Educational Programs at Orchard House
Science
The Science program at Orchard House School follows a four-course accelerated path with each course loosely based upon the Virginia State Standards of Learning content with a strong integrated Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) approach. The curriculum is well-balanced and offers a smooth transition of content from one year to the next. All science courses are developed to explore topics thoroughly while also allowing flexibility to investigate concepts based on class interest and time. The fifth grade course covers Life, Earth and Physical Science topics that provide a base for the coming three years. The sixth grade course is Life Science; the seventh grade course is Earth Science; and the eighth grade course is Physical Science. Taking Earth Science positions students to leave middle school with one high school science credit and use it to take more advanced science courses in high school if they choose.
The Orchard House Science program focuses on creativity, observation, problem solving, and innovation using STEM at its foundation. Starting early, students are expected to observe, record, and interpret data using metric measurement and the scientific method. This then leads to reinforcing the scientific process by practicing standard procedures, by using creative problem solving, or by employing innovation by integrating technical tools, design, and mathematical evidence. A “thinking outside of the box” attitude is encouraged throughout the four years.
In order to do this, students must recognize how to accurately implement their ideas to solve problems. Therefore, they will study famous scientists and inventions and read and discuss current scientific topics to see how history has found solutions. With this as a base, material can then be presented with a problem-solving orientation focusing on the scientific method and experimental design. Since research shows that middle school girls learn best when guided through many memorable firsthand learning experiences, frequent hands-on investigations, field activities, and laboratory experiments are provided to emphasize the scientific thinking process. Whenever possible, interesting and relevant questions are posed for students to investigate and dissect using appropriate experimental design procedures. By employing a variety of skills such as presenting questions, manipulating variables, observing changes, recording data, and analyzing data, the students are able to summarize results and derive conclusions that apply scientific concepts.
While acting as a learning facilitator, the teacher offers procedural guidance, rubrics for assessing quality and quantity of achievement, assistance in clarifying understanding, and motivation to keep the investigations moving forward. Effort towards higher level thinking exercises and problem solving on a regular basis leads students to observe, analyze, and apply concepts to an everyday practical understanding of science. In eighth grade, this will culminate with the students creating an independent science project reflecting what history and research has proven, what their class time has strengthened, and what experiment they can create to help determine a solution to a scientific problem.
As the students move from year to year through the Orchard House School Science program their science process skills increase. Their comfort level in working with lab equipment and their expertise in thinking like scientists become second nature. The ultimate goal is to spark a love of science.
Course descriptions for the grades may be seen by selecting one of the following:
