Chemistry (H, A, CP)

Grade:  10, 11, 12
Year Credits:  6
Prerequisite:  H, A - concurrent Algebra 2, CP - successful completion of Biology
Graduation Requirement:  Science

Chemistry is designed to explore fundamental atomic and molecular interactions.  Interactions with chemicals occur every single day…in  foods, medicines, and the environments we live in, in addition to the chemistry that keeps us alive.  Teachers utilize a multimodal approach to learning in recognition of the varied strengths and contributions each student bring to a classroom, including lab/project work, collaborative discussions, close reading of relevant and supportive texts, and a variety of differentiated and individualized student assignments.   

Accelerated and Honors courses presuppose a student's possession of highly developed and independent “student skills,” like self-motivation, study habits, and organization, and in Honors, the possession and/or the drive to understand foundational material prior to a lesson.  Labs are integral to the chemistry curricula, and occur as a function of the normal 4-day class rotation (CP), and the addition of an extended lab period once per 4-day rotation (H, A).

In this course students continue to be anchored in the "3D" model of learning introduced in Biology  in which science and engineering practices (e.g.: experimental design, analysis and investigation, modeling), and crosscutting concepts that span many disciplines (e.g.: pattern recognition, cause and effect, structure/function) are combined with chemistry-specific core ideas (e.g.: chemical processes, the structure and properties of matter, and nuclear processes) to allow students to understand and ask questions about the natural world in the way a chemist would.