Science courses at Gateway High School are designed to provide students with opportunities to engage in scientific thinking and practices, while also preparing them for a variety of post-secondary options
All classes are designed to help develop students' skills in: communication, collaboration, inquiry, problem solving, flexibility, logical reasoning, and scientific arguments. These skills will help serve the students throughout their entire educational and professional lives, whichever path they choose after high school.
Students will begin their high school career learning physics. We offer classes at a foundational level and at the honors level. Physics will introduce students to the basic concepts of the scientific process through such concepts as force and motion, thermodynamics, electricity and circuits. Physics provides the foundation for science for future courses.
During the students' sophomore year, their science education will focus on chemistry. Chemistry covers matter and energy through such topics; subatomic particles, chemical reactions, the periodic table, nuclear chemistry, and chemical bonds.
During students' junior year, they will engage in learning biology, In biology, students will learn about what is actually considered to be 'living', how organisms interact on Earth, and what makes you… well, you! Learn about yourself and other life through cells, molecules needed to support life, genetics, evolution, ecology and human systems.
While the district only requires 3 total credits for science to graduate, students also have an additional option to take Energy and Resources in the Environment. During this class, students' will engage in how societies depend on energy, various natural resources and their uses, population dynamics, ecology, policies and conservation. Students can also take Forensic Science
