Science

PreK - 12 Philosophy for Science

The teaching of Science at ASD aims to provide students with a stimulating and challenging science education, which fosters inquiry and exploration. Utilizing an engaging, integrated, multi-sensory approach that maximizes hands-on activities, the instructional techniques create opportunities for experimentation and collaboration. The program strives to further nurture students who are open-minded, objective and reflective thinkers.

PreK - 5 Science Standards

Physical Science

Standard 1: Students will develop an understanding of the concepts, models, theories, universal principles, and facts that explain the physical world.

Earth and Space Science

Standard 2: All students will gain an understanding of the origin, evolution, and structure of the universe.

Standard 3: All students will gain an understanding of the structure, dynamics, and geophysical systems of the earth.

Life Science Standards and Benchmarks

Standard 4: Students will understand the basic concepts and principles of life science.

Science Inquiry and Nature of Science

Standard 5: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry.

Standard 6: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the history of science and the evolvement of scientific knowledge.

Grades 6 - 12 Science Standards

Standard 1 - Students will demonstrate their understanding of the importance of curiosity, honesty, open-mindedness, and skepticism in their own efforts to understand how and why universal phenomena exist and occur.

Standard 2 - Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly.

Standard 3 - Students will be familiar with the character of scientific knowledge and inquiry and how it is achieved.

Standard 4 - Students will be able to select and use tools and instruments to conduct scientific activities.

Standard 5 - Students will understand and demonstrate the ideas of system, model, change, and scale in exploring scientific and technological matters.

Standard 6 - Students will be familiar with current scientific theories about the universe and how these theories evolved. Students will understand the composition and structure of the universe and the Earth’s place in it.

Standard 7 - Students will understand how key features of the earth influence climate, weather, and the water cycle.

Standard 8 - Students will understand scientific theories of how the earth’s surface is formed and how those theories developed.

Standard 9 - Students will know and understand scientific theories of the nature of matter and how those theories developed.

Standard 10 - Students will be familiar with the forms and transformations of energy and the significance of energy in understanding the structure of matter and the universe.

Standard 11 - Students will understand how society uses and conserves various sources of energy.

Standard 12 - Students will understand the relationship between force, mass, and the motion of objects.

Standard 13 - Students will recognize gravitational, electrical, and magnetic forces as major kinds of forces acting in nature.

Standard 14 - Students will be familiar with the wave nature of sound and electromagnetic radiation.

Standard 15 - Students will be aware of the diversity of living organisms and how they can be compared scientifically.

Standard 16 - Students will understand the structure, functions, and reproduction of living cells and organisms.

Standard 17 - Students will understand how and why organisms are dependent on one another and their environments.

Standard 18 - Students will understand the cycling of matter and the flow and transformation of energy through systems of living things.

Standard 19 - Students will understand how biological traits are passed on to successive generations.

Standard 20 - Students will understand the arguments for natural selection as a scientific explanation of biological evolution.

Standard 21 - Students will know and understand the biological, cultural, and social explanations for why human beings have important traits in common yet differ from one another.

Standard 22 - Students will be familiar with important aspects of human development from fertilization to death.

Standard 23 - Students will understand the processes of the human body.

Standard 24 - Students will understand that a variety of factors influence learning in human beings.