Young children are instinctively curious about the natural order and our science curriculum is designed to meet that curiosity with a systematic exploration of creation. Much time is spent in primary school classifying the world of animate and inanimate objects. In learning the distinguishing characteristics of each species, children engage in the details that their young minds are especially interested in and well suited for; but science is concerned with causes, attention, therefore, is given to a discovery of why things exist as they do.
The primary and middle school science curriculum offers graduated and systematic exposure to many different scientific disciplines (e.g. physical, biological, and astronomical sciences) but the curriculum is unified in a number of ways. First and foremost, at St. Theresa Catholic School, we are concerned to help our students think scientifically. The sciences are “experimental disciplines” with their own distinct methodologies and goals; above and beyond the facts of science, the elementary and middle school curriculum primarily intends to develop the intellectual ability to think scientifically. May be even more important that such ability is the curiosity that rouses students to develop themselves in any academic discipline. Scientific thinking is fueled by wonder and curiosity; therefore, developing wonder and having fun with science are hallmarks of a good primary and middle school science education. Finally, since the created order is God’s gift to the human race, we infuse naturalistic studies with an ethical component. In short we believe that students should constantly reflect on the moral obligation to use nature responsibly.