The philosophy of the Edison High School Science Department is to provide a balanced, inquiry-based, interactive, ‘hands-on/minds-on’ science education that implements the national and state science standards and promotes scientific literacy. These standards rest on the premise that science is an active process with inquiry central to learning science.  Therefore, it is the goal of the Edison Public Schools to provide a foundation in science that will serve the learner throughout his/her lifetime. Through participation in performance-based science activities, students develop the skills of observing, questioning, inferring, experimenting, calculating, analyzing and evaluating. These processes expand and enhance a student’s natural curiosity about the world in which they live and enable them to gain knowledge needed to be successful.

‘When engaging in inquiry, students describe objects and events, ask questions, construct explanations, test those explanations against current scientific knowledge, and communicate their ideas to others. They identify their assumptions, use critical and logical thinking, and consider alternative explanations. In this way, students actively develop their understanding of science by combining scientific knowledge with reasoning and thinking skill’.

(National Science Education Standards, page 2)