Science

What is life?
How can we account for its dual nature of unity and diversity?
What is the relationship between structure and function at each level of the biological hierarchy?
Why is nature vs. nurture an ongoing discussion?
How are body systems interdependent?
How does life share and recycle matter and energy?
How is genetics related to and responsible for evolution?

This course explores basic biological principles as well as current research in molecular/cellular biology, genetics, zoology (including human biology), botany, ecology, and evolution. Students work cooperatively during weekly lab sessions to improve their understanding of biology while learning and applying the scientific process.

Fall Semester: Molecular and Cellular Biology
This semester begins by exploring the four classes of biological macromolecules (proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and lipids), including their synthesis, structures, and various roles/functions. We will discuss bonding, intermolecular forces, and reactions that these molecules undergo. There is also the opportunity to explore how disorders can result from abnormalities at the molecular level (protein misfolding/mutations in DNA/errors in glycosylation). Using knowledge of these molecules, we will then explore the lives of cells, including organelles and functions, transfer of materials across the cellular membrane, movement, signaling/communication, and energy transformation (cellular respiration and photosynthesis).

Spring Semester: Genetics, Evolution and Ecology
This semester starts with the explanation of sexual life cycles and the importance of meiosis. We review Mendelian Genetics and then delve into more advanced topics such as epistasis, pleiotropy, epigenetics and the regulation of gene expression. After exploring the chromosomal and the molecular basis of inheritance, students move from genes to genomes, which is a nice segue into evolutionary principles. We study the mechanisms of evolution and the evolutionary history of biological diversity, as students explore topics like natural selection, population genetics, and speciation. Next, we concentrate on basic plant biology by learning the anatomy and physiology of plants but also applying principles learned in genetics and evolution. This provides the bridge into our final unit which covers principles of ecology at the population, community and ecosystem levels.

Departmental permission required.

How is the human body more than merely the sum of its parts?

What are the necessary functions to sustain life?
How are cells and tissues related?
How does “form fit function” at the cellular level? Tissue level? System level?
How does disease and disorder upset homeostasis?

This is an intensive course that presents an in-depth study of the human body systems introduced in 9th grade Biology. In this course, students will investigate the basic structure and function of the human body with an emphasis on how the body systems interrelate, maintain homeostasis, and are impacted by disease. It begins with the language of anatomy, studying body tissues and membranes and then moves to the anatomy and physiology of each body system (i.e. skeletal, muscular, cardiovascular, nervous, respiratory etc.) Students who take this course should be prepared to type their own blood and dissect organs such as a heart and brain, as well as an organism (fetal pig).

Prerequisites: Biology and Chemistry

What is ethics? What are the main ethical theories?
Can science be ethical or unethical?
Should scientists consider the moral implications of their fields of study?
Who decides and how do we decide?

While preparing seniors to become leaders in a global community, the goal of this class is to provide students with a framework to analyze the many difficult situations humans face in the 21st century. As science and technology becomes more advanced, biomedical dilemmas seem to get more complicated. Using their own moral compasses and theories in ethics as guides, students will be exploring case studies based on historic cases as well as current events. This class will begin with a study of the foundations of bioethics -- basic ethical theories, major moral principles, and medical practices. Information will be presented using the text Intervention and Reflection, as well as using many forms of media including journals, magazines, and newspapers. Possible topics include: Organ Transplants; Euthanasia; Genetic and Reproductive Control; and Research Ethics, Rights and Informed Consent.

This year-one course introduces key principles of chemistry and its applications while explicitly teaching the algebraic skills necessary to understand the quantitative analysis of chemical reactions and the results of data-driven experiments. Students will apply their knowledge to data analysis to explain observable, real-world phenomena, especially in a laboratory setting. Students will also examine the dependence between variables to strengthen their understanding of dimensional analysis and proportionality, concepts that are foundational to stoichiometric relationships in chemistry.

Placement is recommended by the department.

This year-one course in chemistry explores the study of matter and its changes through mathematical applications and models. Students who take this course are expected to have a strong foundation in algebraic problem solving and should expect to apply those skills to computations in chemistry. Foundational algebraic principles will not be retaught. Each unit is designed to teach the fundamental principles of chemistry and the relationship of those principles to observable, real-world phenomena, especially in a laboratory setting. Students will improve their skills in constructing scientific explanations, data analysis, and experimental design through independent, conceptual, and mathematical problem solving.

