Junior High Science – St. Patrick's Catholic School | Catholic Elementary School located in Rockville, Maryland

Junior High Science at St. Patrick's

Mr. Jake Blauvelt

The chronological breakdown of specific content standards covered:

Students in 6^th grade strive to:

Implement basic scientific inquiry skills through a self-generated testable question.
Model the scale and motion of planets, moons, our sun, and other objects in space relative to one another.
Illustrate the movement of energy, heat, water, and other materials throughout our atmosphere and the total effect on climate and weather.
Highlight specific geological processes and their tangible effects both beneath and on Earth’s surface.

Students in 7^th grade strive to:

Recognize that the fundamental difference between organisms begins at a cellular level.
Investigate the differences and similarities between characteristics of bacterial, plant, and animal cells via microscopes.
Develop a presentation summarizing the epidemiology of a bacterial or viral infectious disease.
Explore the properties of plant species through the dissection of their basic structures.

Students in 8^th grade strive to:

Outline the structure of an atom and how the arrangement of its individual particles results in the creation of all substances.
Group elements based on their similarities through the same reasoning used to create the periodic table.
Diagram a chemical reaction at the molecular level to visualize the breakdown and/or bonding after a change.
Compare the different unbalanced forces of nature and their cumulative affect on daily life.

Obtain, analyze, and apply knowledge attained through study and practice in different scientific fields
Acquire knowledge and skills involved in the scientific inquiry process
Participate in activities designed to stimulate and accommodate all senses and learning styles
Learn through multiple intelligences allowing students to participate in and review understanding more thoroughly than rote memorization
Discuss the material with the intention of building critical analysis skills and an enduring knowledge of the content
Engage in STEM like activities that encourage a cross-curricular participation in the content via design and creation of physical artifacts