Franklin High School

Course Offerings:

Franklin High School takes great pride in offering our students a wide variety of science classes that students can take while achieving their educational goals. We have a science staff of competent and experienced teachers who have broad backgrounds in many interesting scientific endeavors. You’ll find that our science teachers are most willing to help you decide upon your sequence of classes to sign up for and help you achieve success.

Science graduation requirements can be earned by successfully completing NGSS Physics, NGSS Chemistry, and NGSS Biology or Biotechnology. Seniors will need to complete three years of science to meet PPS graduation requirements.

Students who want to take advanced science electives, such as AP Classes, will need to plan ahead to ensure they have the prerequisites required to enter those classes.

Physics: NGSS: Course credit earned: Science (1.0) May be taken only once for credit. No Prerequisite Grade 9-12 This course focuses on the core ideas of Physics — motion, forces,, energy, waves, and electromagnetism. Students will experience the patterns approach of using experiments as a way to learn physics content, and then apply what they have learned in engineering design tasks. The NGSS Physics class teaches students problem solving, innovation, design, and critical thinking. Physics is lab-based and STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) focused; students engage in regular scientific inquiry and engineering design. Students will use technology to collect and analyze data, and use data acquired through research and simulations when direct observation or collection of data is not possible. This class is the first science class of the three-year science sequence. Honors credit is available.

Chemistry: NGSS: Course credit earned: Science (1.0) May be taken only once for credit. Prerequisite: NGSS Physics Grades 10-12 This lab-based course covers the foundational principles of modern chemistry as outlined in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The course is framed around the themes of patterns as well as energy and matter. In addition to the focus on the NGSS chemistry science content, scientific practices, engineering design, and social justice are emphasized throughout the course. Course content will include the structures of atoms and compounds, the Periodic Table of the Elements, chemical reactions and physical changes, gases, solutions, acids and bases, chemical quantities, kinetic theory, and thermodynamics. Content and skills learned in NGSS Physics is built upon. Critical thinking, data analysis, and argumentation from evidence are also emphasized.

Biology: NGSS: Course credit earned: Science (1.0) May be taken only once for credit. Prerequisite: NGSS Chemistry Grades 11-12 This lab-based course covers the foundational principles of modern life science as outlined in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The course is framed around the themes of structure and function as well as interaction and change. In addition to the focus on the NGSS life science content, scientific practices and engineering design are emphasized throughout the course. Course content will include the relationship between molecules and organisms, genetics, evolution, and ecology. Technological, historical, political, and environmental aspects of biology will also be addressed. Content learned in physics and chemistry courses is built upon and expanded on in a biological context. Critical thinking, data analysis, and argumentation from evidence are also emphasized.

Biotechnology: Course credit earned: Science (1.0) May be taken only once for credit. Prerequisite: NGSS Chemistry Grades 11-12 This course aims to engage students in authentic career learning through project based learning. Students will work in teams to solve relevant biomedical problems, exploring social justice and computational thinking throughout the program. Students will leave the course immersed not only with relevant biotechnology technical skills but also with the confidence and context necessary to apply these tools to relevant problems in their own lives and communities. We will explore infectious diseases, genetic diseases, the frontier and history of cancer treatment, and how climate change is shifting efforts to conserve non-human species on Earth.

AP Biology: Course credit earned: Elective (1.0) May be taken only once for credit. Prerequisite: NGSS Biology or Biotechnology Grades 12 This is a second-year biology class that will examine the principles of biology in greater detail than what students learned in the first year. Students will work collaboratively and be expected to take the Advanced Placement exam. The class is designed to be the equivalent of a college introductory biology course. Students will develop the skills to be scientifically literate by engaging in practices such as planning investigations engaging in arguments and analyzing data.

AP Chemistry: Course credit earned: 1.0 Elective May be taken only once for credit. Prerequisite: NGSS Chemistry. Concurrent enrollment in Algebra 3-4 Grades 11-12 Dual credit option through OIT (10 credits) Students in this course will pursue advanced topics in chemistry as well as solidify and deepen their understanding of chemical principles. The course is based heavily on experimentation and emphasizes use of advanced scientific apparatus and makes use of scientific instrumentation. This course provides full coverage of Advanced Placement chemistry topics and students may receive college credit for successful scores on the AP exam.