Placement is recommended by the department.

This advanced course covers college-level principles in chemistry that are heavily focused on chemical quantitative analysis. In the first semester and early into the second semester, students will study chemistry from a dynamic perspective, quantitatively analyzing the properties of reversible reactions and the thermodynamic principles which explain these phenomena. As the mathematical facets of this course continue to be reinforced in the latter half of the year, students will begin to explore chemistry’s connection to the fragile relationship between humankind and the environment. Examples include discussions and projects regarding pH changes in water impacting keystone species, water shortages in the southwest United States, and the free-market movement toward electric vehicle use & its limitations. This course will expose students to current research being done in a variety of chemistry-related fields and will give them an opportunity to practice more advanced chemistry lab techniques.  Many units will cover material that students have not seen before, while others will go into more depth on topics introduced in Chemistry 1. Students who take this course are expected to have a strong foundation in algebraic and chemical problem solving and should be able to apply those skills to computations in chemistry.

Students will be required to complete a summer assignment with asynchronous lessons on stoichiometry which will set them up for success in Advanced Chemistry II. Foundational algebraic and chemical principles as well as concepts that are presented in the summer assignment and previously taught in Year-one Chemistry will not be retaught.

Departmental Approval required

How can a spinning space ship reproduce gravity?
How do you make a flashlight that doesn’t use batteries?
How do you make a circuit that turns on when it gets light? What about when it gets hot?
How does the passage of time depend on our frame of reference? 

Physics is an inquiry-based course designed to enable and encourage students to think critically about the world in which they live. Students will be left with the understanding that physics is an evolving field of study; they will examine physical preconceptions and misconceptions in order to come to a more complete understanding of how things work. The curriculum will be broad; students will be exposed to many different aspects of both classical and modern physics. Topics may include Newton’s Laws of Motion, Electricity and Magnetism, as well as modern topics such as Special Relativity. Applications of concepts to life and history will be emphasized, and students will participate in laboratory practical activities as well as hands-on out of class projects.

This course will revisit many of the topics we covered in Physics 1 - only with greater generality and an increasing reliance on mathematical tools. We will add initial velocity to kinematics equations, angular acceleration to circular motion, and vectors to Newton’s Laws. We will also introduce and explore the law of conservation of momentum in multiple dimensions, and we will touch on matrix multiplication as we solve for electric current in complex circuits using Kirchhoff’s rules. The real fun starts when we introduce a calculus-based approach that incorporates the differential changes that form the backbone of a true understanding of physical reality. That will enable us to calculate centers of mass, moments of inertia, and rates of rigid rigid body rotation. Finally, we will learn how to apply the sublime mathematical tool of differential equations to physical systems such as falling with friction and variable mass situations such as a rocket in flight or a snowball rolling down a snowy hill.

Departmental Approval Required

In his preface to Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, David J. Griffiths writes that “I do not believe that one can intelligently discuss what quantum mechanics means until one has a firm sense for what quantum mechanics does.” In this course, we will do as much quantum mechanics as we can. By understanding the relevant analogous classical principles, we will solve the Schrodinger Wave equation for several important situations and hopefully gain a deeper understanding for the meaning of this mysterious but very important discipline. Along the way, we’ll learn new mathematical tools in linear algebra and multivariable calculus and apply them in some inventive ways.

Departmental Approval Required

In this three-year sequence, students will write their own essential questions and perform original scientific research. In the long-term arc of the course, students will read and analyze peer reviewed literature, verify published experimental results, and design, conduct, and present their findings of their own original research.

In their first year (Introduction to Science Research and Design, which students take as 10th graders), students will read a variety of papers and articles as they learn to dissect and understand scientific writing and expose themselves to many different fields of study. They will take part in a scaffolded research study on a prescribed topic as they learn the nuts and bolts of scientific research. This research study will include a required Spring Intensive course in which students master scientific research methods and learn how to design detailed, iterative procedures and record experimental results. By the end of their 10th grade year, students should have a sense for the requirements of a complete scientific study.

