The goal of courses in the NGSS-ready Science Department is for all students to understand the underpinnings of the world around them, from the macro level to the micro. The early courses provide D-requirement Laboratory Science credit, while physics and AP courses push students to expand their mathematical and conceptual comprehension. All courses utilize project-based learning and laboratory exercises to maximize student understanding.
Course Outines:
1) Biology:
This course explores the main areas of structure and function (for both molecules and organisms), the energy and dynamic interactions of ecosystems, heredity, and finally the way molecules' and organisms' hereditary processes have allowed those with structures and functions favored in the dynamic environment to survive and thrive via evolution.
2) Chemistry:
This course focuses on matter and energy. Students explore the patterns inherent to atoms using the periodic table, the way molecular and intermolecular forces affect the interactions of different substances, and the way energy, in its conversion from one form to another, is the determining factor in which reactions happen and how.
3) Physics:
This course explores forces, motion, and energy. Students derive and utilize logical and mathematical reasoning and predictions for velocity, force and momentum in two dimensions. Students examine the transfer of energy from potential and chemical to kinetic in waves, movement, and heat, as well as how electromagnetic, gravitational, and contact forces govern motion of objects in the universe.
4) AP Biology:
This course probes deeper into the functions of cells and ecosystems. Students learn the more precise chemical processes that take place inside organisms to process energy and reproduce. They also expand their understanding of the classification of organisms and the roles these organisms play within the larger ecosystems. Students who pass the AP Exam receive college credit.
5) AP Physics:
This course provides more complex mathematical analysis of movement, including circular and two-dimensional motion. Students develop more comprehensive, applicable, and contiguous understanding of efficiency, conservation of energy, and movement.
