Cathedral Science Program going strong...and growing.
Cathedral Elementary
School is excited to be able to offer its students a hands-on
approach to science. With the generous gift from the Dulam family,
Cathedral was able to purchase the Full Option Science System,
"FOSS," hands-on science program for kindergarten through 6th grade.
FOSS is a complete science curriculum that gives teachers the
activities, materials, and support they need to meet standards and
help students succeed. With FOSS, students make observations, ask
questions, make predictions, collaborate and communicate with peers.
The students conduct experiments to test ideas and analyze results.
Based on cognitive research about how children think and learn, FOSS
fully engages students, teaches important science content, and
develops critical thinking skills. The FOSS approach helps the
teachers meet national, state and local science standards. This
science curriculum is composed of 32 modules with each module
presenting a variety of investigations that meet the national and
state science standards. Students access the FOSS content in three
main
ways: Active investigation, reading, and assessment. This approach
helps
meet the challenges facing teachers today: testing and
accountability,
having a highly qualified science teacher in every classroom, and
employing
a research-based instructional program.
Cathedral is fortunate to be able to offer this program to its students. Cathedral is also extremely fortunate to have families such as the Dulams' who give so willingly to support the quality of education given at Cathedral School. Just this past week, Mrs. Baroni's kindergarten class utilized the FOSS program during their investigation of eggs and chicks. The students observed the chicks hatching from their eggs, the structure of the newborn chicks, and the behavior of the chicks as they grow. They then communicated their observations of the structure and behavior of the chicks in general, as well as that of a variety of chicks, with their teachers and fellow classmates. Students are pictured identifying the various parts of the chick body, while others observe the behavior of a variety of chicks, keeping them contained with their "human wall." Drs. Dulam and Dulam stopped in to observe the students' as they make use of the FOSS curriculum.
In Mrs. LaShon Brown's
sixth grade class, students prepared to
dissect frogs. Students begin the process of identifying the various
outer body parts prior to exploring the internal organs of the
frog. A hands-on, lab-oriented approach is used whenever possible
to introduce and reinforce the concepts that are covered in the
classroom.
The very same day in
the high school, Mrs. Denise Thibodeaux's Biology II class carefully
dissected and identified internal organs of the fetal pig to
reinforce their unit of study on comparative anatomy of organisms in
Kingdom Animalia. Mrs. Thibodeaux believes that an understanding of
the scientific method and scientific concepts is becoming essential
as technology progresses rapidly. The Science Department, as a
whole, seeks to expose each student to a wide range of science
topics and laboratory techniques, as well as to emphasize analytical
thinking. Hence, the summer renovation converting a portion of Seton
Hall into a new science laboratory, enabling the faculty to stress
even more the process of science - making each course lab-oriented.