Science

The JPDS-NC science program is designed to encourage children’s innate curiosity about the world around them.  Recognizing that children are natural scientists with an instinctive need to touch and experiment, scientific inquiry is modeled and encouraged during visits to the science lab.  Predicting outcomes, setting up experiments, forming a hypothesis and learning from hands-on work is taught at many different levels throughout a child’s school experience.  Students learn to use many scientific tools including microscopes, thermometers, graduated cylinders, compasses, astrolabes and the triple beam balance.

Each grade at JPDS-NC covers a broad range of science topics and units that coincide with the grade-level social studies curricula, as well as introduce a range of science topics and knowledge.  Over the course of the pre-kindergarten through sixth-grade program, students receive a wide-range of scientific knowledge and experiences.  Topics of study in our science curriculum include microbiology, rainforests, dinosaurs, ecology, geology, genetics, chemistry, and archeology.

Examples of science lab activities include first graders dissecting a fish and conducting experiments with salt water and other solutions during science lab, while studying ocean life in general studies.  In fourth grade while students study explorers and world geography, they create navigational tools including astrolabes to find latitude and sundials to find the time of day.  In sixth grade students learn the scientific method using an inquiry-based chemistry curriculum.  As a culminating activity, each sixth grade student designs an individual science project using the scientific method, which the student then explains to visitors at our annual Art and Science Night. 

Our goal is to imbue our students with a love of scientific exploration and discovery, as well as teach specific content knowledge and familiarity with scientific tools.