In this three-year sequence, students will write their own essential questions and perform original scientific research. In the long-term arc of the course, students will read and analyze peer reviewed literature, verify published experimental results, and design, conduct, and present their findings of their own original research.

During their second year (Advanced Science Research and Design, which students take as 11th graders), students will further hone their research skills by replicating a published research study before designing and conducting their own independent projects. Throughout the year, students will continue to familiarize themselves with background literature, adjust their procedure as needed by their experimental observations, and record and analyze their results. By the end of their second year, they will have completed several rounds of their own long-term study and they will have proposed how that study could be modified and redone. They will defend their findings in an end of year oral exam.

In the third year (Science Research and Design: Symposium, which students take as 12th graders) students will finalize their individual research, and they will learn how to statistically analyze their findings. They will also refine their presentation skills before presenting their results in a variety of settings including an end of year Symposium and online journal.  The journal will include their complete research study along with supplemental information such as detailed procedures and raw data. All three courses will be graded numerically. 

The goal of this course is to provide students with an introduction to materials science - also known as the science of “stuff” - and engineering, which is the study of how to put the “stuff” to use in an impactful way. The course will begin as a study of materials themselves. Why do some materials shatter while others smush? What is silly putty? What happens to a bouncy ball when you freeze it? What is plastic? Why are plastic water bottles flimsier than Coca-Cola bottles? These are just a few of the questions that we will seek to answer and in doing so, you will learn a new vocabulary for describing the things, and by extension the world, around you. Once students have a deeper understanding of the material world, they will start designing and building. Over the year, they will engineer Rube Goldberg machines, bridges, alternative energy sources, and learn the basics of computer-aided design and robotics. Students will build things and break things. They will learn to design objects that serve a needed function and meet a specific set of constraints as well as come up with ideas for new inventions. Students will learn about structures and innovations that have dramatically changed the world, as well as ones that have failed with devastating consequences. Ultimately the purpose of this course is to provide students with a hands-on approach to problem solving and to get them excited about the world around them through a combination of tinkering and an introduction to fundamental engineering principles.

Advanced Engineering 2 builds on the year one engineering course by emphasizing independence and a quantitative approach to design and engineering.  Students will be exposed to more real world applications through trips, speakers, and more advanced resources like technical papers and textbooks. Possible topics and projects will include 3D printing and assembling customized prosthetic hands as part of the Enable the Future organization, use gears to design the most efficient vehicle or trebuchet, designing and building a hybrid vehicle using applied energy principles, building clocks using programming, laser cutting, and 3D printing, more programming using Arduino, formally entering competitions like bridge building or Rube-Goldberg, and an Entrepreneurship and new product invention unit.

Departmental Approval Required

How does the brain work?  How do we think?  How are we influenced?  How are our behaviors, thoughts, and emotions interconnected?  What are the ethical and moral concerns when engaging in psychological experimentation?

In this course, students will explore the principles that govern human behavior through the three major lenses: biological, psychological, and social. The common goal of all psychological science is to understand how the mind (the “concept”) and the brain (the “physical”) interface with the external world to shape behavior. This course is meant to be a broad introduction to the field of psychology, presenting the major historical backgrounds, scientists, experiments, and theories. Students will gain an understanding of the biological bases of behavior. Specifically, we will cover: identity and culture; human development; social psychology; biopsychology; cognition; learning; and disorders and treatment. Students should be prepared for extensive readings that will prepare us for our discussion-based classes.

A blend of environmental science and environmental studies, this course develops students’ scientific and social literacy and critical thinking skills in regards to the environment. Students will apply their knowledge of basic chemistry, biology and the social sciences to the interactions we, as humans, make with our environment on a daily basis. As global citizens, students should develop a deep understanding of the impact of humans on the environment and an appreciation for the beauty and complexity of the world around us.

While learning about environmental phenomena and interactions, students will focus on several overlapping main ideas:

• The Earth is one interconnected system.
• Energy conservation is the underlying factor in all ecological processes.
• Humans alter natural systems.
• Environmental problems have a cultural and social context.

• Human survival is dependent on developing sustainable systems through improved practices and technologies.