Science
At Fort Couch, students not only learn science but experience it through hands-on activities. The program strives to stimulate and foster student interest and excitement for a subject that has become part of daily living in an expanding technological society. Through the use of hands-on 11activities, labs, science tools and equipment, the students learn science concepts along with skills and processes needed for scientific thought and inquiry. Each year the students are exposed to at least four different topics.
As part of the regular curriculum, students explore the impact science has on the world. STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) is a focus of the curriculum for learning in the integrated curriculum. Science objectives and activities are regularly integrated with other content areas. Students are asked to make reports, oral presentations, explore global issues and use mathematical reasoning.
7th GRADE SCIENCE UNITS
The scientific method will be a focus along with other experimental techniques. Students will be able to set up their own experiments and control variables.
Light
This unit is a standards-based, inquiry-centered unit that was developed by the Smithsonian and the National Academies. This unit allows students to explore the properties of light. Students will understand the origin of light, how it travels, and what happens when it is blocked. An exploration of different types of mirrors and how light acts when it strikes a mirror completes the unit.
Cells
This unit will introduce students to homeostasis of the cell. Students will be taught the correct process in using a microscope to explore cells in animals and plants. Content includes the parts of a cell and cell functions. This experience and information on the cell will be a building block for the next nine weeks: genetics. ·
Genetics and Evolution
Theories concerning the origin of plants and animals along with the production of mutations, the inheritance of traits and the prediction of a pattern of inheritance and natural selection are explored. Students have the opportunity to discover how their own physical characteristics have been passed down through generations.
Earth's Changing Surface & Man’s Impact
Man’s impact on the earth’s changing surface is explored in this unit. Students examine earthquakes, volcanoes, and other earth processes. Types of faults and the causes of earth movements are deducted. The students will explore the impact of agriculture and pollution on the earth.
8th GRADE SCIENCE UNITS
The scientific method will be a focus along with other experimental techniques. Students will be able to set up their own experiments and control variables.
Intro to Physics
This unit will focus on our physical world along with the scientific laws that govern it. The students will explore through scientific inquiry the topics of kinetic and potential energy, speed, motion, acceleration, forces, work, power, and gravity. Engineering is a focus of this unit with the students designing, building, evaluating and revising engineering challenges using the design cycle.
Intro to Chemistry
A focus of this unit will be understanding the properties of matter. Students will identify types of matter based on the physical and chemical characteristics. Using physical properties like density, melting point/freezing point, chemical properties like chemical reactivity the students will identify matter. The periodic table will be used as a tool to understand the sub-atomic structure of the atom. The students will be able to identify characteristics of the elements by the placement on the periodic table.
Astronomy
This student will explore the Earth, the moon, the stars, galaxies and the universe. The laws and theories used to govern the physical universe are applied. Students will be researching, observing, calculating, and modeling planetary movements and characteristics. The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram will be used to identify the brightness and magnitude of stars of the galaxies. Models will be used to understand seasons, earth movements, and the effect of different objects in space. The students will explore the challenges of space exploration and colonization today.