SCIENCE

 Philosophy

Our current scientific enterprise can be thought of as having two major components: scientific knowledge and scientific inquiry. Scientific inquiry is made up of the procedures used' to generate scientific knowledge and is grounded in sound cognitive, manipulative and investigative processes. Observations are made with care, paying attention to detail and free from bias. Science is a creative process which attempts to discover and understand.

Science questions all things, rejects the labeling of statements as unalterable, and opens itself to continual scrutiny and modification. The science curriculum is that component of the total school curriculum where student inquiry and discovery can develop and flourish. Science instruction encourages questioning, explaining, probing, and exploring. It allows students to cultivate personal strategies for learning and problem solving. These strategies incorporate skills that students can apply to all facets of the school curriculum and enable them to better direct their own learning.

The science curriculum must be consistent with scientific procedures and goals. It should take into account the interests and abilities of children and respond to the technological and human needs of our society. Science is dependent upon the exact meaning of the words it uses and the precision of the mathematics it employs, and thus embraces many other aspects and disciplines of the school curriculum as allied to its purpose. Science students must bring together their knowledge of language arts, mathematics, social studies, logic, and critical thinking in such a way as to expand their own learning and literacy and to systematically answer the questions they themselves generate.

Science can also provide other curriculum areas with purposeful activities to enhance their objectives. The science curriculum is a multidisciplinary meeting ground where procedures and methods of obtaining knowledge are as much a part of the educational process as the knowledge.