Science & Technology
Overview
Technology Program
The Manville School Science program reflects the current content standards of the Massachusetts Curriculum Framework. Throughout our Lower, Middle and Upper Schools we offer highly differentiated curricula encompassing topics that include Earth & Space Science, Engineering/Technology, Life Science and Physical Science. Our teaching approaches provide access to science in fun and meaningful ways. Our students can readily access a plethora of community resources, among which include a Simmons College Science Department partnership.
Upper School
In our Upper School we offer a variety of engaging lab-based Biology courses meeting student’s educational needs and interests, all of which provide strong preparation for the MCAS. From here, students can explore Environmental Science, which is a culminating study of Life Science, Earth Science, Physical Science, Health, and Technology/Engineering. As with our Lower & Middle schools, our instructional units are uniquely tailored to match the learning needs of students.
An integral component of our program involves hands-on investigations focusing on science inquiry skills, such as the extraction of DNA from saliva or designing a model of a solar house. Sometimes these explorations take us out of the classroom, such as Biogen Idec’s Community Lab, where students explore current applications of Biotechnology in state-of-the-art facilities.
Middle School
Our Middle School students explore general science with topics encompassing Life Science, Earth & Space Science, Physical Science & Technology/Engineering. Complementing these topics are nonfiction independent readers and online access to “Cricket Magazine”. Also included are multimedia resources that incorporate an MP3 CD Audio student text, interactive CD-Rom Labs, and CD-Rom simulations.
Middle schoolers’ inquiry, experimentation and engineering/design outcomes are well-matched to the investigative aspects of science. While studying the transfer of energy through a food chain, students dissect owl pellets to recreate the predator’s last meal. When investigating the relationship between the Earth’s tectonic plates and rapid changes in the earth, students time-traveled to the “A Day in Pompeii” exhibit at the Museum of Science.
Lower School
Our Lower School students explore general science topics including Life Science, Earth & Space Science, Physical Science & Technology/Engineering, like the Middle School but in a more developmentally appropriate manner.
Especially with our Lower School, our science learners can be found engaging in science inquiry skills across a wide range of topics. Our students took on the role of paleontologists when we recreated a velociraptor dig within our playground sandbox and they discovered cast fossils for recreating a scaled model of this extinct species. To observe the mechanism of seed dispersal in native plants, we have hiked through the Arnold Arboretum to explore the diversity across different species. When studying electricity, students have created an electromagnet using a nail, wire, and battery.