Official Student Newspaper of Henry M. Gunn High School

The Oracle

Official Student Newspaper of Henry M. Gunn High School

The Oracle

Official Student Newspaper of Henry M. Gunn High School

The Oracle

Science classes introduced for 2014-2015

Class enrollment this year featured new and altered classes in different subjects. These classes include Marine Biology, Nanotechnology and Physics Honors, which are to be first piloted on campus beginning the 2014-2015 school year.

Marine Biology will be taught by Biology 1A teacher Navneet Schworetzky. The class will focus on the biological, chemical and physical aspects of life in the ocean. According to Schworetzky, the class will be heavily lab-based with little lecture time and have as many hands-on activities as possible. “My goal is to put together biology, chemistry and physics all together into one class,” Schworetzky said. “Putting together all of my experiences teaching, I realized that teaching marine biology takes a lot more than just bio to fully understand it.”

Another new science class offered will be Physics Honors, taught by current AP Physics B teacher Dr. Jacintha Kompella. Unlike the current Physics H being offered, the 2014-2015 Physics H will replace AP Physics B and will broaden the scope of the current Physics H material to include more aspects of the current Physics B class, so that students have more time to explore the various aspects of physics. “The reason for the change is because Collegeboard decided that the old course had a lot of topics—it was really a one-and-a half-year course—so we kept a really grueling pace in the past,” Kompella said. “In the new Physics H course, we’ll have more time to do more demos, more labs, projects, both building and researching and maybe even collaborate with other disciplines such as biology, chemistry, photo, GRT, auto and more.” Physics H will still be a weighted class and prepare students for the AP Physics B exam as well as the Physics SAT.

Students have expressed interest in enrolling in the new classes offered. A few students, including sophomore Emily Wong, have decided to consider enrolling in the new science classes. “I think it would be an interesting choice, since it’s new, and I’m excited to see what it has to offer,” Wong said. “Also, I think this class, which offers learning through lab-based work and field trips, would educate us in a new way and I want to experience that.”

Both Schworetzky and Kompella are excited about the new classes and are interested to see where it will lead them. “I hope that through this class students will find that the things learned in this class are relevant, and they learn that there’s a reason why you learn these things, and later on you can apply them,” Schworetzky said.

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