CSI – CMA’s competency-based approach to scientific discovery

Have you heard about CSI at CMA? It was designed to explore the curricular competencies of science which are prevalent and required in disciplines like anatomy & physiology, chemistry, environmental science, and physics, among others. These competencies include things like:
– formulating a hypothesis and predicting an outcome,
– planing, selecting and using appropriate investigation methods like fieldwork to collect reliable data,
– evaluating methods and experimental conditions, including identifying sources of error or uncertainty, confounding variables, and possible alternative explanations and conclusions.
We believe CSI is not only innovative but also efficient, as all senior students will learn the essential skills of science common to all disciplines in Term 1 together.
CSI will run the entirety of Term 1, after which time students will then disperse into their grade-specific science courses for Terms 2 & 3 for a more focused study in their chosen science. At the very end of the school year, students will synthesize both the skills that they have gleaned from CSI and the content learned in their subjects to create a personalized, independent investigation.
Senior students have now been placed in cross-grade cohorts that will rotate through three interesting scientific explorations; cementing science inquiry, cedar & silviculture investigations, and creating invisible ink. So far, students and teachers have been enjoying great weather for their silviculture study!