Intensive Science   (#2000300)

General Notes

Laboratory investigations that include the use of scientific inquiry, research, measurement, problem solving, laboratory apparatus and technologies, experimental procedures, and safety procedures are an integral part of this course. The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) recommends that at the high school level, all students should be in the science lab or field, collecting data every week. School laboratory investigations (labs) are defined by the National Research Council (NRC) as an experience in the laboratory, classroom, or the field that provides students with opportunities to interact directly with natural phenomena or with data collected by others using tools, materials, data collection techniques, and models (NRC, 2006, p. 3). Laboratory investigations in the high school classroom should help all students develop a growing understanding of the complexity and ambiguity of empirical work, as well as the skills to calibrate and troubleshoot equipment used to make observations. Learners should understand measurement error; and have the skills to aggregate, interpret, and present the resulting data (National Research Council, 2006, p.77; NSTA, 2007). This course should be tailored to meet the needs of the individual student according to his/her deficiencies. Appropriate benchmarks from the NGSSS for Science and applicable Florida Standards (CCSS) for Literacy and Mathematics, including the Standards for mathematical Practice, should be identified to develop an appropriate curriculum.

Special Notes:

Instructional Practices
Teaching from a range of complex text is optimized when teachers in all subject areas implement the following strategies on a routine basis:

1. Ensuring wide reading from complex text that varies in length.
2. Making close reading and rereading of texts central to lessons.
3. Emphasizing text-specific complex questions, and cognitively complex tasks, reinforce focus on the text and cultivate independence.
4. Emphasizing students supporting answers based upon evidence from the text.
5. Providing extensive research and writing opportunities (claims and evidence).

Integrate Florida Standards for Mathematical Practice (MP) as applicable.

• MAFS.K12.MP.1.1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
• MAFS.K12.MP.2.1 Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
• MAFS.K12.MP.3.1 Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
• MAFS.K12.MP.4.1 Model with mathematics.
• MAFS.K12.MP.5.1 Use appropriate tools strategically.
• MAFS.K12.MP.6.1 Attend to precision.
• MAFS.K12.MP.7.1 Look for and make use of structure.
• MAFS.K12.MP.8.1 Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.