Science

New information in the sciences is arriving daily. It is fascinating, but at the same time difficult to keep up to date.  Information is being taught in high schools today that was not known when many of today’s teachers were in school.  How do we balance the flood of new information with the need to understand the basics? How do we engage our students’ natural curiosity and help them understand how the process of science works?

Science teachers at Renaissance are given the freedom to design their own curriculum. We may change what we do from year to year; however, we all strive for a balanced mix of the fundamentals (such as learning the periodic table, Newton’s laws, and the mechanisms of biological evolution), hands-on demonstrations and experiments, and discussions of new discoveries and how they may relate to policy decisions. We explore the intersections of our fields with those of history, art, literature, government, etc. and encourage interdisciplinary projects with students and fellow faculty.

Our current sequence starts with chemistry, and is followed by biology, physics and environmental science.  While these classes do not have to be taken in this order, we strongly recommend that chemistry be taken before biology because so much of modern biology requires an understanding of elements and molecular bonds.  Most students take environmental science during their senior year as it can be considered a capstone course that builds on experiences gained in the others.  Students desiring to take additional science classes in their junior or senior years are encouraged to work with us on independent study projects or take classes at PVCC or UVA.