Middle School Science

In our inquiry-based, hands-on science program, middle-grade students learn to think like scientists. Students gain a strong foundation in the scientific method, data analysis, modeling, research, and scientific literacy - the ability to construct, reflect, and use scientific knowledge.

In grade 7, students investigate what it means to be a scientist with two goals: first, to acquire the skills necessary to explore the wonders of life science and biology, and second, to understand how science can be applied for good and misused within a social context.  Students will focus on developing these unilateral skills through the content of ecosystems, evolution, scientific method, and energy while developing the skills of data analysis, pattern detection, reading, writing, and modeling.

In grade 8, students are challenged to uncover and pursue key questions about the world around them. This course examines the Earth as a system within itself and as a part of the solar system, the Milky Way Galaxy, and the Universe in which the Earth exists. The abiotic and biotic realms and their interactions will be considered within the Earth. The history of the Earth, over 4.6 billion years of development, will be studied to determine the changes that have resulted in the planet humans inhabit in the present. The course uses the principles of scientific ways of knowing the Earth and its environs in these areas.