Science Department

Advanced Placement Biology is offered to Juniors and Seniors. It is designed to prepare students for both the AP Biology Exam and to take college-level biology Courses.  This course’s topics follow the Advanced Placement syllabus governed by the College Board and include molecular biology, cells, genetics, evolution, morphology, and physiology. The laboratory work included required labs in the Advanced Placement syllabus and the use of technology. This course asks students to complete a larger volume of reading including that of summer reading. In addition, AP Biology studies the core scientific principles, theories and processes that govern biological systems and living organisms.

In Honors Physics, we study motion, projectiles, circular motion, Newton’s Laws, momentum and its conservation, energy and its conservation, gravity, waves, sound, optics, electricity and magnetism, and atomic and nuclear structure. Extensive lab work is done in this class to not only study these principles of physics, but also to experience said principles at work and employ the techniques of physics. Students keep a lab journal to record their data, analyses and conclusions. The journal allows students to look back, recall and reflect on their work and, perhaps most importantly, to make connections between disparate content in physics.

During this course students will have the opportunity to perform their own research project and make discoveries that were previously unknown. Students will learn and use some of the latest molecular and genetic techniques used in the best research labs in the world. Each student will be given on a research topic and will partner with an active investigator at a university, college, research institute or company. The student is expected to focus on this topic individually and independently. Each student will be given class time to work on their research project but are also expected to come additional hours to finish and/or tend to their project as needed.

Students are evaluated on their effort, participation, subject knowledge, and research. In addition, each student presents their findings to the Wardlaw+Hartridge Science department. If they so choose, students may continue their research in following years. 

This full year elective course focuses on the study of epidemiological principles, concepts, procedures and statistical analysis useful in surveillance and investigation of health-related events that have been published by the Center for Disease Control. Students participate in Socratic Seminars which involve current events in world health, such as maternal death rate, pneumonia in third world countries, and the measles outbreak in New Jersey. Socratic discussion will use the terminology learned in class to analyze scientific articles. Students will also complete projects and case studies relating to past and current epidemics happening in our world. This course is considered a global course and can be counted towards an elective in the Global Scholars Signature Program.