Posted by Howard Richman on May 06 2008 at 08:51:07:
In Reply to: high school credit posted by Pam on May 06 2008 at 08:31:06:
I think I know what Dr. Wile means when he says that the math program should drive the science program. The logical science sequence is really physics then chemistry then biology since physics is about the forces and how they interact with matter. Chemistry builds upon physics. And Biology builds upon chemistry.
But in high schools they start with biology because it has the least math. Then they wait to teach chemistry until after algebra because the student needs algebra to balance equations. Physics is best if the student has already had trigonometry in order to analyze vectors. In college, physics requires calculus, a field that was invented in order to help scientists analyze forces such as gravity.
I don´t think that postponing courses in order to take them in high school makes any sense at all. It is true that a student who takes algebra in 6th or 7th grade will still have to meet the high school requirement of taking three years of math between 9th and 12th grades, but what is the problem with that? Students who are ahead in math usually love math. They will likely take 4 years of math in high school. In addition to the usual sequence (algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2, trigonometry, calculus), there is the possibility of courses such as statistics or java (a computer programming language).
If a student takes biology in 7th or 8th grade, the more advanced level in high school could be called "Biology 2" and the evaluation (which always gets attached to the transcript in the PHAA program) could mention that the student took Biology 1 earlier.
Howard