Today students face a rapid and continuously changing world. Science and technology provide us with tools and processes that increase in number and complexity. These, in turn, compound the choices available to students: career options increase, life-styles change, decisions concerning values become more difficult and more imperative.

 

Our high school science courses open minds to the role that science plays in their lives and underscore the importance of being well-informed and scientifically literate participants in society. The courses we offer also provide students with a solid foundation of science skills and knowledge that will prepare them for the college experience, whether as a science major pursuing a pre-professional course of studies or one who needs to take science courses to fulfill core curriculum requirements.

 

The goal then is to expose our students to the procedures and customs of science: to have them “do” science. Our classes involve more than the memorization of terms and facts; students are regularly engaged in problem-solving and experimentation — “hands-on” science. Students perform laboratory experiments and are faced with many of the same questions that professional scientists ponder. What do we do with data that doesn’t fit in with other data points? What do we do with results that don’t support a hypothesis? How do we clearly communicate what the results of our experiments mean, and of equal importance, what they don’t mean?

 

During a student’s four years at Marin Catholic, a minimum of two years of laboratory science must be completed. One of the two years will be

physical science and one will be life science, to meet UC/CSU admission requirements. All science offerings are year-long courses and fulfill the University of California laboratory science requirement.

BIOLOGY
This course introduces major concepts and themes in the biological sciences. It is designed to reinforce the skills of students with previous science lab experience and introduce those skills to students with less experience. An emphasis is placed on the problem-solving, investigative nature of science. Students learn to observe, ask questions, form hypotheses, design experiments, develop lab skills, gather data, and critically analyze results.

Areas of study include basic biochemistry, origins of life, cell biology, structure and function of living organisms, mechanisms of evolution, genetics and biotechnology, ecological systems, and organisms’ interactions within these systems.

HONORS BIOLOGY
This is an intensive laboratory and activity based course that introduces students to the molecular and cellular basis of life on Earth. Students will study the following: the basic biochemical reactions that are required for life, classification systems, evolutionary relationships between organisms, structure and function in selected organisms, ecological relationships including the interaction of organisms with each other and their environments. Students will continue to develop observational, laboratory and research skills through a variety of lab-based investigations.

SOPHOMORE, JUNIOR & SENIOR  SCIENCE COURSES
Sophomores: Chemistry, Honors Chemistry
Juniors & Seniors: AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science, AP Physics, Honors Physics, The Human Body, Marine Science, Physics, Science Internship