Integrated Science
The idea behind Integrated Science is to relate the core science disciplines: Biology, Earth Science, Chemistry and Physics with a unifying theme or question.* Our unifying theme is Evolution or change if you prefer. The overarching goal is for students to understand that:
- Change over time occurs in all parts of the natural universe
- There are key processes that underlie these changes
- There are vastly different time scales for these changes in different parts of the natural world
- There are many connections and relationships across these vastly different parts of the natural universe
- Science is a process of better understanding the natural universe, not a set of final answers
The units that we will study are:
- About Science: Investigation & Experimentation
- Energy & Chemistry
- Electricity & Magnetism
- Waves: Sound & Light
- Origin & Evolution of Life
- Planetary & Cosmic Evolution
- Evolution of Technology
The Meta questions (‘thinking about thinking’) for each unit are:
- What is changing?
- What is the rate of change?
- What are the mechanisms of change?
* This curriculum was adapted from the Education and Public Outreach branch of the SETI institute (www.seti.org)