Science
JHHS Mission: 100% graduation, 100% college and career ready
JHHS Mission: 100% graduation, 100% college and career ready
Students must take science each year they attend JHHS, and must earn a minimum of 4.0 credits including 3 core and 1 elective science classes. We offer many electives to prepare students for careers in science, technology, medicine, etc.
Biology - The Living Earth covers material and skills that will allow students to build a strong science foundation. This course aligns with Wyoming state standards and will prepare students for Advanced Placement (AP) classes, as well as the SAT/ACT assessments. While taking this class, students will explore the interactions between the biosphere and the rest of Earth’s systems. Some of these mechanisms occur in the blink of an eye while others take millions of years to unfold.
Students will:
develop skills to use evidence, evaluate claims, design and construct laboratory experiments and develop models to interpret the unseen
cover the topics of ecosystems, cycling of matter within ecosystems (photosynthesis and respiration), evolution, heredity and DNA, and the characteristics of life, from the level of the cell to multicellular organisms
study the impact that humans have had on Earth’s ecosystems
Physical Science is a hands-on, mathematical science course that explores content from both physics and chemistry. This course is designed to develop your mathematical science skills and provide the foundational skills for both physics and chemistry. Students who successfully complete this course will have stronger foundational calculation and scientific problem solving skills while also developing laboratory skills.
This course is designed to provide the student with the basic concepts of inorganic and organic chemistry through classroom and laboratory experiences. Topics include matter and energy, atomic structure, chemical nomenclature, chemical reactions, stoichiometry, phases of matter, gas laws and organic chemistry
Integrated Science is designed to give access to the key concepts in physics to students who are not in the level of math required for Physics. Students will study concepts of mechanics, electricity & magnetism, conservation of energy and momentum, energy and different types of waves without the level of mathematical complexity & problem solving found in the other physics course.
The course covers a broad survey of physics topics through both a conceptual and mathematical lens. Major topics include Kinematics and Motion, Newton’s Laws and Forces, Conservation of Energy and Momentum, Gravitation, Relativistic Mechanics, Waves, Sound, Light, Optics and Electricity & Magnetism. These physics concepts are studied through classroom and laboratory experiences.
This is a college level anatomy & physiology course covering the following body systems: nervous system, cardiovascular system, respiratory system, muscle physiology, immune system, and digestive system. Throughout the year students will focus on the following themes: 1) How structure relates to function, and 2) Body homeostasis. As a college level course, it is taught with lecture, labs, projects and papers. Students will be expected to have the skills and motivation necessary to independently study, as the course information is detailed and fast paced and the majority of the grade will come from exams, projects and papers.
This course covers a broad range of topics in the health science, biomedical, bio-health fields in order to provide students with a general understanding of these areas of study. The course provides hands-on activities to better understand these topics and explore the role of engineering and design as they relate to a variety of medical professions. This course can be taken for CTE or Science credit.
Forensic Science is an exciting year-long laboratory science elective designed to examine the crucial role of science-based inquiry in the criminal justice system. Truly an interdisciplinary course, Forensic Science integrates core concepts from biology, chemistry, math, literature, writing, criminalistics, law, ethics, and even psychology. Students enrolled in this course will have the unique opportunity to put their problem-solving skills to work in the analysis and interpretation of authentic lab investigations and case studies based on the techniques used in real-life forensic labs! Topics of study include: crime scene processing, evidence analysis, forensic anthropology, DNA analysis technology, blood spatter analysis, hair and fingerprint analysis, as well as decomposition. Supplemental materials include segments from TV shows, films, literature, as well as actual court case examples.
Did you realize that living in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem means that you are living in one of the largest nearly-intact temperate ecosystems on earth? This unique location has many different stewards working to both preserve and conserve this amazing place! In this class we will learn about many of the organizations and people working in the GYE and explore a variety of different local scientific projects that are underway. This class will have many presenters, so routine attendance is mandatory in respect of presenter time and contribution to the class. If you have ever wondered what outdoor-related careers there might be in this area, or have an interest in learning more about the type of work that goes on here including forest, park, and animal conservation, then this is the class for you!
This course will include hands-on food science labs and look at many aspects of nutrition: macro and micro nutrients, emerging research on the gut microbiome, and research connecting modern issues such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease with a highly processed food culture. We will also focus on composting and creating nutrient rich soil. This will be an ongoing lab throughout the duration of the course, and will also serve as a testing site for many different indicators, such as pH, and mineral content.
The course will expand upon a basic understanding of organic chemistry that is built in Chemistry 1. Students will explore environmental toxins, common in many pesticides, and look at the impacts on human health, while ultimately also addressing many of the socio-economic impacts of food availability and processed food engineering.
Advanced Placement Biology is designed to be the equivalent of a college level introductory biology course typically taken by biology majors in their first year. This course differs significantly from high school biology with respect to the textbook used, depth of topics covered, laboratory work, and time, effort, and independent study required of students. The main goal of AP Biology is to provide students with the factual knowledge, analytical skills, and conceptual understanding necessary to deal critically with the constantly changing science of modern biology. Major topics of study include molecules and cells, heredity and evolution, and organisms and populations. This course follows the national AP Biology curriculum. Students are required to take the national AP Biology exam in order to earn AP credit.
AP Environmental Science is designed to be the equivalent of an introductory college course in environmental science. The goal of the course is to provide students with the scientific principles, concepts, and methodologies required to understand the interrelationships of the natural world, to identify and analyze environmental problems both natural and human-made, to evaluate the relative risks associated with these problems, and to examine alternative solutions for resolving or preventing them.
AP Physics is a college level, calculus based physics course. Students will spend the first semester studying topics in classical mechanics including kinematics, Newton’s Laws of Motion, Conservation of Energy, Momentum and Angular Momentum, and Rotational Dynamics. The second semester the students will study topics in electricity and magnetism including electric fields and potentials, magnetic fields, circuits and electromagnetic waves.
*These courses are offered for concurrent enrollment with Central Wyoming College (CWC) for college as well as high school credit.