Grade seven students move steadily into early adolescence and two basic characteristics accompany this developmental stage: a strong desire for knowledge about the world and a budding capacity for self-reflection.
Grade seven students feel a yearning for independence and creative exploration while at the same time wrestling with a certain anxiety and emotional vulnerability. The teacher nurtures their growing capacity for independent critical thought, particularly in the science and mathematics. The humanities encourage them to creatively express a wide range of human emotion. They are given biographies of striving individuals who have made an impression on the world and taken responsibility for their actions.
7th Graders study Renaissance history, the Reformation, the Age of Discovery, the explorers, and European and Latin American geography
Math begins with algebra and continues with geometry.
In language arts students explore creative and expository writing, research, drama, poetry and prose.
In Science Physics, inorganic chemistry, mechanics, astronomy, physiology, anatomy are studied. World cultures are studied in history.
In grade eight, the students adjust to early adolescence. The young person seems more robust than in the previous year. The world of ideas begins to take on meaning for the 14 year old, and the critical faculties are noticeably sharper. At the same time, the elements of reasoning and self-reflection are steadily emerging.
A search begins for new authority figures and social forms, and school subjects nurture the students’ development during this pivotal year.
Students continue learning Algebra and geometry in math. Language arts consists of poetry, essays, compositions, research papers, and drama. The science courses consist of Physics, organic chemistry, physiology, and computer science. In History and World Culture the American, French, and Industrial Revolutions are studied as well as geography of Africa and Asia. History is also continued to cover up to current world events.