Science

Science challenges our student-scientists with an inquiry-based curriculum. Through weekly lessons and laboratory sessions, students learn about natural phenomena by practicing the process scientists use to research, experiment, and engineer ways to test ideas, answer questions, or to solve problems.

Each year, from kindergarten through eighth grades, students build on concepts in a vertical spiral to expand their knowledge in science using technology, reading, engineering, art, and math. (Example of Science Curriculum)

1st Graders are building a model to demonstrate the moon’ s orbit around the earth, and the light it reflects from the sun creates shapes (phases) we see in the night sky.

2nd Graders will use a solar collector to observe that energy from the sun heats objects.  They will observe a crayon in clay to see the sun’s effect.  They will record their observations.

3rd Graders will use simple instruments to gather information and make weather forecasts.  They will build a barometer out of a mason jar and balloon to monitor air pressure.

4th Grader botanists investigate external, internal structures of plants that require specialized tools to observe. Some of the research stations included prepared plant cell slides under the microscope, comparing sugar concentration in various flower nectars using a refractometer, spices from the rainforest sniffing-guessing game, leaf classification, and plants that trap insects.

5th Graders are constructing a projectile launcher to explore projectile motion.

All students will attend an Alaska Husky Spirit Assembly.  They will experience traveling down the trail by dog team and experience the Iditarod.

6th Graders are conducting research on types of rocks.  They are collecting information on origin and formation to write a children’s story to explain the information to a young child.

7th Graders are creating a fictional offspring using the Reebop Genetics Lab.

8th Graders are using spring scales to compare the force needed to perform work using either a lever or an inclined plane.