We offer a customized curriculum that aligns with Massachusetts and New Hampshire Science Standards, as well as Next Generation Science Standards.
We're here to enhance the work teachers do in the classroom and to provide additional learning opportunities. While some students struggle in the traditional classroom or lab, this learning environment excites them to learn and succeed in a whole new way.
The Science Standards form the foundation of our curriculum. We evaluate the standards to determine the learning objectives for each lesson. We use the resources available at our outdoor classroom to plan hands-on activities which achieve the objectives. Each lesson is designed to explore the content of earth and space science, life science, physical science, or engineering standards. Content areas include energy and matter, chemical properties, Earth’s spheres, and force and motion. Our lessons also build science process skills that span many branches: constructing arguments from evidence, building and using models to describe phenomena, and evaluating cause and effect relationships.
We know that there are components of the state standards that are challenging for teachers to fulfill within the walls of the classroom and our programs can help. Students can go to the lake, river, or ocean and collect and analyze pH and other data to determine the health of a water system and make observations to understand human impact. Students can use a slingshot and ball as a model to explore the relationship of potential and kinetic energy in a system. By changing the mass of the ball, they can gather and interpret data to evaluate the relationship of mass, velocity, and kinetic energy in a system.
As educational theories and practices continue to evolve, so does our curriculum. We are committed to providing a progressive, innovative experience for the schools and students we serve.
“The Task Force recommends that science and math be taught more as “hands-on” learning from the earliest grades. Science and math and their companions engineering and technology can best be learned by “doing” and not merely by memorizing facts.