Science

Active Inquiry: In the Phillips Brooks Science Program, students learn science skills and content through active inquiry. We strive to ignite students’ passion for science by offering engaging and fun experiences, paired with solid practices in lab skills and analysis.

Longer Science Periods: This year, we have the opportunity to dive deeper into science investigation, as double periods are scheduled in the science lab each week. Each science lab period includes a science experiment, simulation or activity. Science concepts and ideas naturally emerge from these investigations, as students analyze the results of their inquiry.

The Scientific Method: Students learn how to engage deeply with physical systems and objects, by exploring how changing something will impact them. This change is the experiment variable. Students will have repeated experiences in looking for what things can be changed in each particular experiment (the variable), and what can be measured or observed to learn about the impact of the change. Predictions about the outcome of the experiment strengthen awareness of how previous knowledge can be applied to the present situation. Data is recorded using tables, graphs, written description and verbal reports. The patterns that emerge from the data lead students to relationships between their experiment and the core science content. The final—and most exciting—part of the process is identifying further questions that arise from from the investigation.

Learn Science Concepts by Doing Experiments and Analyzing Results: This process of “poking at things,” to see what happens when they are manipulated, evokes patterns and connections. This is the basis for developing understanding of physical principles from experimental exploration.

Moving Towards Independent Inquiry: Once students complete a guided inquiry, we encourage them to go beyond this initial exploration to develop their own experiments. This strengthens their comprehension of variables, and about types of measurements would best serve in a given exploration. Awareness of any factors that might affect or skew the results of an experiment is instilled throughout our program. We want to provide our students with the skills, confidence and experience to become independent investigators!