Grade 2 • Science Overview

Grade 2 Science

Overview

The Howard County Public School System's Elementary Science Curriculum for PreK through fifth grade is consistent with and in full support of the Maryland State Science Curriculum and the Next Generation Science Standards. It reflects the intellectual rigor of scientific inquiry as well as the attitudes and social values conducive to preparing a scientific literate populace to meet the 21st Century. Effective student-centered science embodies an approach to learning that engages students physically and mentally in an inquiry-based science and engineering program.

The actual doing of science and engineering piques student curiosity, captures their interest, and motivates their continued study.  By using students’ perceptions of the world around t hem, our program provides opportunities to expand, change, enhance, and modify the ways in wh ich they view the world. Teachers promote and value students’ thinking, curiosity, and questioning. Students are empowered with personal skills that they use to express and share points-of-view, solve problems, and make decisions. Whether involved in science investigations, or the Engineering Design Process, students engage in manipulating materials and making observations, seeking answers to their questions, solving problems, and explaining their ideas based on evidence. Throughout every unit, students reflect regularly on what they have done, the problems they have met, and how they have developed solutions.

“Children are born investigators, studying, thinking, and building internal models of the world around them. Science is an extension of this natural curiosity to systematic investigation of the material world and the development of a body of knowledge and practices. Science education is not just a process of acquiring a body of static knowledge. It also includes developing the ability to use tools, ranging from microscopes and rulers to computers and test tubes, and the ability to build and explain models, make predictions, and conduct scientific inquiry. Just as reading, writing, and mathematics involve the performance of complex practices, so does science.”

– Committee on Conceptual Framework for New Science Education Standards, 2010

Elementary Science Instruction

The Howard County Public School System provides an exemplary elementary science program using the three dimensional approach to learning: Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Disciplinary Core Ideas.  These three dimensions are based upon research shared in the A Framework for K-12 Science Education Links to an external site., and the Next Generation Science Standards Links to an external site..

Science and Engineering Practices

Engaging in the behaviors and habits of mind of science help students understand how scientific knowledge develops. Each year, students will learn more about and apply these practices through hands-on investigations at school and home, as well as through outdoor field experiences, to have a better understanding of the science and engineering concepts being taught. 

Disciplinary Core Ideas

These include the major fields of science content being investigated.  Students will learn about areas of Physical Science, Life Science, Earth and Space Science, which include the integration of Engineering, Technology, and Environmental Science.

Crosscutting Concepts

These are important over-arching themes that students encounter in science, mathematics, and technology.  These concepts help provide students with an organizational framework for connecting knowledge across fields into a coherent view of the world.  Crosscutting Concepts include ideas such as: Cause and Effect, Structure and Function, and Patterns.