Academics

Science

Falmouth Academy’s core curriculum in science offers an environment where the students are encouraged to explore and investigate scientific phenomena around them while providing a solid base of knowledge upon which graduates can build in college. All science courses emphasize project work, hands-on labs (in the classroom and out), detailed lab reports, and independent research projects.

Students take a science course each year at Falmouth Academy. Coursework begins with Life Science in seventh grade which starts with an introduction to the scientific method.  In the fall and spring, students focus on of ecology with visits to local salt marshes, beaches, and woodlands. A cross-curricular unit on watersheds lets students study first-hand one of the local watersheds during a day of hiking, water testing, poetry, art, and contemplation. Skills of careful observation are learned during a unit on evolution, and during the winter months, students investigate the molecules of life, cell biology, and human systems. In seventh grade students are also guided through the process of conducting their first independent research project in preparation for the Falmouth Academy Science Fair.

Eighth grade students take Physical Science, which introduces the subjects of chemistry and physics. The year starts out with activities designed to strengthen the students’ ability to see greater detail in the phenomena they observe. They embark upon the creative process of designing and conducting experiments to determine if their hypotheses were correct. Students are encouraged to question the explanations of phenomena outside of the classroom as well, and a discussion about the workings of a nuclear power plant, for example, often transforms into a discussion of the ethics of nuclear weaponry. Students use their evolving skills to design submarines, egg-landers, and simple machines.  Eighth graders have more autonomy in their choice of independent research projects for the Science Fair, encouraging them to take risks and attempt projects that might not result in obvious conclusions. Both lower school courses engage the students in the curriculum, while introducing and reinforcing the skills of inquiry and discovery which they will further refine in the upper school.

The freshman course is Earth Science. It begins with a study of glaciers and the evolution of Cape Cod and the islands and includes field excursions to explore the local geology. Earth Science labs take place outdoors nearly all year and include measuring beach profiles, measuring the discharge from a stream, and analyzing quadrants from different areas of the forest surrounding Falmouth Academy’s campus. During the final two weeks, students become nineteenth century naturalists and apply independently the observational and record-keeping skills they have learned.

As sophomores, students take those skills into the laboratory in Biology. The focus is on cell and molecular biology, human systems, microbiology, genetics, and biotechnology. Lab work includes experiments on enzymes, photosynthesis, osmosis, bacterial growth and human learning. Students carry out microscopic observations of plant and human cells, construct models to study cell functions, and practice solving genetics problems.

Chemistry, taken in the junior year, includes a strong emphasis on the nature of matter and energy and their interactions. In addition, students discover insights into the impact of chemistry and advances in chemical technology. The course demonstrates the predictability of chemical behavior through a rigorous application of mathematical skills.  The studies of solutions, acids and bases, chemical kinetics, and the equilibrium of reversible reactions are emphasized as well. Students develop laboratory techniques and emphasize concepts learned in class through the use of hands-on laboratory experiments.

In their senior year, all students take Physics. The course emphasizes applying the mathematics of Physics to every day phenomena through a broad range of experiences.  Each student presents a colloquium, presenting the results of inquiry into a subject of personal interest. Recent projects have included analyzing boat construction and building a boat from scratch, researching the history of animation and creating an original claymation film, and designing a model of the Sears Tower and analyzing the structural engineering of the building.

In addition to reinforcing the design and research methods students have learned in class, the Falmouth Academy Science Fair provides an opportunity for students to present their work formally to distinguished scientists, many from the Woods Hole community, who serve as judges. These oral and written presentations teach public-speaking skills in a most practical way, resulting in a level of poise and confidence that is unusual for teens. Falmouth Academy students routinely distinguish themselves at the regional and state science fairs and have regularly represented the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at the International Science and Engineering Fair for the past decade.