science Curriculum is consistently delivered in all grade levels and at each school. It is aligned closely to state and national standards. Teachers have developed some common approaches to instruction that ensure that all students are experiencing a similar curriculum. Although the common assessments are used at all grade levels in each district, individual teachers and grade level teams have some flexibility as to when the common assessments are administered. As you explore different facets of the science curriculum, you may generate questions or feed back.

Please direct any feedback or questions concerning this document or the site by clicking on the Web master link at the bottom of this page.

[ ER9-Central Office ] [ HKMS ] [ JBHS ] [ JRMS ] [ RES ] [ SSES ] [ Table of Contents ]

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Revised: October 17, 2005 .

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