Elementary Science

Overview

A basic function of human cognition is to understand why. Why does the sun trace an arc across the sky? How come pine cones fall off trees? Why do I get sweaty when I run? Curiosity about the world around us is at the very heart of human invention and creativity.

The sciences are the disciplines that enable a student to simultaneously sate and fuel that curiosity. For everything from the weather to furniture, from plants to stars, from wheels to light bulbs, students can ask what things are made of, how all their parts work together, what makes them move and how.

Our approach to science education enables students to ask and answer questions in a way that is empowering. It instills a sense of intrigue and enables students to develop understanding and then form further questions based both on the knowledge they already have and the insight they wish to gain in the future.

The core goal of science education is to allow students to tap into science, both its content and its methods, in a deep way. Elementary students can and should:

Learn the basic scientific knowledge that provides a framework for understanding their world. Students should master the foundational content of biology, physics, chemistry—including its most relevant aspects, such as astronomy, geology, and anatomy.
Engage in focused practice with evidential, causal thinking. Students begin with observation and then go on a journey of scientific discovery—from the process of asking scientific questions, to observing and gathering information, to refining questions and hypotheses, to experiment and explanation. Children come to understand that the scientific method is an organized system that helps scientists, indeed anyone, answer a question or solve a problem.

The natural sciences are tangible, major drivers of human knowledge and progress because they successfully use the former to generate the latter: they allow us uptake evidence and use it to gain causal knowledge of the world around us.

All academic content areas involve learning about a domain via evidential thinking—even literature. But science is uniquely formalized and powerful in a way that lays that basic pattern of thinking bare. In a similar way as to how math strengthens the foundations of mental functioning in all areas, so does science with a particular eye towards inference from observational evidence. The scientific method is invaluable, even to non-scientists.

Students also need to learn the content of key areas in science, the areas that offer a basic understanding of the experienced natural world. Besides the fact that they are tightly coupled—there is no real way to master the scientific method without learning a range of scientific content—there is also the fact that it’s important for everyone to feel at home in the natural world.

Our approach to science reflects the above priorities: to give students a framework of scientific understanding, and to do so in a way that fosters their internalizing of the scientific method.

Program Elements

Botany as a Science Gateway
Botany is a major focus because plants are accessible and interesting to even young children in a way that is potentially deeply scientific. They are highly amenable to all types of observation: everyday exploration, microscopic observation, and dissection. All stages of their lifecycle are visible and open to investigation. They are also susceptible to limited manipulation and engineering (e.g. gardening, physical manipulation). And, on top of that, they offer an opportunity to study in a focused way the universal elements of biology—nutrition, reproduction, and growth—that are relevant to all other organisms . Relevant, too, is that plants are ubiquitous. They are something a student can be sensitized to and observe constantly in their life, resulting in tremendous outside-the-classroom transference of efficacy and curiosity.
Hands On Exploration
Scientific Method at Guidepost

Lower Elementary

Biology

The Plant
First Knowledge of Plants
Parts of the Plant
Fundamental Needs of the Plant
How Plants Grow and Reproduce
Plant Life Cycles

The Leaf
Function and Parts of the Leaf
Types of Leaves
The Leaf as a Food Factory
Plants Grow Towards the Light, Leaf Arrangement
Plants Release Oxygen and Moisture

The Root
Function and Parts of the Root
Types of Roots
Roots Take Up Water for the Plant
Roots Secure Plants, Keep Soil in Place

The Stem
Function and Parts of the Stem
Stems Hold the Leaves Up to the Light
Stems Carry Water from the Roots and Nutrients from the Leaves
Geotropism

The Flower
Function and Parts of the Flower
Types of Flowering Plants
How Plants Ensure Pollination
The Plant and its Reproductive Parts

The Fruit
The Function and Parts of the Fruit
Types of Fruits

The Seed
The Function and Parts of the Seed
Types of Seeds Seed Dispersal

Animal Stories
First Knowledge of Animals
Who Am I? Stories Sorting Animals by Question
External Parts of Vertebrates
Adaptation Life Cycles of Animals
Beginning Animal Research

The Human Body
The Great River Story
Simple Body Systems

Earth & Space Science

Composition of the Earth
Layers of the Earth
Functions of Earth's Layers
Plate Tectonics
Mountain Formation
Rock Cycle and Formations

Sun and Earth
Relative Proportion of the Sun and Earth
Rotation of the Planets and Centrifugal Force
The Sun's Energy

Planets of the Solar System
Names, Properties and Order of Planets
Interplanetary Distance
Rotation and Orbit of the Solar System

Earth's Movements
Parts of the Day Time Zones: Sunrise and Set
Lines of Latitude and Longitude
The International Date Line

Work of Air
Air Occupies Space
Warmer Air Moves Upward
Wind is Moving Air Circulating in a Pattern
Changing Seasons and Winds Erosion

Work of Water
The River and Its Parts
River Flows from Highlands to Low Lands
Erosion The Water Cycle

Weather and Climate
Rain and Water Vapors
Condensation
Local Conditions for Rain, Hail, Snow
Climates Around the World

Physical Sciences & Scientific Inquiry

Great Stories
The Story of the Universe
The Coming of Life
Timeline of Life

Combining
Mixture, Suspension, Solution
Chemical Change Separating Saturation and Crystallization

States of Matter
Properties and Classification of Solids, Liquids, Gases
Which Way Solids, Liquids, Gases Push
Attraction and Gravity

Light and Sound Waves
Sources of Light Transparent
Translucent
Opaque Mirrors
Shadows
Sound
Vibration

Love of the World
Observation
Identifying and Describing Patterns
Asking Questions, Curiosity of How and Why It Works
Develop Models and Drawings

Scientific Process
Lab Safety
Structure of Scientific Testing Cycle
Collecting and Analyzing Data from Key Lab Experiments