High School Science

Objectives/ Alabama State Standards

Our science program is designed to provide students with hands-on, real world experience which will provide them with college and career readiness. All classes are in-depth, collaborative with a heavy focus on project-based learning. Courses offered include Physical Science, Environmental Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Anatomy.

Physical Science

Course Description

Students in this course expand their knowledge of Physical Science previously covered in 8th grade. Learning standards focus on matter and its interactions, motion and stability, energy and waves and their applications in technologies for information transfer. This course is aligned to the Common Core State Standards for Physical Science.

Matter and Its Interactions

Use the periodic table as a model to predict the relative properties and trends of main group elements based on the patterns of valence electrons in atoms.
Plan and carry out investigations to identify the relationships that exist among the pressure, volume, density, and temperature of a confined gas.
Analyze and interpret data from a simple chemical reaction or combustion reaction involving main group elements.Analyze and interpret data using acid-base indicators to distinguish between acids and bases, including comparisons between strong and weak acids and bases.
Use mathematical representations to support and verify the claim that atoms, and therefore mass, are conserved during a simple chemical reaction.
Develop models to illustrate the concept of half-life for radioactive decay.

Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

Analyze and interpret data for one- and two-dimensional motion applying basic concepts of distance, displacement, speed, velocity, and acceleration.
Apply Newton’s laws to predict the motion of a system by constructing force diagrams that identify the external forces acting on the system, including friction.
Use mathematical equations and diagrams to explain that the total momentum of a system of objects is conserved when there is no net external force on the system.
Construct simple series and parallel circuits containing resistors and batteries and apply Ohm’s law to solve typical problems demonstrating the effect of changing values of resistors and voltages.

Energy

Design and conduct investigations to verify the law of conservation of energy, including transformations of potential energy, kinetic energy, thermal energy, and the effect of any work performed on or by the system.
Design, build, and test the ability of a device to convert one form of energy into another form of energy.

Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

Use mathematical representations to demonstrate the relationships among wavelength, frequency, and speed of waves traveling in various media.
Propose and defend a hypothesis based on information gathered from published materials for and against various claims for the safety of electromagnetic radiation.
Obtain and communicate information from published materials to explain how transmitting and receiving devices use the principles of wave behavior and wave interactions with matter to transmit and capture information and energy.

Environmental Science

Course Description

Environmental Science introduces students to the study of the interactions between physical, chemical and biological components of the Earth’s environment. Learning standards focus on Earth and Human Activity including natural resources, natural hazards, human impacts on Earth Systems and climate change.This course is aligned to the Common Core State Standards for Environmental Science.

Earth and Human Activity

Investigate and analyze the use of nonrenewable energy sources and renewable energy sources and propose solutions for their impact on the environment.
Use models to illustrate and communicate the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration as carbon cycles through the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere.
Use mathematics and graphic models to compare factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems.
Engage in argument from evidence to evaluate how biological or physical changes within ecosystems affect the number and types of organisms, and that changing conditions may result in a new or altered ecosystem.
Engage in argument from evidence to compare how individual versus group behavior may affect a species’ chance to survive and reproduce over time.
Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to describe how human activity may affect biodiversity and genetic variation of organisms, including threatened and endangered species.
Analyze and interpret data to investigate how a single change on Earth’s surface may cause changes to other Earth systems.
Engage in an evidence-based argument to explain how over time Earth’s systems affect the biosphere and the biosphere affects Earth’s systems.
Develop and use models to trace the flow of water, nitrogen, and phosphorus through the hydrosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere.
Design solutions for protection of natural water resources considering properties, uses, and pollutants.
Engage in argument from evidence to defend how coastal, marine, and freshwater sources support biodiversity, economic stability, and human recreation.
Analyze and interpret data and climate models to predict how global or regional climate change can affect Earth’s systems.
Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information based on evidence to explain how key natural resources, natural hazards, and climate changes influence human activity.
Analyze cost-benefit ratios of competing solutions for developing, conserving, managing, recycling, and reusing energy and mineral resources to minimize impacts in natural systems.
Construct an explanation based on evidence to determine the relationships among management of natural resources, human sustainability, and biodiversity.
Obtain and evaluate information from published results of scientific computational models to illustrate the relationships among Earth’s systems and how these relationships may be impacted by human activity.
Obtain, evaluate, and communicate geological and biological information to determine the types of organisms that live in major biomes.

Biology

Course Description

Biology is a required, inquiry-based course focused on the study of life processes and how different organisms interact and meet the challenges of their environment. Learning standards focus on the structure and processes of cells, ecosystems, heredity and inheritance, and unity and diversity of populations.This course is aligned to the Common Core State Standards for Biology.

From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

Use models to compare and contrast how the structural characteristics of carbohydrates, nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids define their function in organisms.
Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to describe the function and diversity of organelles and structures in various types of cells.
Formulate an evidence-based explanation regarding how the composition of deoxyribonucleic acid determines the structural organization of proteins.
Develop and use models to explain the role of the cell cycle during growth and maintenance in multicellular organisms.
Plan and carry out investigations to explain feedback mechanisms and cellular processes that maintain homeostasis.
Analyze and interpret data from investigations to explain the role of products and reactants of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of matter and the flow of energy.

Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

Develop and use models to illustrate examples of ecological hierarchy levels, including biosphere, biome, ecosystem, community, population, and organism.
Develop and use models to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy between abiotic and biotic factors in ecosystems.
Use mathematical comparisons and visual representations to support or refute explanations of factors that affect population growth.
Construct an explanation and design a real-world solution to address changing conditions and ecological succession caused by density-dependent and/or density-independent factors.

Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

Analyze and interpret data collected from probability calculations to explain the variation of expressed traits within a population.
Develop and use a model to analyze the structure of chromosomes and how new genetic combinations occur through the process of meiosis.

Unity and Diversity

Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to explain how organisms are classified by physical characteristics, organized into levels of taxonomy, and identified by binomial nomenclature.
Analyze and interpret data to evaluate adaptations resulting from natural and artificial selection that may cause changes in populations over time.
Engage in argument from evidence to explain how the diversity of organisms is affected by overpopulation of species, variation due to genetic mutations, and competition for limited resources.
Analyze scientific evidence to support hypotheses of common ancestry and biological evolution.

Chemistry

Course Description

Chemistry is an inquiry-based course focused on the study of matter—its characteristics, behavior and structure. This class is designed for students who plan to pursue STEM fields in postsecondary education and/or their careers. Learning standards focus on the core ideas for Physical Science and include matter and its interactions, motion and stability, and energy. This course is aligned to the Common Core State Standards for Chemistry.

Matter and Its Interactions

Obtain and communicate information from historical experiments to determine the structure and function of an atom and to analyze the patterns represented in the periodic table.
Develop and use models of atomic nuclei to explain why the abundance-weighted average of isotopes of an element yields the published atomic mass.
Use the periodic table as a systematic representation to predict properties of elements based on their valence electron arrangement.
Plan and conduct an investigation to classify properties of matter as intensive or extensive and demonstrate how intensive properties can be used to identify a compound.
Plan and conduct investigations to demonstrate different types of simple chemical reactions based on valence electron arrangements of the reactants and determine the quantity of products and reactants.
Use mathematics and computational thinking to express the concentrations of solutions quantitatively using molarity.
Plan and carry out investigations to explain the behavior of ideal gasses in terms of pressure, volume, temperature, and number of particles.
Refine the design of a given chemical system to illustrate how LeChâtelier’s principle affects a dynamic chemical equilibrium when subjected to an outside stress.

Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

Analyze and interpret data to compare the strength of intermolecular forces and how these forces affect physical properties and changes.

Energy

Plan and conduct experiments that demonstrate how changes in a system validate the kinetic molecular theory.
Construct an explanation that describes how the release or absorption of energy from a system depends upon changes in the components of the system.

Physics

Course Description

Physics is an inquiry-based course focused on understanding the laws of nature and the relationship between energy and matter. This class is designed for students who plan to pursue STEM fields in postsecondary education and/or their careers. Learning standards focus on the core ideas for Physical Science and include motion and stability, energy and waves and their applications in technologies for information transfer. This course is aligned to the Common Core State Standards for Physics.

Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

Investigate and analyze, based on evidence obtained through observation or experimental design, the motion of an object using both graphical and mathematical models that may include descriptors such as position, distance traveled, displacement, speed, velocity, and acceleration.
Identify external forces in a system and apply Newton’s laws graphically by using models such as free-body diagrams to explain how the motion of an object is affected, ranging from simple to complex, and including circular motion.
Evaluate qualitatively and quantitatively the relationship between the force acting on an object, the time of interaction, and the change in momentum using the impulse-momentum theorem.
Identify and analyze forces responsible for changes in rotational motion and develop an understanding of the effect of rotational inertia on the motion of a rotating object.

Energy

Construct models that illustrate how energy is related to work performed on or by an object and explain how different forms of energy are transformed from one form to another.
Investigate collisions, both elastic and inelastic, to evaluate the effects on momentum and energy conservation.
Plan and carry out investigations to provide evidence that the first and second laws of thermodynamics relate work and heat transfers to the change in internal energy of a system with limits on the ability to do useful work.

Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

Investigate the nature of wave behavior to illustrate the concept of the superposition principle responsible for wave patterns, constructive and destructive interference, and standing waves.
Obtain and evaluate information regarding technical devices to describe wave propagation of electromagnetic radiation and compare it to sound propagation.
Plan and carry out investigations that evaluate the mathematical explanations of light as related to optical systems.
Develop and use models to illustrate electric and magnetic fields, including how each is created, and predict the motion of charged particles in each field and the energy required to move a charge between two points in each field.
Use the principles of Ohm’s and Kirchhoff’s laws to design, construct, and analyze combination circuits using typical components.

Anatomy

Course Description

Anatomy is an inquiry-based course designed for students who have an interest in health-related sciences. This class is designed for students who plan to pursue STEM fields in postsecondary education and/or their careers. Learning standards focus on the core ideas for Life Science including structures, development, function and processes of human body systems.This course is aligned to the Common Core State Standards for Anatomy.

From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

Develop and use models and appropriate terminology to identify regions, directions, planes, and cavities in the human body to locate organs and systems.
Analyze characteristics of tissue types and construct an explanation of how the chemical and structural organizations of the cells that form these tissues are specialized to conduct the function of that tissue.
Obtain and communicate information to explain the integumentary system’s structure and function, including layers and accessories of skin and types of membranes.
Use models to identify the structure and function of the skeletal system.
Develop and use models to illustrate the anatomy of the muscular system, including muscle locations and groups, actions, origins and insertions.
Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information regarding how the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system interrelate, including how these systems affect all other body systems to maintain homeostasis.
Use models to determine the relationship between the structures in and functions of the cardiovascular system.
Communicate scientific information to explain the relationship between the structures and functions, both mechanical and chemical, of the digestive system, including the accessory organs.
Develop and use a model to explain how the organs of the respiratory system function.
Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to differentiate between the male and female reproductive systems, including pathological conditions that affect each.
Use models to differentiate the structures of the urinary system and to describe their functions.
Obtain and communicate information to explain the lymphatic organs and their structure and function.
Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to support the claim that the endocrine glands secrete hormones that help the body maintain homeostasis through feedback loops.