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 (Pending)
Class receives honors weighting in SI weighted GPA and UC/CSU GPA calculations
Game Design and Development is an introductory science and technology laboratory course where students will learn basic coding skills while utilizing the popular gaming platforms Unity and Roblox to create their own video games. Students will explore multiple programming languages, including but not limited to C-Sharp, C++, Lua, and JavaScript. Students will be introduced to fundamental concepts such as: variables, looping, conditional statements, functions, 3D modeling, graphics, and the algorithms that make computers work. Students will demonstrate critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills in hands-on collaborative lab experiences.
UC/CSU Subject D Approval (pending)
This class will be offered pending adequate enrollment.
Chemistry in the Community is an alternative chemistry curriculum that presents chemistry as a powerful way of thinking, rather than a static body of knowledge. In Chemistry in the Community, 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.
Chemistry in the Community 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) 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 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, collisions, energy, thermodynamics, waves, sound, light, fundamental particles of nature, radioactivity, quantum mechanics, and electricity and magnetism.
The 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.
*Class receives honors weighting in SI weighted GPA and UC/CSU GPA calculations
Biology 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 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.
The 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.
The focus of this course is the scientific study of the human body and its major components and systems. This course offers students a hands-on approach to learning through laboratory work (including preserved animal and organ dissections), student multimedia presentations, independent student research, case studies and field studies. Units of study include: levels of organization; body support and movement; communication and control; fluids and transport; homeostatic balance; human development; and the interrelationships between body systems.
