The Science Curriculum in Primary and Lower Secondary Grades

As stated above, Morocco’s 2002 curriculum draws upon the tenets of the competency and value based approaches, as well as the innovative active learning-oriented pedagogical model. The science curriculum content for the fourth and eighth grades reflects continuity between primary and secondary education, enabling students to strengthen previously learned concepts and skills while developing new ones.

The goals of the fourth grade science curriculum are as follows:¹⁴

Build upon interest in and stimulate curiosity about our environment through high quality science learning experiences
Gain deeper personal insights into the natural world and in turn aesthetic appreciation of it
Develop skills, attitudes, and values related to scientific inquiry
Develop the ability to use scientific knowledge and methods in making personal decisions
Develop full understanding of the influence of science and technology on our environment and our lives

The syllabus for fourth grade science includes the following topics:

Types of gases and common properties of gases
Nutrition, balanced meals, and principles of digestion
Locomotion, especially adaptations of animals living in water
Measuring matter
Physical and chemical changes
The life cycle, with insects and plants as models
Classification of animals
Classification of flowering plant families
Water and the environment, water use and conservation, pollution, and organisms in nature; and electricity and how electric circuits work

The eighth grade science curriculum is designed to enable students to gain awareness and understanding of the skills needed in science. The distinguishing feature of the syllabus for this grade is that it focuses equally on the acquisition of scientific knowledge and thinking processes. It is organized around the following areas:¹⁵

The theory of plate tectonics, evidence supporting the movement of continents, geological phenomena, earthquakes, volcanos, tectonic processes resulting in the formation of rocks and mountains, and the Earth system
Animal reproduction, fertilization, continual development, and the concept of developmental stages
Plant reproduction and its processes
Reproductive systems and their functions, pregnancy, delivery, breast feeding, and birth control
Heredity, hereditary characteristics and diseases, and the role of reproductive cells in the transmission of hereditary characteristics
The genetic ill-effects of intermarriage among blood relatives
Cloning