Science Courses

Physical Science   (7th Grade)

IIn 7th Grade Physical Science, students explore their surroundings - from their personal lives, to the Earth where we live, to our solar system, to the universe itself - discovering how things work. The main topics are Earth and its Neighborhood, Chemical Building Blocks, and Amusement Park Physics.

Biology (8th Grade)

Eighth grade Biology is a course that begins by teaching students how scientists think and approach our world. Students explore evolution, ecology, cell biology, and genetics. Students demonstrate what they have learned in essay quizzes, oral exams, field trips, projects and labs. The course also teaches students how to successfully work with group members, the importance of professional demeanor, and the academics skills and discipline to ready them for the rigors of high school.

Physics & Connections(9th Grade)

Physics and Connections is an introductory high school physics course that surveys various topics in motion, energy, momentum, heat and heat transfer, electricity and magnetism, and wave theory. This course also covers various student skills, such as, note taking, word problem dissection, following directions, and data taking, to help students become more successful scientists. Through in- class assignments, laboratories, exams, and projects, students learn how to analyze different physical situations and represent them verbally, graphically, and numerically. This rigorous course also covers the content tested on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, which all ninth graders will be required to take at the end of the year.

Engineering the Future (10th Grade)

Engineering the Future: Science, Technology, and the Design Process™ is a full-year course designed to introduce students to the world of technology and engineering, as a first step in becoming technologically literate citizens. Additionally, the course will help beginning high school students answer the question: "Why should I study math, science and engineering if I don't plan on a technical career?" Through this course's practical real-world connections, students have an opportunity to see how science, mathematics, and engineering are part of their every day world, and why it is important for every citizen to be technologically and scientifically literate.

Advanced Biology (11th Grade)

Advanced Biology is a college-preparatory science course that aims to challenge students to think and work on a post-high school level.  The course content is modeled after a college general biology course, though not in quite the same level of detail.  The following is an overview of the topics that we will be covering this year: cell biology, genetics, organism biology, and evolution and ecology. Students can expect to conduct a variety of experiments and learn to write lab reports.

Chemistry and Forensics (12th Grade)

Chemistry and Forensics serves as an intensive survey of matter and its properties, nuclear chemistry, atomic structure, historic atomic models, periodicity, bonding, stoichiometry, equilibrium, acid and base reactions, and thermochemistry. The class is framed through the lens of forensics, as students apply the content learned to various scenarios and draw conclusions based on chemical evidence uncovered in the laboratory. The course also covers basic laboratory and safety skills, as well as data analysis methods to analyze data gleaned from activities. Chemistry and Forensics is structured to ease the transition to college-level behaviors—in the first semester, students move through assignments and laboratories together, and, in the second semester, the students assume more personal responsibility to accomplish assignments on their own.