We recently attended a Hotchkiss revisit day. We were informed that the science curriculum was going to be changing. The person we spoke to indicated that the incoming Freshman class would be the last class to take the Prep Science course, the following year they would be moving to a Physics First approach. We were concerned about the change and how that would affect our child, would it limit her options in the future? Answers were very sparse. If anyone has more detailed information about the upcoming change and is willing to share it, I would be grateful.
I can’t possibly imagine how. I have no experience with Hotchkiss, but most schools have gotten away from general science in the 9th grade. So IMO it’s a good move on Hotchkiss’ part.
Most college-prep high schools have a science progression that is bio/chem/physics 9th-11th allowing for an advanced science course or 2 senior year. A growing minority are going Physics First, teaching physics as a 9th grade course and doing bio/chem 10th/11th grades, and again allowing for an advanced course as a senior.
Note that many top colleges recommend a year each of bio/chem/physics, but none, AFAIK, have a preference on the order taken.
Physics has been a required third form subject at St. Paul’s School for a long time now. Two versions are offered. One is heavy math & the other focuses on theory.
I think it’s a smart change. At Choate, all freshman take Physics first and get it out of the way. It helps their GPAs to see an improving trend if someone is not stellar in physical sciences. That first year of some type of hybrid science at Hotchkiss, puts kids behind taking more advanced science classes later. In my own high school curriculum, I had something like it, IPS (Introductory Physical Science), it wasn’t Chem and it wasn’t Physics, just an introduction to some principles that all top notch students took. You still then had to take Bio, Chem and Physics and it limited your taking advanced subject matter course as a senior. Smart move on H’s part.
I’m not a scientist, but I get to skim lots of curriculum. In my opinion, good move. With physics, you can offer two types of courses. Math heavy physics and physics with less math. Both classes are engaging and can cover many principles. With kids coming in from different schools with differing math curriculum, giving kids an extra year or two to brush up on math before tackling chemistry is more beneficial as it is harder to separate the math from chemistry at the high school level.
Also, non-math physics is pretty engaging for 9th grade boys!
Our kid’s day school has a physics first curriculum. There is certainly a range of reactions to the course. Strong math students find it easy in general, while weaker ones often struggle, and this is even after some differentiation by ability/preparation (the physics course is offered at three levels). It’s hard for me to see how physics can be taught at anything other than a very cursory level if students are not adequately prepared in math through trigonometry (and the trig usually happens early in mechanics, usually presented early in the course). However, there is no question that the physics first approach is becoming the standard.
Personally, I think it does have some limitations, mostly for the strongest students. Some STEM magnet schools offer a year of general science, with a heavy emphasis on scientific method, rigor, lab methods, etc. After that, the typical student will do AP courses in each of the three major subjects. It is much tougher to do that in a physics first system, as the school will institutionally be reluctant to allow students to progress directly to AP Chemistry or AP Bio, for instance. The physics first system in practice limits the practicality of taking many advanced science courses in high school, at least from what I have seen and heard.
SMS has a strong STEM program…they have III form physics, also. Then, required chemistry…I’m not sure that bio is required, actually…I think there are various routes they can take after the first two years.