North Cook News

Assistant Superintendent of Northbrook Schools Dr. Kris Raitzer speaks proudly about all the things happening in their kids' science section.

The science programs and curriculum at Northbrook school district are being scrutinized and celebrated by the school board.

“We are really happy to talk about science tonight," Raitzer said. "And what a wonderful way to start the meeting with celebrating our kids' science achievement, especially through ISR. There are so many wonderful things happening in our science programming, but with every curricular area, we are always looking for ways to improve. So science is the curricular area that we focused on this year. It was the year one work of the science process. So year one is really about learning, coming together, building that teamwork across our entire committee so that we can launch into year two and making decisions and implementation beyond that."

The board recognized three middle school students for their work and accomplishments at the Illinois Junior Academy of Science State Fair. Emma Fraczek, Emma Noll and Emma McGough were nominated for the Broadcom Masters which designates their projects as in the top 10% of middle school science projects in the nation. Emma Fraczek not only received a gold rating on her project relating fidget toys and short-term memory but took the number one place in the behavioral science category.

Amber Paull, science teacher, said, “But overall, ISR was absolutely wonderful this year. It's the hardest class I teach. It's the most valuable class I teach, this year in particular, like these kids had grit. The local science fair was remote. The regional science fair was remote. And then we pivoted to an in-person science fair. So for somebody like Emma Noll that took seventh grade ISR and then repeated it again in eighth grade, the science fair represented her first time to have an in-person science fair to create a board. And I mean, just organizational practice aside, it's a challenge. So I'm very proud of them. It's a lot of dedication and we're very, very thankful for this class.”

The district started a science committee as a part of a regular curriculum revision project in the fall of 2021. The 45-member committee includes teachers from all grade levels in the district and focused on communication and unity in their planning meetings, hoping to create a K-12 paced science curriculum to smoothly transition students from one level to the next in classes.