High School Sciences

The approach to the Sciences in the High School is deeply and enthusiastically brought to the students through phenomena-based teaching. Building upon the foundations of scientific observation and thinking developed in the Middle School, Faculty introduce students to experiences that allow them to develop their understanding and grow concepts, practical applications, and technical vocabulary in a living way. Every year, each student takes one four-week Morning Lesson block in each of the disciplines of Biology, Chemistry, and Physics so that by Twelfth Grade, our students have completed three full years of laboratory science.

As a student goes from Ninth to Twelfth Grade, the Science curriculum moves from concrete ideas into the world of abstract thought. Ninth Grade Morning Lessons examine the chemistry of life and hydrocarbons, the physics of heat, and the anatomy and physiology of the human body. The Tenth Grade student works with the qualities of mechanics, observes life at the level of the cell, and begins to look closely at chemical reactions through the interactions of acids and bases. Contemporary research on genetics and embryology are wrestled with in Eleventh Grade, along with the study of botany, the development of the periodic table, and in physics, electromagnetic phenomena. By Twelfth Grade, students engage in learning about optics, evolution, biochemistry, and radioactivity — topics that require more flexible, dynamic thinking and comfort with abstract connections.