The major goal of the science program at Oak Hill is to provide opportunities that will enable students to become involved in the processes of scientific inquiry and discovery. Our students "do science." We believe that by practicing the basic skills of observing, classifying, measuring, recognizing relationships, communicating, inferring, using variables, and predicting, students will continually build their scientific knowledge base.
As knowledge accumulates students will practice the more advanced skills of formulating hypotheses, interpreting data, controlling variables, defining operations, and performing and evaluating their own scientific experiments. As a culmination of the Oak Hill science experience, all sixth grade students are required to develop a science fair project.
Classroom activities are designed to provide students with opportunities to develop a love of science at an early age, in the hope that they will continue their interest throughout their school careers. Teachers use a variety of instructional methods to teach students process as well as fact, as they strive to accommodate a variety of learningstyles.
The scientific experience at Oak Hill is both hands-on and textbook. We believe that it is extremely important for students to learn both by the process method and through the written word. Students learn that science is not something esoteric, but something that daily touches our lives. Among the major instructional objectives are that students learn that a problem may have more than one solution, and that problems and possible solutions usually have connections to previously learned data. Students learn that there are a variety of scientific resources that may be utilized in problem-solving. And finally, students learn that science can be personal and that each individual has a responsibility to care for him/herself and the environment.
Students also participate in a variety of special science activities which include guest speakers, field trips, local and regional science fairs. In 2008, a new Oak Hill Science lab was built with state-of-the-art technology.
