The core of the Children’s Day School science curriculum is the teaching of scientific process skills through direct experience, discovery and experimentation. When students have a solid understanding of key scientific principles (such as observing, classifying, measuring, predicting, connecting and inferring, formulating and testing hypotheses, identifying and controlling variables and interpreting data) they can enjoy and be successful in conducting rigorous scientific inquiry throughout all areas of science. Using increasingly sophisticated scientific process skills, students at CDS explore biology, geology, botany, ecology and earth sciences, human, animal, and insect behavior and physiology, chemistry and physics.
On a typical day at CDS, science activities might include:
- preschoolers examining specimens in resin such as cocoons, butterflies and leaves
- kindergartners observing and reading about bats, and doing skits to share their learning
- second graders examining owl pellets to determine what owls eat
- seventh graders experimenting with oobleck (a substance having properties of both solids and liquids)
- groups of eighth graders discussing findings as they dissect sheep brains
In preschool, skills students develop include:
- observing and asking questions
- using magnifying glasses to explore objects
- classifying insects and bugs according to student-defined criteria (e.g., size/color/shape)
In the elementary grades, skills students develop include:
- predicting insect behavior and comparing predicted to actual behavior
- learning the value of consistent measurement and discovering patterns in nature
- observing the ecology of an urban setting and the impact of human behavior
- identifying and controlling variables and formalizing scientific thinking
- classifying rocks and minerals and predicting plant response to light
In middle school, skills students develop include:
- studying brain function and measuring reaction times and sensory perception
- classifying plants and animals and learning about biomes and diversity
- exploring cell biology and genetics
- studying physics, the structure of matter, evolution, genetics and chemistry