Hands-On Science –The Montessori Way Dr. Montessori passed a deep love for the world of nature on to thousands of students through a program of outdoor education, gardening, and camping experiences. We see this as the foundation of a lifelong interest in the sciences. We want our students to be fascinated by the universe and to honestly enjoy the process of discovering its secrets and interrelationships. We want them to observe, analyze, measure, classify, experiment, and predict – and to do so with a sense of eager curiosity and wonder. Science is an integral element of our curriculum. Among other things, it represents a way of life: a clear thinking approach to gathering information and problem solving. Our program is designed to cultivate our students’ curiosity and determination to discover the truth for themselves. We teach them how scientists go about their work. They learn how to observe patiently, make projections, analyze results, and work at solving each problem. They eagerly engage in field trips and experiments, and respond with delight to the precision of measurement, gathering data, classification, and prediction. With encouragement and a solid foundation, even very young children are ready and anxious to investigate their world, to wonder at the interdependence of living things, to explore the ways in which the physical universe works, and to project how it all may have come to be.
The scope of our science curriculum includes an introduction to botany, zoology, chemistry, physics, geology, and astronomy. Our Upper School science curriculum encompasses the traditional life and physical sciences, with introductory studies in biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, and earth science. Science lessons incorporate a hands-on approach. For example, students study the ecology of our outdoor environment and collect water samples to be tested for pollutants. In astronomy, a class might build a scale model of the solar system that stretches out over two-miles. They will chart the cycles of sun spots and solar rotation by projecting the sun’s image. On clear winter nights, they may stay up late observing through a telescope. Our finest classes are taught outdoors in forests, fields and in the garden.