Science Department
SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
- Biology (9th grade)
General Biology is a first year high school biology course. Biology is a required course that provides "hands-on" opportunities through the use of unique learning techniques to introduce the student to the structure of matter, its changes and the energy involved in supporting life, the different forms of life, and the interconnections of the abiotic/biotic. Biology is a course requiring enhanced learning and skill usage. There is an integration of other disciplines into the biology subject matter in order to emphasize the interdependence of all subjects. The students will practice proper safety, research and laboratory shills while applying learned knowledge. All students must study at home to internalize the concepts and gain problem solving skills.
- Pre-AP Biology (9th grade)
Prerequisites: Parent request, teacher recommendation, "B" average in all subject areas
Pre-AP Biology is a first year high school biology course, which is a pre-requisite for Advanced Placement (AP) Biology. At the end of the second year course, AP Biology, students will be prepared to take the College Board Advanced Placement Biology Exam. While biology is required, Pre-AP Biology is a choice that requires full commitment to the course for the entire school year.
Pre -AP Biology is an inquiry-based course focused on providing the students with advanced life science content about the patterns, processes, and interactions among living organisms. The emphasis is on increased sophistication and rigor of four core ideas rather than on memorizing a breadth of factual content. Students use prior and new knowledge to build conceptual understandings based on evidence from their own and others' investigations. They use their own learning and experiences to support claims and engage in argument from evidence. The standards provide a depth of conceptual understanding to adequately prepare them for college, career, and citizenship with an appropriate level of scientific literacy. The students will practice proper safety, research and laboratory shills while applying learned knowledge. All students must study at home to internalize the concepts and gain problem solving skills.
- AP Biology (10-12)
Prerequisites: Successful completion of high school biology course, teacher recommendation
AP Biology is an introductory college-level biology course. Students cultivate their understanding of biology through inquiry-based investigations as they explore the following topics: evolution, cellular processes - energy and communication, genetics, information transfer, ecology, and interactions. This course is based on four Big Ideas, which encompass core scientific principles, theories, and processes that cut across traditional boundaries and provide a broad way of thinking about living organisms and biological systems. The students will participate in science practices where they establish lines of evidence and use them to develop and refine testable explanations and predictions of natural phenomena. Focusing on these disciplinary practices enables students to use the principles of scientific inquiry to learn at a more engaging and rigorous level.
Twenty-five percent of instructional time is devoted to hands-on laboratory work with an emphasis on inquiry-based investigations. Investigations require students to ask questions, make observations and predictions, design experiments, analyze data, and construct arguments in a collaborative setting, where they direct and monitor their progress.
- Human Anatomy and Physiology (10-12)
This course is designed for students who are interested in pursuing a career in a medical or associated health profession. This course is designed to relate the structure and function of the human body at the micro and macro levels. It incorporates basic science skills, terminology, cellular structure, cell function, tissues, organs, organ systems, and the interactions of these systems. Students will engage in various hands-on activities in a laboratory setting applying the knowledge they have acquired while demonstrating lab safety. Students will also seek answers to questions of personal importance and interest and present to their classmates how it relates to life experiences.
- Environmental Science (10-12)
Environmental Science is an introductory study of natural and man-made environments and environmental problems the world faces. Students will examine how human actions have and are continuing to influence the world around them. Students will be challenged to examine how their own daily habits impact the environment they live in. Areas of emphasis will be ecology, the dynamic nature of the earth, populations, biodiversity, water quality, air quality, land quality, agriculture, and waste management.
- Earth and Space (10-12)
This course is to introduce students to an advanced study of the Earth and to clarify the understanding of the structure of the Earth and the processes that have shaped it and continue to shape it. It is also designed to introduce students to the perspectives of the universe from Earth and the technology required for past and future space exploration. Students will make informed decisions using the scientific method, utilize appropriate technology and apply knowledge learned to questions and problems.
- AP Physics (11-12)
Prerequisites: completion of Geometry, taking or completed Algebra II or equivalent course
AP Physics 1 is an algebra-based, introductory college-level physics course. Students cultivate their understanding of Physics through inquiry-based investigations as they explore topics such as Newtonian mechanics (including rotational motion); work, energy, and power; mechanical waves and sound; and introductory, simple circuits.
- Honors Anatomy (Dual Enrollment) (11-12)
The Honors Human Anatomy and Physiology course is designed to address the structure and function of human body systems from the cellular level to the organism level. The course addresses the interactions within and between systems that maintain homeostasis in an organism. It is designed for students who have an interest in learning how the human body works and for those interested in health-related science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. As students engage in the study of human body systems, they are encouraged to apply the knowledge and processes of science to personally relevant issues, including how personal choices, environmental factors, and genetic factors affect the human body.
- Physical Science(10-12)
Physical Science is a conceptual, inquiry-based course that provides students with an investigation of the basic concepts of chemistry and physics. Students use evidence from their own investigations as well as the investigations of others to develop and refine knowledge of core ideas.
- Advanced Placement Chemistry (11-12)
Prerequisites: Pre AP Chemistry
The Advanced Placement Chemistry course is designed to provide students with a college-level foundation to support future advanced course work in chemistry. AP Chemistry will strengthen the student's quantitative reasoning and problem-solving skills while developing lab skills equivalent to those of college freshman. Students cultivate their understanding of chemistry through inquiry-based investigations, as they explore topics such as: atomic structure, intermolecular forces and bonding, chemical reactions, kinetics, thermodynamics, and equilibrium. Within this, we are encouraging a knowledge-based positive attitude toward the sciences.
- Pre AP Chemistry (10-12)
Prerequisites: Biology, Algebra II recommended
Honors Chemistry is an advanced level course of the study of all materials that make up the universe and the changes these materials undergo. This course is designed for college bound students in order to study the basics in chemistry including the structure and properties of atoms and molecules, the quantitative relationships in chemical reactions, energy transformations, and the forces responsible for the existence of gases, liquids, and solids. Chemistry is chiefly an experimental science; therefore, work in the laboratory is strongly emphasized. Safety instruction is implemented into all laboratory activities.
- Chemistry (10-12)
Prerequisite: Biology
Chemistry is the study of all materials that make up the universe and the changes these materials undergo. This course is designed for students to study the basics in chemistry including the structure and properties of atoms and molecules, as well as, the quantitative relationships in chemical reactions. Chemistry is an experimental science; therefore, work in the lab is emphasized. Safety instruction is implemented into all laboratory activities.
Science Electives
- Chemistry of Food
*This course is an elective and does not fulfill the graduation requirement for a biology or a "physical science".
A one-credit course designed to provide an in-depth study of the application of science principles to the scientific investigation of the production, processing, preparation, evaluation, and utilization of food. A school-based laboratory is required for this course.
- Forensic Science
*This course does not fulfill the graduation requirement for biology or a "physical science".
This course utilizes the scientific process and application skills. Study of how the following play roles in solving mysteries using forensic science: crime scene investigation personnel; collection and preservation of evidence; firearms; trajectories; DNA testing; decomposition process; detection of drugs and poison; blood spatter patterns, forged documents.