SCIENCE

6th Grade Science

The New England School of the Arts sixth-grade curriculum will focus on Earth and atmospheric science. The course will include units such as  the Solar System and Beyond, Earth's Changing Landscape and Human Energy Needs.

7th Grade Science

Seventh-grade science students participate in a hands-on, integrated science course utilizing inquiry and collaboration to explore Physical, Earth and Space and Life Sciences. The course focuses on forces and motion, the flow of energy and the cycle of matter through the Earth’s spheres, and the function of animal and plant cells. Student learning occurs through the lens of the Scientific Method to continue the development of students’ reasoning skills.

Stewardship and Environmental Science

In this course students will have the opportunity to discover and explore stewardship through environmental science and understand how a multidisciplinary approach can help find solutions for environmental problems. Students will have the opportunity to explore human interactions with an impact on other living organisms and the environment.

8th Grade Science

Eighth-grade students participate in a hands-on, integrated course that focuses on the development of scientific reasoning skills. Using matter and energy as the central themes, students apply these scientific reasoning skills in their investigation of life, physical sciences, Earth’s history, and genetics.  During the course of the year, students analyze the role human beings play in the sustainability of the environment and resources and analyze the natural world through the lens of stability and change.

Physical Science

This is a basic course in physical science that will stress the general principles of chemistry and physics. The basic physics section will include emphasis in simple machines, basic electricity, and the various forms of energy. The chemistry section will cover matter, mixtures, and compounds. The student will be presented with the practical side of physical science that emphasizes the everyday uses of physics and chemistry. Laboratory skills will include measure mass and volumes, measure temperature, measure melting point and boiling point, filtering and decanting, graphing, interpretation of data, observation, description, recording, measuring pH, titration, pressure of gases, calorimetry, and preparation of solutions.

Biology

This is a basic course in biology that will stress general biological principles such as the interrelationships of the biotic to the abiotic world, the place of humans in the ecological scheme of life and a basic taxonomic survey of living things. There will also be some coverage of basic genetics. This course will be laboratory oriented. Students will investigate themes of biology through independent research and various projects.  

Physics A

Physics is one of the three main fields of science, along with biology and chemistry. If asked what biology and chemistry deal with, most of us can come up with a one-word answer: life and chemicals respectively. Physics though, often seems like a grab bag of topics, including motion, magnets, machines, light, sound, and electrical circuits. The common thread running through all these things is that they each illustrate some very basic mathematical laws in our physical world. In brief, physics is the scientific study of matter, energy, and their most fundamental physical interactions, including attractions, repulsions, and collisions. In Physics A, you will learn about the “basics” of physics: how to describe and analyze motion, how forces interact with matter, and how to further describe these interactions with the aid of the concepts of energy and momentum. Finally, you’ll explore one more specialized topic, thermodynamics, the physics of heat.