High School Lab Science – Conceptual Physics

 Our curricula comes from American Modeling Teacher’s Association. An aspect of Modeling Instruction that is different from traditional science education is that students are unable to get the right answer without understanding the underlying science.  Students are shown a series of demonstrations or participate in labs that help THEM develop the scientific theories and information on their own.  Labs and demos are carefully chosen to hasten the process by highlighting critical differences.  Please see this page for more information–including a short video that helps explain how Modeling is different from traditional teaching.  Our lead teacher, Heather DeGeorge, has completed multiple teacher training courses at the graduate level for using this methodology.

There is no defined textbook for this course, but there may be required reading handed out and we sometimes watch videos to solidify some of the concepts.  Students will absolutely have homework each week that might include watching a video. Parents and students will be participating in an online portal to keep on top of assignments and progress.

 Students will need:

• 1″ to 1-1/2″ binder with 100 sheets of filler/looseleaf paper (graph paper will be provided)
• colored pencil set (at minimum, red, yellow, blue & green)
• covered pencil sharpener (blade not exposed)
• 12″ ruler
• pencil bag to contain items
• Technical ability to access Zoom, Nearpod.com, Discovery Education Streaming, Study.com and Schoology.com (Schoology will require an e-mail address for student access).

Amount of time will depend on your student’s speed/fluency with writing, reading or the topic at hand and the content of the week. Families should allocate approximately 1-1/2 to 3 hours/week to complete various assigned labs, tasks or group collaboration that might require internet access in preparation for live class. Some of this can be done during Flex Work Time at our facility.  This course has 2 pre-scheduled Asynchronous Learning weeks during Fall Pause & Mid-winter Pause; but does not have additional assigned work during Thanksgiving Week, Winter Break or Spring Break.

Combined with our live class time, this is a total of 4 to 5-1/2 hours/week (except for our 2 asynchronous weeks which will have 3 hours of work to replace class) for a course total of approximately 123-165 hours for the year.  This equates to one full credit using the Carnegie unit methodology.

This is a teen-oriented course that will have lab experiments every week. IStudents will be doing math at a very basic algebra level but they learn a significant number of concepts that are helpful in both chemistry and biology as well as traditional math.

Students will also regularly be on point to share ideas in front of a group and participate in group activities during our online sessions.  Shy students will not be bullied into participating by any means; but if your student does not have a habit of “warming up” after getting to know a group–this may not be a comfortable setting for them.