Science and Technology Education

In Grades K-4 students receive science instruction 3-5 times per week for 30-45 minutes. Technology is integrated into each grade level’s curriculum as appropriate.

Kindergarten

Plant and Animal Needs: In these units, students use observations to understand the basic needs of plants and animals. Students explore how plants animals need things to survive and a safe place to grow and live. They learn how plants and animals can change and adapt their environments to meet those needs.

Weather: In these units, students explore storms and severe weather! They obtain information from weather forecasts to prepare for storms and stay safe. They also practice describing the various characteristics of weather (wind, clouds, temperature, and precipitation) in order to make their own predictions about storms. They also gather evidence in order to identify daily and seasonal weather patterns. They use those patterns to explain mysteries like why you might lose your jacket during the day or why birds lay their eggs at certain times of the year. Students explore how the Sun's energy heats up the pavement, keeps us warm, and can even melt marshmallows. Using what they learn, students think about ways that shade and structures can reduce the warming effect of the Sun.

Pushes and Pulls: Students are introduced to pushes and pulls and how those affect the motion of objects. Students observe and investigate the effects of what happens when the strength or direction of those pushes and pulls are changed.

Grade 1

Plant and Animal Traits and Survival: Students explore how the external characteristics of animals are essential for their survival. Students also make observations of parents and their offspring, determining how they are similar and how their behaviors help offspring survive. They use observations to understand the basic needs of plants, such as water and sunlight. They also observe young plants and the changes they undergo as they grow from seed to seedling.

Day and Night Patterns: Students make observations of the Sun and shadows throughout the day and across the seasons. They use their observations to understand patterns that occur throughout the day. They explore the Moon and stars. They observe and record the appearance of the Moon to determine its cyclical pattern. They also determine why stars are only visible at night.

Light, Sound and Communication: Students investigate light and sound! They explore how materials vibrate and how vibrating materials can make sounds. They also investigate

light and illumination and use those investigations to create simple devices that allow them to communicate across a distance.

Grade 2

Animal Biodiversity and Plant Adaptations: Students begin to develop an understanding of the world's animal biodiversity. They explore animal classification and the traits that define each group. Students then turn their focus to habitats and how the surrounding environment affects what organisms live in a particular environment. They explore the needs of plants through hands-on investigations. They explore how and why plants disperse their seeds, what those seeds need in order to grow, and what the adult plants need in order to survive and thrive.

Erosion and the Earth’s Surface: Students explore how water shapes the Earth's surface. Students construct and use models of mountains to demonstrate that water flows downhill, and in the process, transforms huge rocks into the tiny grains of sand we find at the beach. Students also construct and use model hills to determine the causes of erosion, and to design solutions to problems caused by erosion.

Material Properties: Students explore the properties of materials and matter! They describe and classify different types of materials by properties like hardness, flexibility, and absorbency, and they investigate how those properties are useful in meeting basic human needs (such as clothing and cooking). They also investigate how heating and cooling affect the properties of materials.

Grade 3

Animals Through Time: Students develop an understanding of how animals and their environments have changed through time. Fossils provide a window into the animals and habitats of the past. Analyzing the traits of animals that are alive today and comparing them to fossils, provides evidence of how these ancient organisms and environments of the past may have appeared.

Life Cycles: Students compare and contrast the life cycles of both animals and plants. Students create models to build an understanding that all organisms share certain stages in their life cycles: birth, growth, reproduction, and death. Students also explore how an understanding of life cycles can aid in solving problems that occur when there are too many or too few organisms in a particular environment.

Heredity, Survival, and Selection: Students explore the inherited and acquired traits of plants and animals. Analyzing traits provides evidence for how those traits vary, how they are inherited, and how they have changed over time through both artificial and natural selection. Students also examine how a particular environment can affect traits, including inherited traits that provide animals with an advantage for survival.

Weather and Climate: Students investigate and make predictions about the weather through careful observation of the clouds and wind. Students also learn to differentiate between weather and climate and use models to reveal global climate patterns.

