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The Science and Technology course at the Upper Merion Area High School is designed to offer an interdisciplinary science course that addresses State and National Science Standards. It is offered to all ninth-graders as a culmination of their science courses at the middle-school level, and as a stepping-stone to their high school science and technology courses. The course give a perspective on science by means of the technology that permeates our lives. This makes the course equally useful to the student with no interest in higher-education and to the student who could decide enter an engineering career.

The course builds on the following themes:
 * Energy, Technology, & More
 * Information, Technology, & More
 * Space, Technology, & More
 * Nature, Technology, & More

This page leads to the Big Ideas draft provided at the 2008 PA Governor's Institute for STEM.

For a map and inventory of equipment used with the Science and Technology course, click here:

The working draft of the curriculum document, approved by the school board in August 2007, can be found here:. The updated draft completed during the summer of 2008 can be found here: CommonCore State Standards initiative has recommendations for Language Arts Standards in Science and Technology Courses. This course strives to implement the philosophy of UMASD's Strategic Plan, which is found in this wikispace. The UMASD Science Department also maintains a wikispace for its initiatives. [|Daggett's Framework] [|21st Century Tools] Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

For the materials presented at the MCSTA miniconvention, click here!

These state standards are emphasized throughout the investigations included in the course: 3.2.10.B. Apply process knowledge and organize scientific and technological phenomena in varied ways. 3.2.10.C. Apply the elements of scientific inquiry to solve problems. 3.7.10.A. Identify and safely use a variety of tools, basic machines, materials and techniques to solve problems and answer questions. 3.7.10.B. Apply appropriate instruments and apparatus to examine a variety of objects and processes. 3.8.10.B. Analyze how human ingenuity and technological resources satisfy specific human needs and improve the quality of life. 3.8.10.C. Evaluate possibilities consequences and impacts of scientific and technological solutions.

Some curriculum recommendations from an ACT paper on College Readiness: Teachers in all high school subjects should devote time to teaching reading strategies that help increase students’ comprehension of complex materials across the curriculum, especially in eleventh and twelfth grades. The survey responses of postsecondary English/writing instructors suggest that high school language arts teachers should focus more on punctuation and grammar skills to better prepare their students for college-level expectations in college composition courses. The survey responses of postsecondary science instructors suggest that high school science teachers should more strongly emphasize rigorous understanding of science process knowledge and inquiry skills rather than specific science content knowledge. --from "Aligning Postsecondary Expectations and High School Practice: The Gap Defined Policy Implications of the ACT National Curriculum Survey® Results 2005–2006
 * Teach higher-level reading skills across the high school curriculum.
 * Make sure that students attain the skills necessary for effective writing.
 * Make sure that students learn science process and inquiry skills.