The Governor's Program for Gifted Children

GPGC 2024 | JUNE 9 – JULY 20

Science

The ultimate goal of the Junior Division science curriculum is to help the students come to understand the nature, purpose, and methods of science, and to learn how to conduct at an elementary level scientifically valid experiments and other types of research investigations. Along the way students should become acquainted with instrumentation in a variety of the fields of science. They should learn the need for, and importance of a scientific vocabulary in a scientific discipline. They should learn how to conduct scientific observations; how to generate hypotheses; how to formulate null hypotheses, and why; how to design simple experimental procedures to test their hypotheses; how to collect and organize data; what extraneous variables are, and why and how to control them; how to analyze their data and state their findings and conclusions; and finally, how to prepare a final report. They should learn about the nature and limitations of experimental, correlation and classification studies. They should become acquainted with the levels of measurement scales.

One of the best parts of the program


for me was, for once, it allowed me to be one of the "normal" kids, instead of the "brainiac" nerd. I cherish that gift.


– George A., Alumnus