Mr Kujath's path to KM:

Hello and welcome to science with Mr Kujath! The (winding!) path I took to arrive here at KM started a while ago at UW-River Falls where I majored in Bio. During that time I worked summers and weekends in a Neuroimmunology lab at Mayo Clinic. I then went to Milwaukee for further biological training at the Medical College of WI. I ultimately decided my true interests were in education and I obtained my teaching license through UW-Milwaukee. I taught in Milwaukee for two years, and then in Rochester for 7 before heading here to KM.  Several years ago I obtained my Masters degree in education from St. Mary's Univ. in Winona. My wife Jennifer teaches as well here at KM at the elementary school.  

PLTW-Principles of Biomedical Sciences

This course provides an introduction to the biomedical sciences through exciting hands-on projects and problems. Students investigate the human body systems and various health conditions including heart disease, diabetes, sickle-cell disease, hypercholesterolemia, and infectious diseases. They determine the factors that led to the death of a fictional person, and investigate lifestyle choices and medical treatments that might have prolonged the person’s life. The activities and projects introduce students to human physiology, medicine, research processes and bioinformatics. Key biological concepts including homeostasis, metabolism, inheritance of traits, and defense against disease are embedded in the curriculum. Engineering principles including the design process, feedback loops, and the relationship of structure to function are also incorporated. This course is designed to provide an overview of all the courses in the Biomedical Sciences program and lay the scientific foundation for subsequent courses.

PLTW-Human Body Systems

Students examine the interactions of body systems as they explore identity, communication, power, movement, protection, and homeostasis. Students design experiments, investigate the structures and functions of the human body, and use data acquisition software to monitor body functions such as muscle movement, reflex and voluntary action, and respiration. Exploring science in action, students build organs and tissues on a skeletal manikin, work through interesting real world cases and often play the role of biomedical professionals to solve medical mysteries.

PLTW-Medical Interventions

Students investigate a variety of interventions involved in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease as they follow the life of a fictitious family. The course is a “How-To” manual for maintaining overall health and homeostasis in the body. Students explore how to prevent and fight infection; screen and evaluate the code in human DNA; prevent, diagnose and treat cancer; and prevail when the organs of the body begin to fail. Through these scenarios, students are exposed to a range of interventions related to immunology, surgery, genetics, pharmacology, medical devices, and diagnostics. This course is designed for 11th or 12th grade students.

This is a very active class with many labs and activities (learn to do surgical sutures on synthetic skin!, perform laproscopic surgery with cameras and graspers!)

This class requires PBS OR HBS as a prerequisite.

PLTW-Biomedical Interventions

In the final course of the PLTW Biomedical Science sequence, students build on the knowledge and skills gained from previous courses to design innovative solutions for the most pressing health challenges of the 21st century. Students address topics ranging from public health and biomedical engineering to clinical medicine and physiology. They have the opportunity to work on an independent design project with a mentor or advisor from a university, medical facility, or research institution.

10th grade Bio

The Biology course is intended to give students a broad range of knowledge in the biological sciences. The field of Biology has been expanding rapidly so to maximize the time available to study content, this course will focus on the broad concepts and central themes of the field. The study of biology includes many concepts from other disciplines (most notably chemistry, physics, and math) necessary to understand how living things function and interact. Areas of emphasis include the structure and function of living organisms, the major life processes carried out by organisms, the diversity of living things, interrelationships among living organisms, man’s impact on the environment, biotechnology, and the relationship between biotechnology and societal issues.

Advanced Placement Biology

10th graders can take AP Bio to meet their Bio graduation requirement or juniors/seniors can take this elective to further their understanding of Biology.  The AP Biology course is designed to enable you to develop advanced inquiry and reasoning skills, such as designing a plan for collecting data, analyzing data, applying mathematical routines, and connecting concepts in and across domains. The result will be readiness for the study of advanced topics in subsequent college courses—a goal of every AP course.

This AP Biology course is equivalent to a two-semester college introductory biology course and has been endorsed enthusiastically by higher education officials.

The Emphasis on Science Practices. A practice is a way to coordinate knowledge and skills in order to accomplish a goal or task. The science practices enable you to establish lines of evidence and use them to develop and refine testable explanations and predictions of natural phenomena. Because content, inquiry, and reasoning are equally important in AP Biology, each learning objective combines content with inquiry and reasoning skills described in the science practices.

The science practices capture important aspects of the work that scientists engage in, at the level of competence expected of you, an AP Biology student.

The key concepts and related content that define the revised AP Biology course and exam are organized around a few underlying principles called the big ideas, which encompass the core scientific principles, theories and processes governing living organisms and biological systems.

Big Idea 1: Evolution

Big Idea 2: Cellular Processes: Energy and Communication

Big Idea 3: Genetics and Information Transfer

Big Idea 4: Interactions