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In order for a student to be promoted to high school from the middle grades, they must successfully complete the following courses:
*May include high school courses for high school credit.
The statutory requirements for middle grades promotion are found in section 1003.4156, Florida Statutes.
End of Year District Final - Counts for 10% of Final Course Grade
This is the entry level course for middle school science. All grade 6 students are eligible.
None
Access the Instructional Materials page to see approved instructional resources for this course.
M/J Comprehensive Science 1 is a basic intermediate course intended to expose students to the designs and patterns in the physical universe. This course provides a broad survey of the major areas of science. Some of the areas covered in M/J Comp Science include the study of plant systems, weather, plant and animal characteristics, the earth, electricity and magnetism, and the different forms of energy.
The curriculum seeks to develop the students' ability to understand and participate in scientific inquiry. The units contain experiments and projects to capitalize on the students' natural curiosity. The students will explore, observe and manipulate everyday objects and materials in their environment. Students at this level should begin to understand interrelationships of systems in an organism, how organisms respond to the environment, recognize how energy is vital to life. Collectively, this should help students develop and build on their subject-matter knowledge base
Laboratory investigations that include the use of scientific inquiry, research, measurement, problem solving, laboratory apparatus and technologies, experimental procedures, and safety procedures are an integral part of this course. The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) recommends that at the middle school level, all students should have multiple opportunities every week to explore science laboratory investigations (labs). School laboratory investigations are defined by the National Research Council (NRC) as an experience in the laboratory, classroom, or the field that provides students with opportunities to interact directly with natural phenomena or with data collected by others using tools, materials, data collection techniques, and models (NRC, 2006, p. 3). Laboratory investigations in the middle school classroom should help all students develop a growing understanding of the complexity and ambiguity of empirical work, as well as the skills to calibrate and troubleshoot equipment used to make observations. Learners should understand measurement error and have the skills to aggregate, interpret, and present the resulting data (NRC 2006, p. 77; NSTA, 2007).
