Acids and Bases and Fire, Oh My!
The US science faculty spent time analyzing and discussing the idea of switching the 6th grade Earth Science curriculum and 7th grade Chemistry curriculum in order to better prepare our 8th graders for a PLB-focused Physics curriculum that might make the current sequence of topics in upper school serve our students' development of lab skills more effectively. After much discussion and differentiation of the curriculum to see if it would 'work,' we soon came to the conclusion that the curriculum sequence actually works best 'as is' as long as we add key chemistry ideas within the 6th grade Earth Science curriculum where they make sense. For example, we will now have an Acids and Bases lesson sequence inside the Earth's Minerals and Rocks unit that will require the use of the Bunsen burner so that students can be more independent using this critical science lab tool early in 7th grade Chemistry. We also added lesson sequences focusing on Atoms and Molecules, Density, States of Matter, and the Law of Conservation of Energy and Mass into the Planet Earth, Plate Tectonics, Earth's Fresh Water, and Atmospheric Processes units, respectively, as a way to expose our 6th graders to more frequent practice of critical lab skills and methods. We feel that these changes will help prepare our 6th graders more thoroughly for Chemistry in 7th grade and then ultimately be more prepared to take on the challenges of the independent and application-focused PBL curriculum in 8th grade Physics. PDFunding Request- ID#865