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The Science Education Program provides learning experiences for all students to develop scientific literacy so that they may maintain and improve the quality of their lives and participate effectively as members of a global society. Scientific literacy is developed as students using:

1) Science Content Standards of the Hawaii Content and Performance Standards (HCPS).

 

Strand I: THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESS

 

Standard 1: SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION—Discover, invent, and investigate using the skills necessary to engage in the scientific process.

Standard 2: NATURE OF SCIENCE—Understand that science, technology, and society are interrelated.

 

Strand II: LIFE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

 

Standard 3: Organisms and the Environment—Understand the unity, diversity, and interrelationships of organisms including their relationship to cycles of matter and energy in the environment.

Standard 4: STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION IN ORGANISMS—Understand the structures and functions of living organisms and how organisms can be compared scientifically.

Standard 5: DIVERSITY GENETICS AND EVOLUTION—Understand genetics and biological evolution and their impact on the unity and diversity oforganisms.

 

Strand III: PHYSICAL, EARTH, AND SPACE SCIENCES

 

Standard 6: NATURE OF MATTER AND ENERGY—Understand the nature of matter and energy, forms of energy (including waves) and energy transformations, and their significance in understanding the structure of the universe.

Standard 7: FORCE AND MOTION—Understand the relationship between force, mass, and motion of objects; and know the major natural forces:gravitational, electric, and magnetic.

Standard 8: EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE—Understand the Earth and itsprocesses, the solar system, and the universe and its tent.

 

Click here for more information in Hawaii Content Performance Standards

The eight practices of science and engineering that the Framework identifies as essential for all students 

to learn and describes in detail are listed below:

1. Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)

2. Developing and using models

3. Planning and carrying out investigations

4. Analyzing and interpreting data

5. Using mathematics and computational thinking

6. Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)

7. Engaging in argument from evidence

8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Click here for more information on Next Generation Science Standards

3) Common Core Standards are also implemented.

Key Ideas and Details:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.2 Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an accurate summary of the text distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.3 Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.

Craft and Structure:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.4 Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant togrades 6-8 texts and topics.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.5 Analyze the structure an author uses to organize a text, including how the major sections contribute to the whole and to an understanding of the topic.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.6 Analyze the author's purpose in providing an explanation, describing a procedure, or discussing an experiment in a text.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.7 Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.8 Distinguish among facts, reasoned judgment based on research findings, and speculation in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.9 Compare and contrast the information gained from experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia sources with that gained from reading a text on the same topic.

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.10 By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Click here for more information in Common Core Science and Technical Subject Standards

Scientific Inquiry and the Nature of Science standards thread through every science discipline and course offering. Thus, science contains the process for discovery, analysis, and a dynamic body of knowledge that is not only expanding, but is constantly under modification and verification. Instructional experiences designed to help students meet the Science Content.

 

Standards provide students with opportunities to engage in learning that supports their movement towards meeting the following goals of Science Education:

To understand and apply the processes, ways of thinking and dispositions that humans have while investigating the natural world.

To understand and apply the knowledge we know today about the world around us to our curiosities and in our daily lives.

Science is required in grades K-5, with an additional three years required in grades 6, 7, and 8, and three years in high school to meet current graduation requirements. The secondary program consists of year courses at the intermediate or middle school level and semester or year courses at the high school level that are organized in various course path sequences. Schools must be able to ensure that, regardless of the course pathway, all students will meet all benchmarks within all eight Science Content Standards by the time they graduate high school.