WELCOME to Chemistry Fall 2016 Mrs. Lisa Moore

Contact information   for grades, assignments, and attendance

Who is Mrs. Moore?  B.S.in Biomedical Engineering from USC  Worked as a research assistant during college  breast cancer research at City of Hope  Masters Degree in Science Education from USC  Credentialed in Physics, Chemistry and Biology

COURSE EXPECTATIONS  Classroom rules and conduct/citizenship  Safety is the most important lab skill  Attendance and Tardies  Homework Occasionally  Summative Quiz: Each Friday  Unit tests  Make ups: Before or after school  Retakes: One per quarter; will require additional work  Materials/Textbook

Grading  80% Summative (Prove mastery of content)  15% Lab write-ups  5% Formative (Practice)  Late homework accepted up to unit test for partial credit.  Late lab reports will be accepted up to 2 days past the due date for partial credit.

Changes are on the way in Science... The state of California recently adopted new science standards - the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).  The old standards focused on the accumulation of knowledge, with little focus on the scientific process and real world applications.  The new standards emphasize the skills needed by students to acquire knowledge via the scientific method and use that knowledge in a meaningful way; skills demanded by the 21 st Century workplace and society.

What does this mean for my child’s science class? The implementation of the new science standards means that your child’s science classroom will start to look very different. There will be a focus on sense-making, not just memorization of facts. We want our students to practice science like real scientists. They will collaborate, generate questions, problem-solve, and think critically. Engineering practices will also be integrated into our science classrooms.

Science is both…. A body of knowledge (information) & A way to make sense of the world (sense-making)

Be Patient... We have already begun the transition to NGSS in all of our science classrooms. We will continue to shift our classrooms to align with NGSS over the next few years. We will be piloting new curriculum and making adjustments as necessary. Students will be uncomfortable with this new way of learning science... it is much easier to fill in blanks on a worksheet than to engage in meaningful science and truly understand how things work. We will be supporting our students every step of the way during this transition.