Science

In science lessons we want to harness the children’s natural curiosity. We want them to explore, to experiment, and to ask questions.

We aim to enable them to apply their scientific knowledge and understanding to solve problems and to make sense of the world.

Lower School students have the opportunity to demonstrate these developing skills by taking part in the annual school Science Fair, presenting both class and group projects.

In Kindergarten, the students make use of their emerging skills of observing and describing. The physical properties of objects are discussed in terms of size, shape, texture, and weight. These properties are measured and compared. Objects are sorted and grouped according to their different characteristics.

The study of plants and animals is core to their curriculum. They identify the basic needs organisms have in order to live and thrive. How plants and animals grow and change is explored.

The role a living thing's environment plays in determining its physical characteristics and its behavior is highlighted.

Grade 1 sees students learning more about themselves and the world around them. In addition to finding out more about their own bodies (the five senses, parts of the body, systems of the human body), they learn about animal characteristics and their different habitats. How plants grow, and how they are classified, are explored in more detail. Environmental awareness is increased with discussions of how people use air, land and water.

Differences between solids, liquids and gases are discussed. Simple facts about sound, light and heat are introduced.

These studies of the Earth, its inhabitants, and characteristics lead to the topic of the Earth and its relationship to the Sun and the Moon, and their respective places in the solar system.

The Grade 2 curriculum starts with a more in-depth study of the life cycles of animals and plants, their characteristics and needs, and the environments in which they live.

The Earth’s rotation and its orbit around the Sun are put in the context of night and day, and the changing seasons.

Sound (vibration, pitch) and motion (pushes, pulls, speed, distance) are explored more fully. Ramps, levers, and pulleys as introduced as simple machines that can make work easier.

Classification of plants (root, leaf, stem) and animals (vertebrates, invertebrates), how they reproduce, and how they interact, compete and adapt in different ecosystems form the initial semester of the Grade 3 curriculum.

The students’ understanding of geology is expanded to include study of the Earth’s crust. Fossils, rocks, and soil all provide information about our planet.

Physical and chemical changes are observed and described. The students do work with mixtures - combining, separating, comparing. They learn about solutions and evaporation.

Forms of energy are put in a more scientific context - sound energy as sound waves, electrical energy as charged particles, light energy as traveling in waves that are reflected, refracted or absorbed by different objects.

The characteristics of forces such as gravity, magnetism, and friction are demonstrated and discussed.