This month, we are highlighting the Science department, offering a glimpse into the goings on in our classrooms. Sustainability, Cellular Biology, and Kinesiology are just three of the many science classes offered at VA. Some courses are trimester electives while others are core year-round courses. 

 

Sustainability is a fall trimester course designed to help students better understand how human communities can thrive without diminishing the beauty and integrity of the natural world. Led by Director of Place-Based Learning and Environmental Studies Christine Armiger, the class explores a range of concepts pertaining to Sustainability. Students examine food systems, investigate the history of fossil fuel use and its social and environmental consequences, and get introduced to the principles of biomimicry (the emulation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems). Through exploring food systems, students also learn to cook and preserve fresh, locally grown food. Last week, the class put this into practice, competing in a “Locavore Iron Chef” competition. A locavore is a person whose diet consists only or principally of locally grown or produced food. Students were challenged to plan a meal, source, and integrate as many local ingredients and fresh vegetables as possible into their dish, and compete based on their ability to collaborate, use of locally sourced ingredients, presentation, and quality/taste. Not only was the practice beneficial for life skills purposes, but showed students that sustainability is possible in making a meal: an act we practice every day. The teams worked outside and practiced operating camp stoves, relied on a sustainable limited water supply, used compost buckets, and cooked with locally sourced ingredients. The competition supplements the class’s studies in the greater spectrum of sustainability such as larger issues in the food system and renewable energy.

 

One of the year-long science offerings is Cellular Biology taught by science faculty member Jake Miller, who also instructs Conceptual Physics. Cellular Biology exposes students to many aspects of biology, from unseen forms of life to population mechanics. In the class, students explore natural processes through labs, scientific research, and logical reasoning to better understand the world around them. Students taking Cellular Biology  began their school year studying units of life, macromolecules, enzymes, and shared characteristics of living systems. Earlier in the trimester, as students began their venture into their second unit: cells, they took advantage of our extended lab block to explore the differences between plant and animal cells. They compared the structure of onion (allium) cells with typical animal cells (cheek cells), and blood cells. Students treated the allium cells with methylene blue and iodine, respectively, prior to placing the slides on the microscopes. They were then asked to identify six similarities and three differences between plant and animal cell organelles. Throughout the length of the school year, the course will also cover cell division, metabolism and biochemical reactions, transcription and translation, mammalian anatomy, Mendelian genetics, and evolution. 

 

Kinesiology, or the study of how the body moves, is instructed by science faculty member Skylar Schilling, who also teaches Health at VA. The discussion and lab based course is designed around the mind, body, and spirit, and how they work in unison. In the course’s first trimester, students gain a general understanding surrounding topics such as “What is Sports Medicine?”, “Handling Emergency Situations and Injury Assessment”, “Recognizing Different Sports Injuries”, and will delve into different parts and systems of the human body. Recently, the class specifically examined the foot, toes, ankle, and lower leg. Using an anatomical model, Ms. Schilling demonstrated different movements and ligament and bone placements for the class. Then, students learned the proceedings of injury analysis, such as history, observation, palpation, etc. with the help of the anatomical model. In this unit, students will gain understanding of the axial skeleton, appendicular skeleton, the difference between osteoblast and osteoclast, the different types of fractures, and more. Throughout the school year, students work on a year-long assignment of creating a portfolio that includes relevant information for each body system covered in the course. Students are asked to include the following information regarding each unit/section of the body: boney anatomy, ligaments, 

muscles (including listed origin, insertion, and action), injuries (including mechanism of injury, signs and symptoms, and treatment), special tests, and rehab.

 

At Vermont Academy, our students are challenged while their passions are ignited. Other science classes offered at VA include Robotics, Field Biology, Advanced Computer Science, Architecture, Physics, and Chemistry, among others. 

 

Stay tuned for more highlights within each of our academic departments.