Science Resources
(d) and (g) Science: Semester Portfolio Requirements
Students must register for Online Science Advising
Kit Mayberry
Description: Required for all grade 9-12 students not attending a regional science class or online vendor (such as Comprehend) to earn core UC/CSU (d) credit in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and elective (g) credit in Earth Science, Environmental Science, or Physical Science.
This is an asynchronous online advising using Google Classroom. Students will be required to submit work to our online classroom weekly, and may be required to attend scheduled online or in-person orientation and mid-semester check-in’s in their region of attendance. The instructor will give feedback weekly on classroom and grade portfolio items in SIS and be available by email to support completion of required science portfolio elements, including conducting labs and experiments, writing and revising lab reports, researching, developing problem-solving strategies in order to foster independent learning of science. ISTs monitor student participation and progress in both classroom and SIS, where this advising constitutes 20% of the student’s overall grade.
Materials/Notes: Online access required. IST and student are responsible for acquiring appropriate texts and
following pacing guides and borrowing lab kits from the science library and acquiring supplies as needed.
All assignments must be posted on time or be subject to -10% late penalty if posted within 1 week late; later earns no credit.
1. Weekly posts of critical thinking questions or problem of the week, standardized test practice or quiz, as requested.
2. Two (2) lab reports posted every learning period with student self graded rubric attached
3. Two (2) sets of etymologies of 4 student selected terms posted every learning period
4. Science current event analysis that meets guidelines in LPs 1/4
5. Student-designed experiment, report and rubric in LPs 2/5
6. Student-selected evidence of scientific research (short paper or poster about a topic, including three references, two of which must be from primary scientific literature) in LPs 3/6
ISTs and students coordinate taking the department semester exams in LPs 3/6. (ISTs grade and incorporate into their PLS grade books)
Lab Up!
Remember you need not construct elaborate, apparatus laden labs every week! Weekly labs can alternatively be simple analysis of graphs (math labs), model building and analysis or data analysis taken from their text or other sources or virtual labs like from phet- see our more science resources page at http://www.pathwayscharter.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?type=d&uREC_ID=295544&pREC_ID=708730 . They do not all have to be “wet” labs, although students need the opportunity to develop field and lab techniques and students should experience at least one hands on lab per LP, but ideally something hands on, but not so elaborate every week.
If students are interested in more field work, the lab can be some sort of hands on experience working with animals in a rescue or other experiential setting, like the citizen science projects; some links are at http://www.pathwayscharter.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?type=d&uREC_ID=295544&pREC_ID=703451 .
With good communication between family/student and IST and the holder of supplies (mainly in RP), any selected science curriculum can be navigated without specialized pricey equipment by reading ahead a couple of weeks to a couple months and seeing what gear is actually needed, what the student and family have on hand or can easily get, and what they need to check out and the IST emailing that to the science chair.
