Home Curriculum Science
At Park Day School, students learn to approach the world with curiosity, applying the scientific method to make discoveries for themselves. Science Curriculum Overview
Curiosity about the Natural World
TKers discovered a hornworm in Learning Garden! Over several days, students observed the creature munching on tomato leaves, growing darker, and moving less and less. Students made guesses about what was happening — was the hornworm dying, sleeping, or making a cocoon? Students drew their observations and are excited to see what happens next as they become conscious stewards of their natural habitat.
Pinball Machine Design
What can you make with a cardboard box, popsicle sticks, a rubber band, and a ball? Kindergarten designers create their own pinball machines and learn that to keep the ball moving requires forces, pushes and pulls, which can change the speed and direction of the marble.
Barn owl pellet dissection
Student scientists dissect owl pellets to find skulls, ribs, tibias, and much more. On sorting mats, we match bones to different prey and utilize the scientific process, making hypotheses, gathering data, and drawing conclusions.
Balance and Motion
After investigating how triangles and arches balance and exploring concepts like balance points and counterweights, 2nd grade scientists take their learning to the Innovation Workshop. There, they design imaginative balancing creatures using sand buckets and wooden pegboards to keep their creations stable, with arms, tails, and antennae wobbling until everything finds its balance.
Circuitry and Electricity
3rd graders dive into an in-depth exploration of electricity and circuitry, experimenting with motors, batteries, and alligator clips to learn how energy moves through a circuit. When Makey Makeys enter the mix, students discover that their own bodies can complete a circuit, and suddenly the classroom hums, clicks, and sparks with excitement.
Taxonomy Study - Fieldscopes
Students study the taxonomic chart to classify organisms in each category: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. Taxonomists choose a plant in our garden to observe and study, labeling each category to see how their scientific names are broken down. We use fieldscopes that we design and build in the Innovation Workshop to get a magnified and more detailed view of our plant of choice.
Science of the Senses
5th grade sensory scientists explore how light affects vision, sound impacts concentration, and taste changes with different conditions As they design their own experiments, testing everything from how music affects typing speed to whether eye color influences sight, they practice forming hypotheses, collecting data, and discovering how curiosity can turn any question into an experiment.
Genetics
6th graders explore the science of genetics by simulating meiosis to create marshmallow baby “Fun Bugs.” Through the flip of a coin, they explore how traits are inherited through dominant and recessive genes. This hands-on activity helps them understand the principles of heredity and genetic variation.
Environmental Justice & Tree Equity
7th graders dive into environmental justice through units on climate change, food insecurity, and the global water crisis. They explore tree equity scores to see how unequal tree canopy distribution in urban areas fosters environmental injustices, then propose solutions that demonstrate how activism can drive change. By combining scientific inquiry with questions of equity, students gain a deeper understanding of how environmental challenges intersect with justice and community well-being.
Artifact Hunt
8th graders learn about how isotopes are used, with a special focus on how carbon-14 is used to date artifacts. After modeling radioactive decay with pennies, they go on an “artifact hunt” around campus to estimate the ages of their discoveries. Fun fact: the saber-tooth tiger is the California state fossil, and they existed here around 10,000 to 25,000 years ago!
In Lower School, specific study areas are assessed and selected using student interest, local and global events, the availability of local resources, and field trip opportunities. Next Generation Science Standards help guide the scope and sequence. Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) are the key ideas in science that have broad importance within or across multiple science or engineering disciplines. These core ideas build on each other as students progress through grade levels and are grouped into the following four domains: Physical Science, Life Science, Earth and Space Science, and Engineering.
In Middle School, students examine patterns, cause and effect, system models, and structures in a way that blends with systems of oppression, democracy, and personal choices. Science class highlights how personal choices can impact individuals, communities, and the wider world. 6th grade focuses on heredity, genetics, and earth sciences. In 7th grade, students study the world around them through the lens of chemistry. Starting with the importance of using a uniform measurement system to foster worldwide dialogue, students go on to learn about atomic structure, compounds, and reactions. Students also discuss equity in the scientific community and the interconnectedness of different disciplines. In 8th grade, students learn what it means to be alive. Starting with cells, students study the six kingdoms of life and learn about how even the smallest living beings play a part in our world.
Climate change and environmental ecology play a significant role in our scientific studies school wide. Ethics in science and the government’s role in science are integral aspects of the curriculum and teachers work collaboratively with specialists in the Learning Garden and Innovation Workshop to blend student interests, and explore emerging ideas in science education.