Science
The Fairfield Public Schools believe that science education should promote essential understandings of the natural world and should nurture students’ abilities to apply scientific knowledge to make informed and logical judgments about personal and societal issues. As such, this education requires that the fundamental approach to science be a creative and logical process for investigating, reasoning, critiquing and communicating about ideas, not just a static body of facts to be memorized. Understanding the interconnections between science and technology and their shared impact on the environment and societal issues is essential for all students.
We should foster the development and assessment of scientific literacy in all students and motivate students to pursue careers in science, technology and engineering. In the view of Fairfield’s science educators, science literacy is a combination of understanding major science concepts and theories, using scientific reasoning, and recognizing the complex interactions among science, technology and society. All students must demonstrate scientific literacy as outlined by the Connecticut State Science standards.
Upon graduation a scientifically literate person is one who:
- understands and applies basic concepts, principles and theories of biology, chemistry, physics, earth and space science and their interrelationships
- recognizes and participates in evidence-based scientific endeavors and uses inquiry skills that lead to a greater understanding of the world
- differentiates between scientific explanations of the natural world and popular ideas that are not supported by scientific data
- identifies and solves problems through scientific exploration, including the formation of hypotheses, design of experiments, use of technology, analysis of data and drawing of conclusions
- selects and uses appropriate laboratory technology, equipment and materials, including measuring and sensing devices
- understands and uses existing and emerging technologies that have an effect on society and the quality of life, including personal, academic and work environments
- analyzes the possibilities and limits of science and technology in order to make and defend decisions about societal issues
- understands how scientific knowledge is formulated in order to assess the validity of that knowledge
- determines the reliability of information sources in all formats, based on evaluative criteria
- documents information sources using appropriate scientific format
(adapted from the CSDE Position Statement on Science Education June 2004)
The Fairfield Public Schools plays an essential role in ensuring a quality educational program in science by:
- providing all students with developmentally appropriate, coordinated, meaningful and engaging scientific experiences to support their development of scientific literacy
- providing all teachers and all students with necessary science instructional resources including time, lab space, equipment and materials, technology, textbooks and easy access to electronic resources
- setting a context for scientific learning that is relevant to students
- engaging students in extended, developmentally appropriate scientific investigations that increase effort and interest in scientific learning
- communicating the goals and importance of studying sciences to students and parents
- encouraging students to pursue the study of advanced science and science-related careers