Hyde Park Academy of Science and Mathematics

THE HYDE PARK ACADEMY EXPERIENCE 

The Hyde Park Academy of Science and Mathematics offers a specialized academic program for academically talented and high-achieving students in a diverse setting.  The program serves students who require an academically demanding and challenging curriculum in the four core content areas:  mathematics, language arts, science, and social studies.  Our students are provided with differentiated instruction in which the core curriculum is expanded while including the complexity, novelty, depth, acceleration, and expectations for the individual needs.  Advanced Placement (AP) strategies are incorporated into the instructional methodology throughout the Academy, thus providing one to two year acceleration of instruction in all parts of the middle school curriculum.

Performance-based learning enables your child to apply newly acquired concepts and ideas to real-life situations.  The Academy affords your child the opportunity to combine subject matter knowledge with necessary application skills.  This approach assists with the development of higher level critical thinking skills and more complex and abstract reasoning.  Our methodology encourages your child to ask questions and formulate his/her own tentative answers and to deduce principles from practical examples or experiences.  Our instructors will present a problem.  In order to solve this problem, the student must draw on personal experience and prior knowledge.  Through this process, the student is able to “discover” the solution. Your child will actively participate in learning new information, concepts, and skills; applying that knowledge in hands-on situations; and communicating the results of his/her investigation. 

Our integrated math and science curriculum provides your child with opportunities for experiential, collaborative, and interdisciplinary learning. Your child will experience math and science in three ways:  concrete, investigative, and abstract.  This approach enables your child to go beyond the learning of facts and content to actually applying that knowledge to solve a problem or construct a paradigm.  Our science and mathematics instructional blocks meet for 160 minutes per day which means that your child receives 80 minutes of instruction in both mathematics and science each day, resulting in an additional year and a half of instruction over the three years of attendance. This challenging program places a strong emphasis on higher mathematics and in-depth science.

Writing is integrated into all curricular areas to ensure the development of both critical and higher level thinking skills, as well as, problem-solving skills.  It is important to us that each student not only learns but also is capable of communicating that understanding to others.  The Academy student finds that writing is an integral part of the day.  In the 21^st century, we are a global society, and it is a necessity to be able to clearly articulate our thoughts to others.

Collaboration between content areas is one of the key principles in the success of our approach.  Working as a team, our math instructors work closely with their science counterparts to ensure that key concepts are reinforced across the curriculum.  We have expanded this collaboration so that all of our content area teachers are blending and reinforcing concepts for true understanding.  Our English and social studies teachers focus on themes which are then integrated throughout the four core content areas, providing continuity of instruction.  The three year social studies program has students examining the characteristics of civilizations, applying those characteristics to the United States, and then comparing government and economic systems globally.  An Academy student quickly understands that it is perfectly normal to study a work of literature in math, apply a mathematical process in the study of government and economics, and prepare a written argument for a scientific theory under discussion.

This approach to learning is also employed by our fine arts department.  Our students have a variety of interests and hobbies, and we provide them with a broad range of opportunities to enjoy them. The talented staff is able to assist our students in achieving the next level of musicianship.  Our international award-winning orchestra, band, and choir provide skilled musicians the chance to perform together.  Hyde Park currently involves the largest number of middle school students in music programs in the school district.  The assistance of the art department is a necessity to our program.  Students explore the artistic possibilities of the parabola, analyze the impact of color on the brain and resulting moods, and gain a deeper understanding of a culture by examining their contributions to the world of art.

The Academy of Science and Mathematics at Hyde Park provides a challenging educational environment for bright, creative, and motivated students.  We are pleased to be the only middle level magnet providing Pre-AP instruction in all four content areas, i.e. mathematics, science, English/reading, and social studies.  This enables your child to be enrolled in accelerated classes in all core areas.  We believe that our students should receive the finest instruction from the finest staff of professionals.  Through our implementation of the Advanced Placement approach, your child will receive all the preparatory training necessary to be successful in the Advanced Placement program at the high school level.

Our goal is to serve students who have academic talents and a maturity and intellectual curiosity beyond those typical of their age group. We nurture their academic talents while providing a social environment of peers with similar abilities and interests.

EDUCATION FOR MASTERY

WE PROVIDE THAT.