SCIENCE

Because a student can attend the co-op for three years, the science courses run on a three-year cycle: Physics/Chemistry, Biology, and Astronomy/Earth Science. This sequence gives the student a broad understanding of the big ideas of the foundational basis for all sciences, the science of living things, and the science of the non-living parts of the universe.

 

 

 

Physics/Chemistry: As we study the big ideas of physics and chemistry, students will learn about motion and force, Newton’s laws of motion, circular motion, momentum and impulse, torque and angular momentum, universal gravitation, energy and work and machines, heat and thermodynamics, fluids, waves, sound, light, electricity, magnetism, the atomic model of matter, the periodic table, two types of chemical bonding, mixtures and solutions, chemical reactions, balancing chemical equations, and gas laws.

 

 

Biology: In this course, we will study ecosystems, taxonomic classification and some individual organisms, the chemistry of living things, cellular biology, genetics, and the evidence for and against evolution.

 

 

Astronomy/Earth Science: After some introductory general science and skills practice, we will “consider the heavens” by studying Earth’s place in the universe. We’ll look at things that are beyond Earth’s atmosphere, and how those things are “arranged”. We will study some of the things that show Earth was perfectly designed for life. Then we’ll study ways we view, describe, and measure the Earth, Earth materials, the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the atmosphere, and the processes that occur within and across those spheres.

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Texts: There are no student texts for the science classes. Students take notes, work through various activities and demonstrations, and make drawings/diagrams to create their own science notebooks.

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Resources: To prepare the courses, I have consulted these resources:

 

· Conceptual Physics (Hewitt)

· How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life (Bloomfield)

· Physics (Hausmann)

· Conceptual Chemistry (Suchocki)

· Chemical Principles (Masterton)

· On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (McGee)

· CPO Life Science (Eddleman, Eldridge, Carabatsos, McAllister)

· Biology Today and Tomorrow (Starr)

· Earth Science (Tarbuck, Lutgens, and Tasa)

· The New York State Regents Earth Science Exam

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Homework: There will be homework assignments, though not every class period. The types of things that will be assigned include doing experiments under circumstances not available in class (like testing motion while riding in a car) or doing things that take longer to do than time available in class (like freezing water), doing a bit of research, and reading short articles and answering questions about them. Students will need to study for quizzes and tests.

 

 

The goal: My hope is that the students will come to know that our planet is beautiful and was carefully designed for life, that all matter – even the smallest atom – is subject to rules that we can discover and understand, and that all living things are fearfully and wonderfully made.