Science Curriculum Vision

K–12 Overview by Grade Bands

Kindergarten – Grade 2 (Primary Grades)

Hands-on discovery, observation skills, foundational vocabulary.

 

KINDERGARTEN

Themes: Weather, Forces, Living Things, Senses
Sample Units:

• Weather Watchers: Temperature, wind, precipitation; ASL weather signs.

• Push & Pull: Simple forces with ramps and balls.

• Living vs. Nonliving: Schoolyard exploration.

• My Five Senses: Human body awareness.

Key Skills:
Observation, sorting, measuring with nonstandard tools, drawing, signing vocabulary.

GRADE 1

Themes: Light & Sound, Plants & Animals, Day–Night Patterns
Sample Units:

• Light & Shadow: Flashlights, shadow tracing.

• Sound Vibrations: Rubber-band guitars; visualizing vibrations.

• Plant Parts & Growth: School garden or indoor planting.

ASL Focus:
Light/sound conceptual signs, directional movement for modeling waves.

GRADE 2

Themes: Matter, Earth Materials, Life Cycles
Sample Units:

• Solids/Liquids/Gases: Simple melting/evaporation experiments.

• Rocks & Soils: Earth materials investigation.

• Animal Life Cycles: Butterfly or frog metamorphosis.

Skills:
Data tables, simple bar graphs, explanation writing, ASL storytelling of scientific events.

 

Grades 3–5 (Upper Elementary)

Transition to multi-step investigations and recorded data.

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GRADE 3

Themes: Ecosystems, Motion, Weather Patterns
Sample Units:

• Ecosystem Interactions: Model food webs.

• Forces & Motion: Build a mini-roller coaster.

• Climate vs. Weather: Meteorologist presentations.

GRADE 4

Themes: Energy, Waves, Earth Systems
Sample Units:

• Energy Transfer: Simple circuits, heat conduction.

• Waves (Sound/Light): Hands-on wave models, ASL wave descriptions.

• Earth Systems: Water cycle, erosion labs.

GRADE 5

Themes: Human Body, Matter & Chemical Changes, Space Systems
Sample Units:

• Body Systems: Build a working model of body interactions.

• Chemical Reactions: Safe vinegar/baking soda labs, conservation of mass.

• Solar System & Patterns: Coding orbital models in Scratch.

Students prepare for middle school lab procedures.

 

Grades 6–8 (Middle School)

Skill-building for lab competency, engineering practices, and data analysis.

 

GRADE 6

Themes: Weather & Climate, Energy in Systems, Earth Materials
Sample Units:

• Atmosphere & Water Systems: Weather balloon or sensor data.

• Energy in Ecosystems: Food chain simulations.

• Rocks, Minerals, & Plate Tectonics: Hands-on seismic wave demos.

STEM Pathway Intro:
Students explore all four STEM pathways.

GRADE 7

Themes: Cells, Heredity, Human Body Systems
Sample Units:

• Microscopy: Prepare slides, interpret images.

• Genetics & Traits: Family traits activity (privacy-protected).

• Interdependent Systems: Body system engineering challenges.

GRADE 8

Themes: Chemistry Foundations, Physics Forces, Earth History
Sample Units:

• Chemical Reactions & Periodic Table: Lab safety mastery.

• Newton’s Laws: Egg drop, CO₂ car builds.

• Earth’s History: Fossils, geologic time.

High School Prep:
Students choose preliminary STEM interests.

 

High School (Grades 9–12)

College-preparatory, lab-intensive, and aligned to transcripts for NC.

 

GRADE 9 – BIOLOGY

Core Units:

• Ecology

• Cells & Energy

• Genetics

• Evolution

• Body Systems

Special Features:

• Biotech labs

• DNA extraction

• Interactive ASL biological process videos

GRADE 10 – EARTH/ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

Core Units:

• Earth Systems

• Climate Science

• Human Impact

• Renewable Energy Engineering

Signature Project:
Marine science research with Wilmington coastal ecosystems.

GRADE 11 – CHEMISTRY

Core Units:

• Atomic Structure

• Bonding

• Stoichiometry

• Solutions

• Acids/Bases

• Energy in Chemical Reactions

Labs:
Titrations, flame tests, calorimetry.

ASL Integration:
Conceptual signing for microscopic processes.

GRADE 12 – PHYSICS

Core Units:

• Motion & Forces

• Electricity & Magnetism

• Waves & Optics

• Energy Systems

• Modern Physics

Engineering Capstone:
Robotics competition or renewable-energy engineering project.

 

Electives & Advanced Pathways (Grades 10–12)

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Biomedical Science

Human anatomy, medical terminology in ASL, diagnostics labs.

Marine Science

Coastal ecology, water quality research, boat-based fieldwork partnerships.

Engineering & Robotics

Design, programming, fabrication, competition-based robotics.

Data Science

Statistics, coding, modeling, AI literacy, graph interpretation.

AP Courses (optional)

• AP Biology

• AP Environmental Science

• AP Computer Science Principles

• AP Physics 1

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