This year, all eighth grade students will be taking a new class: Astronomy. The class runs on an every other day schedule for one quarter. Every 8th grade student will take Astronomy, whether it is on an A Day or B Day, or 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th quarter. The class is taught by Mr. Mathew Brandt, seventh grade science teacher. Astronomy is a branch of science that deals with space, celestial objects, and our solar system. The classes are running on this schedule to keep class sizes small and to be flexible with other opportunities students have, such as academic support and club meetings.

With the adoption of the PA Science STEEL standards curriculum, the school needed an update to the curriculum to address educational gaps. The astronomy standards need to be covered and will eventually be included in the sixth through eighth grade science classes. Until that incorporation occurs, the district is teaching them as a separate class. Middle school standards are for 6th through 8th grade. Elementary has a different set of standards; both include standards for astronomy.  As long as the astronomy standards are covered between sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, the district complies with the state. 

“The Astronomy curriculum is separated into four main topics: Exploring Space, Sun-Earth-Moon System, The Solar System, and Stars and Galaxies,” Mr. Brandt said. Students are required to make a project on one planet in the solar system. They get a partner, and their planet is chosen at random. The project is assigned at the beginning of the class, and is due and/or presented at the end of the class. It is not guaranteed, but it is possible that the PSSAs could have questions about astronomy on them. 

“I don’t feel like the every other day schedule sits right for me,” McKenna Kalinoski, eighth grade student, said. “I feel like we just simply don’t get the time each class really deserves in half of a quarter. However, I think the class overall is good as far as the curriculum and assignments.” 

“As of right now, the plan is to keep astronomy running on the same schedule as it is currently in future years in order to slowly integrate the standards into grades sixth-eighth  science classes,” Brandt stated. 

So, if you are currently in sixth or seventh grade, there is a pretty good chance you will take astronomy with the same schedule as this year.