Science Department

Life Science is an engaging hands on life science course based on the educational approach of scientific inquiry. It uses several kinds of activities to teach science, with the scientific method at the core of each unit. For example, students will design and conduct an experiment to investigate human responses. They will explore a model of how species compete for food. And they will play the roles of scientists learning about the causes of infectious disease. A combination of experiments, readings, models, debates, role plays, and projects will help to uncover the nature of science and the relevance of science to student interests. They will find that important scientific ideas come up again and again in different activities, and be expected to do more than just memorize these concepts: they will be asked to explain and apply them. In particular, they will improve theirdecision making skills, using evidence and weighing outcomes to decide what they think should be done about scientific issues facing society.

Issues and Physical Science is an engaging hands on physical science course based on the approach of scientific inquiry. Some of the topics include; atoms and elements, motion, electricity, gravitation, mater and its phases, chemical reactions, and work and machines. As such, it uses several kinds of activities to teach science. For example, students design and conduct an experiment to investigate the effects of speed and mass on vehicle collisions, explore molecular models of water and other chemicals, play the roles of scientists investigating water quality, and read about alternative energy sources. A combination of experiments, readings, models, debates, role play, and projects help students discover the nature of science, learn science content, and experience the relevance of science in today's world.

This course serves to introduce students to the history, progress, contemporary state, and methods of psychology with a special emphasis on the role of neuroscience in modern psychological study. Fields surveyed include abnormal psychology, cognitive psychology, motivation and emotion, sensation and perception, and social psychology, all of which are discussed with reference to the history of the field, its philosophical foundation, prominent figures in the development of the field, and what the modern understanding of the field looks like, as seen by examining current research in the field. The methods of science and social science as they are understood and employed in psychology will be a central theme of these discussions, focusing on how empirical evidence shapes our understanding of the mind.