For example:
If you hear someone suggest that our schools
are "failing" our young people....

Ask that person
how many years of science
they had when they were in high school.

Invite them to
Bioenergetics
and discover the vocabulary, processes,
and concepts that make up a single
A.P. Biology unit

The science curriculum in schools today is
very different
than it was just a generation ago.

Sample one or both
of these interactive tests:

Cellular Respiration Exam

First Semester Exam

200
students in our school will graduate with at least eight full years of science credits

(2 sciences each year)

Invite them to
Visit Biological Membranes
and discover the vocabulary, processes,
and concepts that make up a single
A.P. Biology unit

Every student in the Florida
must complete at least three credits in science in order to graduate.

For example, at our school last year,
"Anne"graduated with  eight credits in
science:

Advanced Placement Physics
Anatomy and Physiology Honors
Physics I Honors
Biology I Honors
Chemistry I Honors
Marine Biology Honors
Chemistry II Honors
and
Advanced Placement Chemistry

Ninth graders in our Biology I Honors classes learn
the principles of DNA technologies,
complete their own gel electrophoresis labs,
and pass tests covering polymerase chain reactions,
allosteric enzymes,
and the uses of restriction enzymes in genetic engineering.

Visit Other Science Pages At Our School By Clicking
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Earlier this year, for example,  we used image-processing technology to calibrate, measure,
and compare infra-red animated images of a rat and a snake
(an endotherm and an ectotherm).

"is probably better today than at anytime in history."

In 1940, only 62% of 20-25 year olds had completed high school.
By 1990, this number had grown to 87%.

A week or two ago I took an informal survey of ninth grade science students in Bio I Honors.

Approximately half of them had
composed their own web pages
...and 25% had posted these pages to the internet.

The Bottom Line

Today's high school students are graduating
with technical skills and knowledge
unknown to previous generations
-- and many can out-perform their elders in fields such as
computers and science.

During a typical unit exam in our first period Advanced Placement biology class, our students recently wrote two essays of 25-minutes each.  The first essay required students to generate detailed descriptions of the mechanisms by which cells regulate gene expression.

Here is a short section of Rachana's two-page answer to the first question:

"The trp operon in E. coli codes for a suite of enzymes needed for the synthesis of the amino acid tryptophan.  The operator in the trp operon is switched 'on' and an RNA polymerase can bind to the promoter and transcribe the structural genes.  The repressor protein is first synthesized in its inactive form that has very little affinity for the operator.  The repressor protein is activated when it binds to a molecule of tryptophan.  Thus tyryptophan acts as a corepressor in this regulatory system...." etc.

And here is a short excerpt from Nic....'s two-page essay addressing photosynthesis:

"The light reactions involve two complexes called photosystems that are located in the thylakoid membrane.  Each photosystem has a reaction center of chlorophyll that absorbs a specific wavelength of light.  Photosystem I has a reaction center   p700 while photosystem II has a reaction center p680. ... The replacement electrons for photosystem II are derived from water and are then transported to photosystem I via an electron transport chain.  The main products of the light reactions include ATP, NADPH, and molecular oxygen."

What Every Citizen Should Know About Our Planet