Forces, Motion, and Magnets: Students explore the forces all around them. They investigate the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces, the pushes and pulls of bridge structures, and the effects of gravity and friction on the motion of objects. Students also explore the power of magnetic forces and design solutions to everyday problems using their knowledge of these forces.

Grade 4

Human Body, Vision, and The Brain: Students investigate structures and functions of the human body. Students explore how our bones and muscles are interconnected, how our eyes interact with light and impact our vision, and how our brain responds to stimuli in our environment.

Animal and Plant Adaptations: Students explore the adaptations of animals and plants. Students investigate how the external and internal structures of an organism work together as an interconnected system that aid in their growth and survival. They also use models to explore how a combination of instincts and memories influence animal behavior.

Earth’s Features and Processes: Students investigate features and processes of the Earth’s surface. Students explore the rapid process of volcanic eruptions! In contrast, students also explore the gradual Earth processes of weathering and erosion. Students apply their knowledge and design solutions to mitigate the impacts of these processes on humans.

Sound, Waves, and Communications: Students investigate the science of sound. Students construct physical devices to feel the vibrations that allow us to communicate across distances. Students also use digital devices to visualize the characteristics of different sound waves that cause us to hear different things.

Energy and Energy Transfer: Students explore energy! Students investigate how energy is stored, how it can make objects move, and how collisions transfer energy between objects. Students also construct chain reaction machines to explore the many different ways that energy can be transferred.

Electricity, Light, and Heat: Students investigate the different forms of energy! Students obtain information about how heat energy, solar energy, wind energy, and water energy can be transformed into electrical energy. They also construct devices that convert energy from one form into another, such as heat into motion and electricity into light.

In grades 5 and 6, students have Science instruction for 70 minutes every other day. Technology Education classes, also called STEM classes, meet for 45 minutes every day for 1 quarter of the school year. 

In grades 7 and 8, students have science instruction for 56 minutes each day. Grade 7 STEM classes, meet for 45 minutes every day for 1 quarter of the school year. Grade 8 STEM classes meet every day for 45 minutes for 1 third of the school year. 

During instructional time, teachers spark students’ interest using phenomena that is real-world based. Students develop questions that drive the learning process through immersion in inquiry, research, experimentation, and the Engineering Design Process. Students analyze complex issues from multiple perspectives using a variety of sources to draw conclusions and consider consequences on a local and global scale. 

Units of Study 

Grade Level Science Technology Ed/STEM 

Grade 5 Astronomy - Daylight change Ecology – Matter and energy in the Arctic ecosystem Pinewood derby car challenge 

Solar energy challenge 

Grade 6 Astronomy- Gravity & eclipses Weather & interpreting weather maps Water cycle and Dam challenge Kinetic car challenge 

Grade 7 Geology Plate Motion Tsunami Challenge Energy Force & Motion Magnetism Light & waves Balsa wood tower challenge 

Grade 8 Chemical Reactions President’s Tree Feel the Beat/Human body Mystery fossil Ecology - Lionfish Cardboard boat challenge 

All students are required to take three years of science, including one year in Biology, and two and half years of STEM classes to meet graduation requirements. 

High School courses build on the learning begun in elementary and middle school using a curriculum that intentionally spirals content and skills, enabling students to build on prior knowledge and experience as they grow as learners. 

Integrated Earth and Space Science - Grade 9 

Integrated Earth and Space Science focuses on Earth’s place in the universe, Earth’s systems, and Earth and human activity. Topics will include: The Universe and its stars, formation and history of the planet, internal Earth’s processes, weather and climate, global climate change and human’s impact on Earth’s resources. This course will place emphasis upon the inquiry process and laboratory investigations. Students will be evaluated through lab investigations, projects, class work, quizzes, and tests. This course serves as a foundational course for the skills and content necessary for further study in the biological and physical sciences. 

