Science

Aspen Academy wants all of our students to become academically accomplished in science by immersion in the scientific investigation and experimentation. Beginning in ECE and Junior Kindergarten, students undertake simple experiments and learn the process of scientific inquiry. Each lesson allows students to develop hypotheses, conduct experiments, make observations, collect data, and test the accuracy of their hypotheses. As students progress through Aspen Academy’s science curriculum, they deepen and extend their understanding of the basic principles of science through a variety of scientific media and through the development of subject-appropriate vocabulary skills as well as more sophisticated hands-on experiments.

Foundations of Aspen Academy Science Curricula
Aspen Academy’s science program(s) and curriculum are rigorous so that all of our students are exposed to a broad domain of scientific thought and discovery. Aspen Academy students have the necessary skills and content knowledge to excel in any and all areas of science as well as to understand the importance and prevalence of science in their daily lives.

• Aspen’s science program is based on high academic standards. In creating our science standards, we have mined the best resources in the nation and matched them to the goals for our students. Students have opportunities to learn foundational skills and knowledge in the elementary grades and to understand concepts, principles, and theories at the middle school level. In most cases, because our students learn and use information at younger ages, our standards are progressively one or two years ahead of those in the nation. Our middle school standards (grades 4-8) are based on high school standards. When a student completes middle school at Aspen Academy, he or she should be ready to take AP courses exclusively when enrolling for high school.
  
  At the middle school level, the standards document does not prescribe a single middle school curriculum. To allow teachers flexibility, the standards for grades four through eight are organized as content strands. There is no mandate that a particular content strand be completed in a particular grade. Students will master the standards that apply to the curriculum they are studying regardless of the sequence of the content.
  
   
• Aspen’s science program develops students’ command of the academic language of science used in the content standards. The lessons explicitly teach scientific terms as they are presented in the content standards. New words (e.g., photosynthesis) are introduced to reflect students’ expanding knowledge, and the definitions of common words (e.g., table) are expanded to incorporate specific meanings in science. Developing students’ command of the academic language of science is a part of instruction at all grade levels. Scientific vocabulary is an important foundation for building conceptual understanding.
  
   
• Aspen’s science program reflects a balanced, comprehensive approach that includes the teaching of investigation and experimentation skills along with direct instruction and reading. Investigation and experimentation standards are progressive and integral to the physical, life, and earth sciences as students learn quantitative skills and qualitative observational skills. For example, the metric system is first introduced in grade one, but students use and refine their skill in metric measurement in subsequent grades. The methods and skills of scientific inquiry are learned in the context of the key concepts, principles, and theories set forth in the standards. Lessons are planned to make effective use of time and resources. Laboratory space and equipment, library access, and other resources support students’ academic growth in science.
  
   
• Aspen’s science program uses multiple instructional strategies and provides students with multiple opportunities to master the content standards. Multiple instructional strategies, such as direct instruction, teacher modeling and demonstration, and investigation and experimentation, are built into every unit lesson plan. Those strategies help teachers capture student interest, provide bridges across content areas, and contribute to an understanding of the nature of science and the methods of scientific inquiry.
  
  Standards for investigation and experimentation are included at each grade level and differ from the other standards in that they do not represent a specific content area. Investigation and experimentation cuts across all content areas, and those standards are taught in the context of the grade-level content. Hands-on activities compose at least 30 to 40 percent of the science instructional time. Instruction is designed and sequenced to provide students with opportunities to reinforce foundational skills and knowledge and to revisit concepts, principles, and theories previously taught. In this way student progress is appropriately monitored.
  
   
• Aspen’s science program includes continual assessment of students’ knowledge and understanding, with appropriate adjustments being made during the academic year. Effective assessment is a key ingredient of standards-based instruction. Teachers assess students’ prerequisite knowledge, monitor student progress, and evaluate the degree of mastery of the content called for in the standards. Lessons include embedded unit assessments that provide formative and summative assessments of student progress. Teachers and administrators regularly collaborate to improve science progress by examining the results of multiple assessments.
  
   
• Aspen’s science program uses standards-based connections with other core subjects to reinforce science teaching and learning. Science instruction provides multiple opportunities to make connections with other content areas. Reading, writing, mathematics, and speaking skills are needed to learn and do science. In self-contained classrooms, teachers incorporate science content in reading, writing, and mathematics instruction where appropriate. At the middle school levels, instructors collaborate to plan lessons that reinforce and utilize skills taught in other courses. For example, a middle school student may write an essay on a scientific topic that is graded according to writing standards by the language arts instructor.