<p>middle school science is also poor in our city schools- my D was very fortunate to have attended a school which had developed its own curriculum, ( along with AP )unfortunately the superintendent wants all high schools to be identical in curriculum, even if that means classes will be weak because criteria has not yet been established.</p>
<p>Science research doesn’t have a lab component the first year for sure, but kids are encourage to find a lab to work in, I’m not sure how quickly that happens as my son took a dislike to the teacher that was running the program at the time and dropped out of the program. As far as I know most kids are doing some sort of lab work (either on their own or in someone’s lab) by the time they are seniors. I know at least one who presented her work at a scientific meeting. There are kids who do math projects - who presumably don’t need to work in a lab.</p>
<p>By the way, our lawyer’s daughter was the first in her school to propose doing the science research program system, but for a history project. I gather she was quite successful.</p>
<p>There are some great summer programs in science a few aimed specifically at girls, intparent.</p>
<p>My high school had an advanced integrated two year chemistry and physics class. (Over sophomore and junior years) It was an interesting way of approaching the material, but the downside of it was that I learned almost no chemistry. We had a pretty heavy focus on physics. You could also take each curse at an advanced level individually.</p>
<p>Well, it’s kind of hard to outline a track for an advanced science student at our HS since changes to AP sciences (as in what is offered what year) seem to unfortunately be subject to the vicissitudes of the budget. This is what my S has done. Caveat: He is strong in math, so had completed AP Calc BC as a sophomore. Also, he’s had some thoughts of possibly being a physics major, or some integrated science program.</p>
<p>9th grade: Biology (no honors or AP version offered THAT year)
10th grade: Honors Chemistry
Summer before 11 th grade: 3 week CTY class in Fast Paced HS Physics
11th grade: AP Physics C (requires some knowledge of Calculus, although most take AP Calc same year as this class) which includes Mechanics and Electricity/Magnetism
12th grade: AP Chemistry</p>
<p>My school did honors bio -> honors chem -> AP/honors Chem or AP/honors Bio -> Honors Physics</p>
<p>Not everybody followed the track. I skipped the AP my junior year, took academic physics instead, and then no science my senior year. The track for those who didn’t take bio as a freshman was earth science -> bio -> chem -> physics or environmental science or AP bio or AP chem</p>
<p>My school also didn’t require you to take the AP test for the science classes, so you could take it as an honors course (possibly for dual college credit) instead.</p>
<p>Three sciences are required to graduate here. Most honors students take Chem H - 9th, Bio H - 10th, and in 11th and 12th it’s whatever combination the student wants from Chem AP, Physics, or a college credit class. Many take Physics as a second science in 11th and a few might take two sciences in 12th so they graduate with 5-6 sciences.</p>
<p>S1 took: 9th gr. honors Bio.
10th gr. honors Chem and AP Envio. Sci.
11th gr. Honors Physics
12th gr. AP Bio.</p>
<p>S2 took: 9th gr. Honors Bio.
10th gr. reg. Chem
11th gr. Honors advanced Bio.
12 th gr. Honors Earth anad Enviro, Sci.</p>
<p>Virginia also requires three sciences to graduate. D ended up doing the following: </p>
<p>9th: H Bio/H Chem
10th: AP Chem
11th: AP Bio/Organic Chemistry
12th: H Physics/AP Enviro </p>
<p>Most 9th graders start with Earth Science- it would be nice to have some of the other options I’ve seen mentioned like Forensic Science. AP Physics is only offered as an online course as there doesn’t seem to be the demand for it at the HS. D had also taken a fair amount of the CTY courses- Bio, Genetics, Genomics, Advanced Topics in Chem which kept her mind active during the summer and exposed her to topic areas that she might otherwise not have explored on her own.</p>
<p>Our high school requires a 4 course sequence, Earth&Space, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. Most kids double up at some point because we have block scheduling. A small number of kids go on to take AP Bio or Chem.</p>
<p>emeraldkity4,
D’s HS class had only 33 kids. No exception, everybody has always gone to 4 years college over many decades of existence of this school, that is why parents send their kids to this school, it is expensive.</p>
<p>That is small- older D’s class had 18 kids,( thats how I remember what everyone went on to do! ) but that isn’t optimal IMO, younger D’s public school had a much wider breadth of available classes, albeit in most the class size was larger than the private.</p>
<p>our HS Science research program starts in 9th grade, optional as an elective, then application/interview from above pool of kids for the program.</p>
<p>The key to getting it going is forming a relationship with local universities/research facilities to take some of the kids under their wing, to mentor the kids. My kids have done it, won some competitions(not the BIG ones) but our school has in the past. It was one of the most challenging aspects of HS for my more science leaning child. She spent summers with a researcher going into 10th summer, 11th and 12th summer. Schools have to be 100% behind the endeavor financially(poster presentations, speaking engagements etc) transportation to events. If you are near a University, inquire if they would be willing to assist as that will be a big step in finding mentors. Mentorship was the hardest aspect of the program, getting a professional to take a teenager seriously when they do ask to work with them.
The adults behind the kids at school need to make the initial arrangement afterall they are still kids, and not yet adept at navigating professional relationships/</p>
<p>regular kid: biology -> chem -> physics -> physiology
above regular kid: bio -> chemH -> physicsH -> <insert ap=“” science=“”>
over-achiever: bio -> apchem -> apbio -> apphysics</insert></p>
<p>it actually worked pretty well to have physics in 9th grade at my older daughters school.
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Unfortunately one of the best science teachers at younger daughters school, left while she was still in 8th grade, to teach in San Francisco on Russian Hill.
( Still she has a solid science background- but physics in 12th grade, was most difficult)</p>
<p>At our school (academically rigorous independent school) the sequence is bio/chem/physics; within that sequence there is the choice of regular or honors. Kid does not have to take honors if he/she qualifies, and cannot take honors if not admitted on basis of prior achievement. </p>
<p>Senior year is then an AP science of the kid’s choosing, admission is on basis of having done well in prior science course whether honors or not; some seniors do not take science and some take a middle of the road non-AP science such as anatomy. </p>
<p>School does not weight GPA and does not have official/specific class rank. College admissions overall are generally very impressive, and with substantial achievement in other academic and/or EC areas, many kids get in to great schools both with and without the AP science senior year and without the honors science in earlier years.</p>
<p>Wider variety of classes are not necessarily guarantee good prep for college. D was prepared for College Chem in her Honors HS Chem much better than others in their AP Chem classes. This was evident to Chem prof, who hired her as an assistant even without her applying for a job or expressing any interest. She just got an offer and she took it, of course, since it is the best job on campus. School is more important than classes offered at school, if school is known to be a good prep.</p>
<p>bio > chem > physics or geosystems > AP Bio or AP chem or AP Phys. C or AP Phys. B</p>