MLS International Elementary Program: Science 

FOSS is a research-based science curriculum for grades K-8 developed at the Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley. FOSS is also an ongoing research project dedicated to improving the learning and teaching of science. The FOSS program materials are designed to meet the challenge of providing meaningful science education for all students in diverse classrooms and to prepare them for life in the 21st century. Development of the FOSS program was, and continues to be, guided by advances in the understanding of how youngsters think and learn.

Science is an active enterprise, made active by our human to think. Scientific knowledge advances when scientists observe objects and events, think about how they relate to what is known, test their ideas in logical ways, and generate explanations that integrate the new information into the established order. Thus the scientific enterprise is both what we know (content) and how we come to know it (process). The best way for students to appreciate the scientific enterprise, learn important scientific concepts, and develop the ability to think critically is to actively construct ideas through their owninquires, investigations, and analysis. The FOSS program was created to engage students in these processes as they explore the natural world. The Science curriculum at MLS International is based on the National Science Education Standards. 

Students learning is based on the inquiry method and is strongly enriched and supported through literacy.

• 1. Unifying concepts and processes in science
• 2. Science as inquiry
• 3. Physical science
• 4. Life Science
• 5. Earth and space science
• 6. Science and technology
• 7. Science in personal and social perspectives
• 8. History and Nature of Science