HUNTERDON CENTRAL REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT

SCIENCE
Departmental Philosophy:
The Hunterdon Central Science Department recognizes that Science is a pervasive element in today’s society,
and that technology is one of the major driving forces of this society and critical for maintaining a free society.
Since Science is a world force, the department recognizes the scientific and technical literacy of the students at
Hunterdon Central Regional High School is the major goal of the department.
Because the department is concerned both with scientific and technical literacy, the Science curriculum
emphasizes both theoretical and applied science. The department is also concerned with advancements in both
Science and Technology. Teachers and students are encouraged to study the fundamental laws of nature, to be
involved in extensive laboratory activities, and to become aware of the latest educational and scientific
technologies.
In scientific and technical endeavors, there is a need for collaboration with scientists, technicians and citizens.
Therefore, teachers and students are encouraged to collaborate in science activities both within the scientific
community and throughout New Jersey.
All Science courses in the department include a laboratory component and strive to develop both cognitive and
affective skills in each learner, and an awareness of the impact of Science and Technology on the learner’s
current and future environment. The department also recognizes the need for our students to be successful in a
global society and, therefore, the seven survival skills of critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration
across networks, agility and adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurialism, effective oral and written
communication, accessing analyzing information, and curiosity and imagination are embedded into the
curriculum of each course.
Curricular Highlights
In order to implement the tenets of our departmental philosophy, the department curriculum goals for the year
2010 – 2011 were as follows:
1. Develop activities that lend themselves to problem solving and critical thinking.
The department has completed many units written in the UbD format and many others will be developed during
the summer of 2011. We have also started to develop more inquiry-based lab experiments in all courses in
order to expand upon problem solving and critical thinking skills. Assessments have also been revised to
address more problem solving questions, as well as questions that are written at the higher levels of Bloom’s
Taxonomy. Formative assessments are starting to be used more frequently, but more improvement and greater
implementation is needed in this area.
Karen Batista states the following about a project from her class:
“As a class, we first came up with a definition for what an “issue” is. Then, we tried to define Environmental
Issue, but found it easier to list issues that we were aware of. We searched the internet to make our list more
complete and grouped the issues according to themes. Students were surveyed to see which themes you were
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