Middle School Science – Physical Science

The key concepts for this year’s science course are:

• Observation and experiment – The scientific process of observation and inquiry, experimentation and documentation are fundamental to science.
• Tools of science – Using the appropriate scientific tools in research and experiments creates consistency, accuracy and technological advancement.
• Documenting scientific works – Capturing data and documenting it in the most appropriate format is necessary to participate in the scientific community and create understandable information.

Minimum content covered in the course include:

• engineering design process
• mass
• speed
• velocity
• forces

Additional content may be covered depending on the pace of student learning and the direction their discovery moves.

Students will need:

• 1″ to 1-1/2″ binder with 50 sheets of filler/looseleaf paper and at least 2 dividers
• colored pencil set (at least red, yellow, green and blue)
• covered pencil sharpener (blade not exposed)
• 12″ ruler
• pencil bag to contain items
• double pocket folder for handouts.

Additionally, students will need technical ability to access Zoom, EdPuzzle, FlipGrid, Nearpod.com, Discovery Education Streaming, Study.com and Canvas (our learning management system).

At home, students will need access to the internet (home or library) to look up information, related published materials and/or videos and do work through our class learning management system.  Some videos will be subscription-based and issued by illuminat-ED (all students will have accounts for Discovery Streaming and Study.com for additional video support).  Some videos will be freely available.

Students can expect to spend up to 3 hours/week to complete various assigned tasks that might require internet access.  If your family cannot allocate 3 hours/week for individual work (which may take less time), this may not be a good fit.  Some of this can be done during Flex Work Time at our facility.

This is a tween-oriented course that will have lab experiments and/or group work one or more week per month.  If your child has impulse control problems or challenges that make it difficult for them to focus in a lab setting, handle things with care, or work with other students–this will not be a good fit.

Live class time will assume students have done their pre-reading, writing assignments, online content and any offline work. We will be collaboratively discussing and analyzing our offline work and doing lab experiments, builds and other activities.

Students will also regularly be on point to share ideas in front of a group.  Shy students will not be bullied into participating by any means; but if your student does not have a habit of “warming up” after getting to know a group–this may not be a comfortable setting for them.