Please attend Northwood's Science Symposium Thursday, November 14, 6 pm. NHS Theater
The Symposium is a response to this group, its petition, and wider scrutiny of Northwood's irregular curriculum.
Northwood High has recruited a panel of consultants to present the rationale of its particular science curriculum that it is attempting to train our children's teachers in how to instruct. The lecture and participatory demonstration will present the ideal of ‘systems thinking’ in science, and the effort should be well attended so the school knows we are involved and continue to care about changes to the science program.
For a succinct summary of what is at stake for our students at Northwood, review the attached flyer. To be clear, we agree with the need to meet Next Generation Science Standards, but we also must confront continuing evidence streaming out of our high school that Northwood’s go-it-alone attitude unnecessarily overcomplicates teaching compared to how science is taught at Beckman, Irvine, Portola, University and Woodbridge High Schools. These excessive digressions in instructional practice only serve to distract our children from learning core science concepts, and it is our responsibility as Northwood’s community to call attention to this unnecessary sidetracking of our children. Northwood has also lost highly qualified teachers by insisting they teach integrated science instead of their areas of expertise, thus losing competent teachers and replacing them with part time inexperienced teachers with no choice but to teach all science topics simultaneously without depth.