Biology - Grade 10 

Biology is a comprehensive course designed to introduce students to the major concepts of biology with an emphasis on studying life at the molecular and cellular levels. Topics in the course include scientific investigation, ecology, energy, cellular biology, biochemistry, genetics, evolution, microorganisms, and disease. Scientific investigation and critical thinking are emphasized throughout the course in class discussions, experiments, models, and assessments. The topics are driven by phenomena and explored through various readings, discussions, demonstrations, models, laboratory investigations, videos, computer activities, and projects. 

AP Biology 

Advanced Placement Biology is equivalent to a two-semester college introductory biology course and is designed to enable students to develop advanced inquiry and reasoning skills, such as designing a plan for collecting data, analyzing data, applying mathematical routines, and connecting concepts in and across domains. This course follows the College Board curriculum and prepares students to take the AP Biology exam. 

Chemistry – Grade 11 

Chemistry focuses on the composition of matter and the changes in composition which matter undergoes. It is designed to develop understanding and skills in four primary areas of chemistry: fundamental concepts, practical applications, laboratory techniques and reports, and mathematical formulas. 

UCONN ECE Chemistry: General Chemistry I and II 

General Chemistry I 

This course is designed to provide a foundation for more advanced courses in chemistry. Atomic theory, laws and theories concerning the physical and chemical behavior of gases, liquids, solids, and solutions will be covered. Quantitative measurements illustrating the laws of chemical combination in the first semester lab will occur. 

General Chemistry II 

This course covers the topics of equilibrium, thermodynamics, nuclear chemistry, and kinetics. The properties of some of the more familiar elements and their compounds will be researched. Equilibrium in solutions and reactions of the common cations and anions will be covered in the laboratory component. 

Physics – Grade 12 

Physics covers Newtonian mechanics (motion and forces), along with topics in electricity, magnetism, sound, and light. The course includes laboratory work, analysis, and evidence-based explanations. 

AP Physics Year 1 

Advanced Placement Physics, Year 1, is designed to be the equivalent of a first semester college general physics course. The curriculum includes Newtonian mechanics (motion, forces, work, energy, and momentum), waves and sound, electrical circuits, and resistance. Mathematical and theoretical aspects of physics concepts are stressed through problem solving and inquiry lab activities. Lab investigations will focus on quantitative modeling of data often collected with digital sensing equipment to solve a concrete problem. 

AP Physics Year 2 

Advanced Placement Physics, Year 2, is designed to be the equivalent of a second semester college general physics course. The curriculum includes fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism, and atomic and nuclear physics. Mathematics and theoretical aspects of the concepts are stressed through problem solving and inquiry lab activities. Lab investigations will focus on quantitative modeling of data often collected with digital sensing equipment to solve a concrete problem. 

Science Electives Available to 11th and 12th Grade Students 

Half Year Full Year 

• Astronomy 
• Bioethics 
• Forensics 
• Marine & Freshwater Science · Anatomy & Physiology 

Technology Education Electives 

All courses are half-year classes, except for Architectural Drafting, and are offered on a two-year rotation. 

Year 1 Year 2 

• STEM Design Application I 
• STEM Design Application II 
• Materials I 
• Material II 
• Construction & Renovation in Fire Science I 
• Construction & Renovation in Fire Science II 
• Robotics 
• Architectural Drafting I– FULL Year 
• Architectural Drafting II– FULL Year
• STEM Design Application I
• STEM Design Application II  
• Engineering Concepts & Design I  
• Engineering Concepts & Design II
• Manufacturing I
• Manufacturing II
• Robotics
• Architectural Drafting I – FULL Year
• Architectural Drafting II – FULL Year 

To see additional information on course offerings at Lewis Mills High School, please click on the Program of Studies 

If you would like additional information, please navigate to the Atlas link to see unit overviews, essential questions, and student outcomes (Knows/Dos). You may also reach out to the 5 – 12 Science and Technology Education Coordinator, Renee Turley, at turleyr@region10ct.org