AP Physics 1: Course credit earned: Elective (1.0) May be taken only once for credit. Prerequisite: NGSS Physics. Concurrently enrolled in Algebra 3-4 Grades 10-12 Physics is in many ways the mother of all sciences; Newton’s “System of the World” is the foundation for all STEM disciplines, and a knowledge of physics can open students’ eyes to phenomena from cars maintaining traction in an icy curve to the orbits of planets and stars, even the answer to the age-old question, “why is the sky blue?” Advanced Placement Physics 1 is an algebrabased, introductory college-level physics course that explores topics such as Newtonian mechanics (including rotational motion); work, energy, and power; mechanical waves and sound; electrostatics; and introductory, simple circuits. Through inquiry-based learning, students will develop scientific critical thinking and reasoning skills and explore subjects including the law of motion, force, conservation of energy , and electric charge. The course is based on seven Big Ideas, which encompass core scientific principles, theories, and processes that cut across traditional boundaries and provide a way of thinking about the physical world.

AP Physics 2: Course credit earned: Elective (1.0) May be taken only once for credit. Prerequisite: AP Physics Part 1 is required Grades 11-12 Advanced Placement Physics 2 follows AP Physics 1, and is an algebra-based, introductory college-level physics course that explores topics such as fluid statics and dynamics; thermodynamics with kinetic theory; PV diagrams and probability; electrostatics; electrical circuits with capacitors; magnetic fields; electromagnetism; physical and geometric optics; and quantum, atomic, and nuclear physics. Through inquirybased learning, students will develop scientific critical thinking and reasoning skills and explore subjects including entropy, the behavior of gasses and fluids, the behavior of light, and the structure of the atom. The course is based on seven Big Ideas, which encompass core scientific principles, theories, and processes that cut across traditional boundaries and provide a broad way of thinking about the physical world. 

AP Environmental Science (APES): Course credit earned: Elective (1.0) May be taken only once for credit. Prerequisite: None (NGSS Biology or Biotechnology, NGSS Chemistry recommended) Grades 10-12 Dual Credit Option through OIT (4 credits) AP Environmental Science is a year-long class designed to be the equivalent of an introductory college course. The goal of the AP Environmental Science course is to provide you 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 humanmade, to evaluate the relative risks associated with these problems, and to examine alternative solutions for resolving and/or preventing them. This class embraces numerous subjects and disciplines and is designed to encompass a local and global understanding of current environmental issues. Students will explore earth systems and their resources, population dynamics, resource usage, pollution, global change, energy flow in the ecosystem, and the relationships between social/cultural/economic systems and ecological issues. The study of local and global ecosystems, impact of human activities on the environment, and potential solutions to ecological problems will be explored through reading, writing, modeling, research, class discussions, debates, and presentations. 

Marine Sciences: Course credit earned: Elective (1.0) May be taken only once for credit. No Prerequisite Grades 10-12 Oceanography is the study of the physical properties that make up the world’s oceans, which cover over 70% of the globe’s surface. Understanding the physics and biology of this realm will be essential to meeting the challenges of the 21st century — from fisheries to resources to global warming — yet scientists know more about the far side of the moon then they do about the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Covering both oceanography and marine biology, this course explores this vast and crucial territory, with subjects including plate tectonics, the formation of the ocean floor, tides and lunar phases, interpretation of the tide table, tsunamis, and the processes that generate currents and waves. The second part, marine biology, is the relationship between biological organisms and their environment. Honors Options Available

Climate Change, Climate Justice: Course credit earned: Elective (1.0) or (0.5 science recovery credit and 0.5 elective) May be taken only once for credit. No Prerequisite Grades 11-12 In this interdisciplinary elective course students will explore the topic of climate change and climate justice through both a science and social studies lens. Through a series of inquiry-based units, students will investigate climate science and engineering solutions as well as the disproportionate impact that climate change has on various frontline communities. They will synthesize this information to consider potential solutions to mitigate the climate crisis through a lens of climate justice. As a capstone project, students will apply what they’ve learned to a final inquiry project of their choosing and share their learning with the wider community. For the inaugural year, the course will be able to serve as either 1.0 elective credit or as a .5 science credit recovery course.