Junior High Science

Junior High Science at St. Patrick's

Mrs. Jill Fecko

Curriculum Highlights:

The chronological breakdown of specific content standards covered:

Students in 6th 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 7th 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 8th 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.

Expectations of Excellence


Students will strive to:

  • 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