Engineering and Design 2 – Electrical Design is a continuation in the Engineering and Design Pathway at SI. Students will build on the mechanical design skills and design thinking model to move towards creating electrical designs with Arduino hardware and use AI to code in C++. Students will create their own mechanical creations powered by electrical components. From something as basic as a button and LED, to more complex systems like LCDs and joysticks this is a class about allowing students to grow their creator minds using the principles of design as well as the skills of engineers. In this class students will become designers who create electronic products with every part of the user experience in mind, from the casing and mechanical components, to the electronics and interfaces.
Biology Honors
Honors Biology is designed to challenge and engage students with a strong interest in the life sciences. This course covers a wide range of topics within biology, focusing on advanced concepts, critical thinking, problem solving, and hands-on laboratory experiences. Students will delve into the intricacies of the natural world, from the molecular level to ecosystems, and explore the relationship between living organisms and their environment.
UC/CSU Subject D Approval
Class receives honors weighting in SI weighted GPA and UC/CSU GPA calculations
Applied Chemistry
Applied Chemistry (Physical Science) is an alternative chemistry curriculum that presents chemistry as a powerful way of thinking, rather than a static body of knowledge. In Applied Chemistry, students engage with four important issues of 21st century science: energy sources, environmental challenges, life and medicine, and material design. The focus is to use core concepts and ideas in chemistry as tools to understand these issues and the current efforts to solve them. Students build understanding of chemical ideas and phenomena in interactive activities with relevant topics, laboratory investigations, design challenges, analysis skills, and cost-benefit evaluations.
Applied Chemistry does not satisfy the prerequisites for future honors or AP classes. Students who successfully complete this course can appeal for admission to honors or AP.
UC/CSU Subject D Approval (pending)
AP Computer Science Principles (AP CSP)
AP Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) is equivalent to an introductory college-level computing course that introduces students to the breadth of the field of computer science. Students learn to design and evaluate solutions and to apply computer science to solve problems through the development of algorithms and programs. They incorporate abstraction into programs and use data to discover new knowledge. Students also explore how computing innovations and computing systems work (including the Internet), explore their potential impacts, and contribute to a computing culture that is collaborative and ethical. Roughly half the course is focused on learning to program in either the Python or Javascript programming languages, but the selection of a programming language is at the teacher’s discretion while the other half of the course covers non-programming topics of computer science.
*Class receives honors weighting in SI weighted GPA and UC/CSU GPA calculations
**This class will be offered pending adequate enrollment.
***Students are required to take the AP Computer Science Principles exam in May.
Physics
Physics (Physical Science) is the scientific study of the most fundamental laws of nature. This course aims to further develop students’ appreciation for and competence in the scientific method. This course also aims to develop students’ conceptual and quantitative understanding of physical principles. Students perform experiments to develop proficiency in laboratory technique in applying physical principles to the analysis of experimental data. Units of study in this course include motion, Newton’s Laws, momentum, energy waves, sound, fundamental particles of nature, and electricity and magnetism.
Physics Honors
The (Physical Science) honors course differs from the non-honors course in that each topic is covered in more detail, at a faster pace, and with greater mathematical rigor, including trigonometry.
*Class receives honors weighting in SI weighted GPA and UC/CSU GPA calculations
Biology
Biology (Life Science) is the scientific study of life and living organisms. This course aims to develop students into scientifically literate citizens who have mastered the critical thinking skills that will allow them to make informed decisions in a world increasingly impacted by scientific discovery. This course also aims to develop in students an appreciation for the natural world and our role in its stewardship. Units of study in this course include evolutionary biology, genetics, heredity, cell structure and function, human reproduction, and ecology.
Chemistry
Chemistry (Physical Science) is the scientific study of matter. This course aims to develop students as practicing laboratory scientists who can ask and answer questions of their own about what the world is made of and how and why chemical reactions occur. This course also aims to develop students’ conceptual and quantitative understanding of chemical principles. Units of study in this course include the nature of the atom, naming of chemicals and compounds, bonding, the periodic table, reactions and equilibrium, stoichiometry, behavior of gases, acids, bases, and safe laboratory practices.
Chemistry Honors
The (Physical Science) honors course differs from the non-honors course in that each topic is covered in more detail, at a faster pace, and with greater mathematical rigor.
Environmental Science: An Ecological Perspective
Environmental science is the study of our natural environment, with an emphasis on humanity’s impact on the environment. This is a project and inquiry-learning based course that investigates the science behind today’s environmental issues. Students will be immersed in hands-on science activities, group work, discussions of current scientific research, a long-term scientific investigation, decision-making based on their critical thinking skills, and the design of inquiry-based experiments. The course is arranged in independent modules that offer students a holistic approach towards environmental issues by exploring current environmental problems from a scientific interdisciplinary perspective. While topics will focus of life science related issues, we will also incorporate some basic geological, physical, chemical and technological components that directly impact living creatures.