Northern Highlands Regional HS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the 2016-2017 school year.   This year will challenge your ability to learn new scientific terminology and concepts and apply them in order to understand the living world around us, as well as our part in the ecosystem.  We will be covering topics that include the foundations of life and factors that make life possible on Earth as well as the processes that allow life to continue and flourish.  We will also be learning about the interconnections of all living things by studying the laws of genetics and the common molecule that controls all things, DNA, as well as some theories of evolution that attempt to explain how we got here. 

 

This year, we have also implemented a new course, Marine Science (Oceans), which is a semester long exploration of the World's ocean and the interactions between it and all of the organisms that are dependent upon it for survival.  This course will explore the physical characteristics of the marine environment such as tides, waves, and salinity, and how these factors contribute to maintaining a healthy ecosystem.  We will later explore representatives of the major marine phyla, from sponges to Blue whales and then explore the impact humans are having on this delicate ecosystem.  this is an area that I am passionate about, however, still learning myself.  I hope you are as excited to learn and explore the Marine environment as I am.

 

My expectations for this year are high as we continue to strive towards excellence in class and on our performance on the Biology End of Course assessment, administered by the state in May.  Class will require you to think and participate in conversation about some of the concepts we will be discussing in class and will only be interesting if you come to class with the desire to participate and be active.  The more involved you are as a student, the more interesting the material becomes and the better your grades will be.  Be curious and ask questions, no matter how ridiculous you may think they are.  Surprisingly, we can tie everything you are reading about or hearing on the news, Dr. Oz, or any other TV show to something we are doing in this class.  

 

I hope you enjoy learning as much as I enjoy teaching!!!