Science

Science at HKIS focuses on developing students' scientific and engineering practices and understanding of core ideas to empower them to participate in an increasingly scientific and technological world. Through STEM based inquiry, students apply the knowledge and practices of science and mathematics, use technology for real-time data collection, carry out scientific investigations to discover answers to their questions, and creatively develop solutions to engineering design challenges.

The Upper Primary Science curriculum is based on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The standards are composed of three dimensions:

disciplinary core ideas (content), science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts. The NGSS is a focused and coherent progression of knowledge and practices across the grade levels allowing for a dynamic process of building knowledge throughout a student's science education.

Science & Engineering Practices

• Ask questions (for science) and define problems (for engineering).
• Develop and use models.
• Plan and carry out investigations.
• Analyze and interpret data.
• Use mathematics and computational thinking.
• Construct explanations (for science) and design solutions (for engineering).
• Engage in argument from evidence.
• Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information.

Descriptors of an Inquiry-based Approach to Science

• Children view themselves as scientists and engineers.
• They collaborate and work cooperatively with others.
• Children are curious and they wonder and ask questions about their observations of the world.
• They design a way to find answers to their questions and develop solutions to human problems.
• They carry out their own investigations, handling materials/tools, observing, measuring, and recording data.
• Children communicate their scientific understandings through notebooks, drawings, graphing, etc.
• They use data collected in their investigations as evidence to support their claims.
• Their work leads them to new questions and/or ideas.
• They are problem-finders and problem-solvers.
• Children make connections to previous learning.
• They reflect on their own work and learning.

*Source: Llewellyn, Douglass. (2013). Inquire within: implementing inquiry and argument-based science standards ingrades 3-8. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

National Research Council. (2012). A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.