THE PURPOSE OF THIS NATURAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE COURSE IS TO INSTILL IN THE PUPILS AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE PURPOSES AND METHODS OF SCIENCE RATHER THAN TO IMPART A CERTAIN BODY OF FACTS. EMPHASIS IS PLACED UPON CLASSROOM DEMONSTRATION AND EXPERIMENTATION SO THAT THE PUPIL WILL LEARN TO THINK CRITICALLY AND TO DEVELOP A QUESTIONING MIND. CONTINUITY OF THE THREE-SEMESTER PROGRAM CENTERS ABOUT THOSE ASPECTS OF CONTENT COMMON TO ALL THE SCIENCES--SCIENCE AS THE DISCOVERY OF NEW FACTS BY MEANS OF OBSERVATION AND EXPERIMENTATION, SCIENCE AS A METHOD BY WHICH MAN ATTEMPTS TO DEFINE PATTERNS DESCRIBING THE WORLD, AND SCIENCE AS IT SEEKS ORDER THROUGH CLASSIFICATION SCHEMES WHICH ILLUSTRATE THE RELATIONSHIPS IN NATURE. EACH UNIT INCLUDES INTRODUCTORY MATERIAL, CONCEPTS TO BE DEVELOPED, AND AN OUTLINE OF CONTENT. UNITS COVERED IN THE EIGHTH GRADE INCLUDE WAYS OF THE SCIENTIST, BUILDING BLOCKS OF THE UNIVERSE, AN INTRODUCTION TO LIVING THINGS, MAN AND SPACE, OUR CHANGING EARTH, AND INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF LIVING THINGS. THE UNITS FOR THE NINTH GRADE ARE ENERGY, METEOROLOGY, AND FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE (OCEANOGRAPHY). INCLUDED ARE METHODS FOR EVALUATING THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CLASS, SUGGESTIONS FOR PROVIDING A CLASSROOM LABORATORY EXPERIENCE, DISCUSSIONS OF AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS AND THEIR USES, AND SAFETY REGULATIONS TO BE OBSERVED IN THE LABORATORY AND CLASSROOM.