My name is Mister Lewis, this is my twentieth year in Erie's Public Schools. In addition to teaching Honors Science to 7th and 8th graders I coach girls' basketball at Strong Vincent and am the varsity assistant girls' coach at Erie High. I also coach the SV Quiz Bowl team. That team has qualified for the National Championship in Chicago in six of the past seven years.
The seventh grade curriculum for science consists of two main kits : Energy, Machines, and Motion (physics) and Organisms, Micro to Macro (biology). Eighth grade kits are Populations and Ecosystems (biology) and Catastrophic Events (earth science). During the two years I have the students I also review what they learned in sixth grade chemistry and astronomy.
Students are expected to complete a number of out-of-school assignments during the year. Each quarter students are required to complete a 'design project', basically an experiment where students go through the scientific method assigning variables, controlling variables, collecting data, and drawing a conclusion with a claim and evidence. There is also an online assignment each quarter using the Jefferson Lab website.
