Explore the universe that God created and investigate how it all works perfectly together to create the world we live in.  This course will use a zoom-in approach as it begins with outer space, the galaxies, and the solar system; it moves to the atmosphere and weather and the complex oceans; finally, the course culminates with the amazing layers of the earth.  This is a quest to understand the world that God has created.

This class is designed to teach and implement a variety of important skills needed in high school including:

• Research Skills - A guided project is assigned in which the students research, form, and execute an action plan in addition to writing an essay.
• Study Skills - by exploring how the student learns best and by reinforcing the information in a variety of ways.
• Note-Taking Skills - worksheets become more interactive and students learn to record important notes from the lecture.
• Public Speaking / Oral Reporting Skills - the students share their researched information when they do a formal presentation with their project.
• Lab Skills - developed during the exploratory labs and investigations.
• Critical Thinking Skills - class discussion, higher-thinking questions, lab analysis, and conclusions.

The lecture introduces the topic and prepares the students for the laboratory exercises and testing.

Homework:  45 min - 1 hour / day

This science course meets the students where they are:  on the sports field, on the roads and in the classroom.  Through physical science, students will learn how everything they do relates to chemistry and physics.  In the chemistry chapters, they will see the wonder in how matter and energy interact in the food we eat, the drinks we drink, and the matter that makes up our world.  In the physics chapters, they will see how things move, why things move, and why objects behave as they do.  This is a quest to understand the matter that God has created.

• IPC is the foundational, honors physical science course that prepares students for upper-level high school science studies (Biology / Chemistry / Physics).
• It is required that the student take Algebra 1 either before or while taking this course to be prepared for the calculations in the Physics part of the course.
• IPC is a full lecture and lab course including testing that will earn 1 high school honors credit in science.
• Laboratory exercises hone skills in deduction, reasoning, and problem-solving, allowing the student to develop critical thinking as they approach the study of science.
• There are two major projects assigned:
  • The fall project assigned to students is a guided research paper on a famous scientist.
  • The spring project is a science project demonstrating an IPC concept covered during the year.

Homework: 1+ hour / day.