General Science Syllabus

Here is my syllabus for the junior high general science class. Remember that we meet once per week, September through April. There are a few weeks we skip due to holidays, but it ends up being 28 weeks.

The Apologia textbooks are all 16 modules. So, most modules get 2 weeks while 2 modules get only 1 week.

The Syllabus

1. Each week, I expect you to read the assigned readings before class, and narrate them, either to yourself or someone else. Here is a video that explains narration really well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ubrs3cSHpw

2. Your nature journal is an important part of your education. Bring it to class every week, as we will add to it every week. You are welcome to add to it during the week, on your own.

3. As you can, take a walk and work to notice how the world around you works. Work to NOTICE, its a practiced skill.

4. I will not tolerate cheating of any sort. There are times you will work with a partner, but you each must do the work. If it is something to be done alone, I expect you to do it on your own. If it is to be done without access to book, I expect you to respect this.

5. If something doesn’t make sense, ASK! I cannot read your mind, and I don’t know when you don’t understand. Exposing your ignorance is the best way to rid yourself of that ignorance.

6. For those students that are interest in delving more deeply into a topic: you may ask for an additional project to do on your time, based on your interest. Or you may propose an addition project/collection (e.g. insect, flower/leaf, rock). Participating in Science Fair will require a fair bit from you. I am available to guide and assist as needed.

7. I will post addition resources on my blog: mamarachael.wordpress.com. Follow the link ‘General Science’ at the top.

8. If you are late to class, there will be a consequence according to the frequency of your lateness, the extremity of your lateness, and the general effectiveness of the consequence according to your character and personality. In other words, don’t be late.

Book: Exploring Creation with General Science, 2^nd edition (by Wile)

	Assigned reading (pages)	Topic
Sept 8	1-15	History of Science
Sept 15	16-23	History of Science
Sept 22	24-34	History of Science
Sept 29	35-58	Scientific Inquiry
Oct 6		Scientific Inquiry
Oct 13	59-82	Doing Experiments
Oct 20	83-94	Science and Technology, aka Simple Machines
Oct 27	95-108	Science and Technology, aka Simple Machines
Nov 3	109-134	Archeology vs Geology vs Paleontology
Nov 10	135-158	Geology
Nov 17		Geology
Dec 1		Geology
Dec 8	159-184	Paleontology
Dec 15	185-214	More Geology
Jan 12	215-222	Life, what is it? Not merely DNA
Jan 19	223-233	Ecology of Life
Jan 26	233-240	Life, what is it? Could be just a cell
Feb 2	241-264	How do we classify life?
Feb 9	293-318	Life takes Energy….
Feb 16		Life takes Energy…
Feb 23	265-292	Human Physical Form
Mar 2	319-342	Human Physical Form
Mar 16	343-357	Human Physical Form
Mar 23	358-366	Human Physical Form
April 6	367-386	Human Physical Form
April 13	387-404, 417-418	Human Physical Form
April 20	405-416	Human Physical Form
April 27	418	Human Physical Form

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General comments

Yes, this one looks a lot like the Biology one. Consistency makes it all easier for me.

Do you like my late policy? This gives me the flexibility I need when it’s not the student’s fault they are late, e.g. an older sibling is dropping them off and older sibling is the one running late.

I don’t list all the activities of that day because I found students don’t really read/remember those bits anyways. And this gives me the flexibility to set up each week as I feel is most helpful. This will change, likely, as the year progresses and I learn more of who these students are, their academic levels and personalities.

On the other hand, I do have a good idea of what activities we will do over this year. I will plan these out more specifically over this next week. Baby-steps!

I’ll cover how I plan to run class time in a later post. But please, feel free to ask questions!