The science classroom has been filled with very busy young people.  Seventh graders have been designing experiments to study the property of solubility.  Students were presented with some materials and challenged to design and implement an investigation of their own.  They’ve engaged in the scientific process of asking a question, identifying the independent and dependent variables, stating an hypothesis, developing a procedure, collecting data, and analyzing and reflecting upon the results.  Students are gaining a strong understanding that scientific inquiry is not a linear process.  Instead, it is circular in nature with opportunities to rethink, revise, ask new questions, and develop additional investigations.

Eighth graders have been studying how traits are passed from one generation to another through different inheritance patterns-autosomal dominant, autosomal recessive, codominance, incomplete dominance, and X-linked.  They have been analyzing a case study in order to help a couple understand the likelihood of a disease being passed onto their children.  The willingness of the students to delve deeply into understanding how, why, and if a trait will be passed on has been wonderful to witness.