Integrated Science II Syllabus
INTEGRATED
SCIENCE II SYLLABUS
I.
Course Materials:
Conceptual
Physical Science,
2003, Addison Wesley, will be issued to you. As you may recall from your
Freshman Integrated Science course, it is a great book!
Use it, but don't abuse it or the $55.00 replacement fee may apply.
Other materials from qualified sources will be used, as well as sketch
notes, video lessons, computer software and Internet lessons, projects, and
guest speakers. A field trip is a possibility.
II.
Units in Sequence
Unit
1 : Science Process (Chapter 1, appendices, &
supplements) 3 weeks
Unit
2 : Elements of Chemistry & Periodic Table
(Chapters 21 & 17) 3
weeks
Unit
3 : Mixtures (Chapters 22 & parts of 24) 2
weeks
Unit
4 : Atomic Models (Chapters 18 & parts of 16) 1
week
Unit
5 : Radioactivity, Fission & Fusion (Chapters
19 & 20) 3 weeks
Unit
6 : Minerals, Rocks & Earth History (Chapters
30, 31 & 36) 3
weeks
Unit
7 : Chemical Bonding: (Chapter 23 and parts of 24) 1
week
Unit
8 : Astronomy (Chapters 39 & 40) 2
weeks
III.
If you need help, need to make-up work or want to earn extra credit:
ü
Most any
day after school until 5:00 PM. Ask
to be sure I'm available.
ü
6:45-8:00
AM before school except when I have duty.
IV.
My
Class Rules & Expectations:
1.
Come in
willing to work and prepared with the needed “tools”.
2.
Treat all
other class members and myself with respect.
3.
Cheating
is unacceptable on individually assigned work & collaboration is expected
on group work.
4.
Hall pass
privileges will be rare and we watch Channel 1.
5.
Be
responsible for proper use of lab equipment, books and furniture.
6.
Participate
in class…Learning is not a passive activity.
7.
Do not accept failure! Work
differently, try harder, ask for and receive my help.
V.
Notebook
You
will need a folder of some type for keeping your work organized. Successful
people are organized and I want you to be successful !
Components
of an organized folder might include: dividers, pockets, daily
planner/calendar and paper. A
simple function calculator is also a near necessity.
Notebooks are to help you,
rather than impress me. I will
however, assess them on test days for a grade and to give feedback.
VI.
Student
Evaluation
Your
Integrated Science competency will be evaluated in a variety of ways that
address multiple intelligence's.
Students learn in multiple ways and I will try diligently to vary my
assignments with this in mind.
Your
pre-final exam grade will be calculated from 3 weighted categories:
Tests-30%
Individual Work-35% Group
Work-35%
Each
category is further described.
Tests: Units
covered will be tested upon with point emphasis correlated with class time
invested. Expect the usual
objective format from the text reading and additional questions from labs,
handouts, notes and resources. Expect
10 per term.
Individual
Work: This
includes any written work for which you are individually responsible.
Expect at least 3 of these types of grades per week or 50 per term.
Lab/Group
Work: These are lab activities and collaborative group
work. Partners are drawn at random and I expect productive work from each
partner. The larger grades in this category will have a peer assessment
included to ensure that all group members are doing their share. Each person
will be responsible for their own paper. Expect 2-3 of these types of grades per
week or about 40 per term.
VII.
Grading
All
student grades will be kept on STI
and updated no less than weekly.
Print-outs
can be done upon request. It will show grade components, analysis and any
missing assignments. At the end of the term, the total grade earned up to that
point is re-weighted at 90%. The closed book Final Exam is worth the remaining
10%. It will be made from
questions pulled from previous tests.
VIII.
Extra Credit
I
try to provide students with varied opportunities to earn extra credit almost
on a daily basis. Obviously you
won't and can't do them all, but everyone will have ample opportunity.
Most will be described to you on the Weekly Assignment Planner.
The
maximum possible is 100 pts…..enough to raise your grade 5-8% or 1-letter
grade. The EC limit in each category is the same as the category weighting %
(Test/Quiz -30 pt., Individual Work-35 pt., & Group Work-35 pt.) How
can it be earned ?
Test/Quiz-
Turn
in your grade calculation sheet each Friday on the back of your Weekly
Assignment Planner. Each grade recorded fully is worth 1/2 pt.
This
is my method of compensating you for test averages that may be lower than you
are accustomed to. DO
IT!
Individual
Work-
End of chapter written extensions, written or oral summaries/reactions to NOVA
or Scientific American Frontiers episodes covering an Earth Science/Chemistry
topic, designing “bulletin boards” or volunteering to find information for
the class via library or on-line research.
Group
Work- Donation of cheap lab materials and cleaning
supplies, bringing in requested specimens, project related extra work,
construction of teaching aids.
ü
Most
of you will find this course to be your most
challenging yet.
ü
I believe
in many grades of many types. Expect
around 100 grades for the course.
ü
No one
grade will "make or break" you. Establish a pattern of good work.
ü
I will
expect you to read the text and handouts. Tests will tell me if you did.
ü
Tests
will be tougher than last year’s. You must prepare to do well.
ü
I will
allow you to re-take any failed test once (same content; different test), for
a re-grade. To qualify, you must invest 1 hour of study with me after school
on the date of your choosing. You will keep the highest score.
ü
You can
make corrections on any assignment and re-submit it for the equivalent of a
1-letter grade improvement. Corrections
made on returned tests will raise the grade 5% and will obviously help you in
preparing for the Final Exam.
ü
I
encourage all students to earn the maximum extra credit allowed.
ü
I do not
curve grades. The extra credit you earn is your "curve".
ü
Missing,
incomplete shoddy work and poor attendance strongly predict failure.
ü
I grade
all assignments. If I have you
invest the effort, I will grade the performance for accuracy and completeness.
Partial credit is always given if your answer is less than acceptable.
You
do not have to be the best in
anything to do well in my class but you must be willing to do your best. It is true that not many students earn A’s,
but the reason is that few students give a sustained excellent
effort. B’s are good, C’s are average.
Don’t aim to be a D student (below average), because you will likely
come up short! This
course credit is required for graduation.
If you plan on achieving this milestone, invest your best effort with
me NOW and save yourself the frustration of having to repeat.
·
Keep this document near the front
of your folder and refer to it as needed.
These are the
"Rules of the Road" to be successful in my classroom.
Let's
get started down that road!