Science

We are surrounded by patterns in nature.  Some of these patterns are obvious: day and night, the seasons, phases of the moon.  Science attempts to describe these patterns using models, either mathematical or conceptual.  A successful model is capable of accurately predicting or explaining the behavior of nature's patterns.  For example, by making some calculations we can predict precisely when the Sun will rise tomorrow, when the shortest day of the year will be, or when the next full moon will occur.  The development of these scientific models is based on the rational analysis of data from observation and experimentation. 

It is the goal of the NHS science department not only to provide answers to specific scientific questions, but to ultimately instill in the student a broader sense of science. 

NHS students will

• understand the value in asking good questions
• approach problems experimentally
• accurately interpret and understand the significance of data

The standards for science and technology/engineering (STE) focus on five areas: earth and space science, biology, chemistry, physics, and technology/engineering. Districts have flexibility in designing high school course sequences and courses—including electives like environmental science, robotics, and forensics—aligned to the standards.

No matter what courses they take, all high school students develop and master certain STE skills, or practices. They might demonstrate these STE practices by:

• Analyzing and comparing solutions to global problems, like strategies for using less fossil fuel.
• Designing and doing an experiment, like to find out how photosynthesis turns light energy into stored chemical energy.
• Designing, building, and improving devices that change energy from one form to another.
• Using the periodic table as a tool to predict how elements will behave in different situations.
• Using models (including mathematical and computer-generated models) to explain, predict, or analyze: for example, to explain the carbon cycle, describe the impacts of climate change, or illustrate forces and changes in energy between magnetically or electrically charged objects.
• Using math to explain that living and nonliving factors affect populations and species within an ecosystem.
• Using evidence to explain relationships between natural resources, human populations, and biodiversity.
• Researching and communicating evidence to demonstrate biological evolution.