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MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE
Teacher: Ms. Jeannie Herlihy
Ballet
Tech’s 6-8th grade science follows the New York City science curriculum
which is based on the New York State Core Curriculum in Science.
The two major strands of concentration in science, Physical Setting and
the Living Environment, start in kindergarten and continue through the
8th grade. In middle school, students have the appropriate instruction
that allows them the opportunity to accurately describe what is
happening around them as they thoughtfully interact with the natural
world be it in the physical or living strand. They learn
that science has its own language and that the communication of
thoughts and ideas in depth is necessary and highly encouraged. They
also learn that science and the gaining of knowledge has a definite
process and that certain skills and procedures must be practiced and
followed through on for an experiment or test to be valid or worthy.
Ballet
Tech middle school students gain extensive knowledge of the physical
and living environments through many inter-disciplinary projects with
art and humanities. Our past cross-curricular projects
have included Cave Paintings (simple machines, rock types and
Carbon-dating), Westward Expansion (latitude and longitude, using a
compass, the seasons, phases of the Moon, solar and lunar eclipses,
food chains, food webs, adaptation and habitat), Noguchi Lamps
(electricity and the electromagnetic spectrum), Monster Match (Punnett
Squares, family trees and pedigrees, genes and heredity) and a Road
Rally (Newton’s Laws).
It is important for the students to use their creativity and to see that science is all around us, not just in science class. It is also important for the students to see the inter-connectedness of all subjects such as art, humanities and science. Topics are reinforced when covered in such depth across classes. Students
are given the further opportunity to communicate their ideas with these
projects as other Ballet Tech classes are invited to view their
presentations of these works. The students become the teachers and inspire the younger students for future years.
Ballet Tech middle school students
are able to demonstrate their science literacy (as well as their art,
history and language skills) through these large inter-disciplinary
projects throughout the years. Their 8th grade Science
Exit Project is yet another important way that the students show us
their skills by successfully completing a scientific investigation. Students
in the 8th grade are also given the opportunity to take the Earth
Science Regents exam, provided they meet all the criteria.
BACK TO CURRICULUM
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