The perequisites are College Prep Biology and Chemistry. College Prep Biology is an intensive, molecular-based look at the biological world. Many of the concepts that are introduced in this class are covered more thoroughly in AP Bio/Chem. I want to prepare my students to take more biology and chemistry at the college/university level. I believe that this course prepares them for that further study. We need to have challenging courses for our high school seniors. One's senior year in high school is often seen as a laid-back, just-do-what-I-can-to-get-by experience. It should be anything but that!

Another goal of mine in teaching this class is to prepare my students to take the AP Biology exam in the Spring. I am reviewing with them and helping them to prepare for the examination, which is in the middle of May. Since all of the students took College Prep Biolgy two years ago, they need to dig deep into the memory banks for the information. We will be studying less chemistry and more biology as the year progresses (see course outline).

I developed the curricula for this course in conjunction with my master's program at the University of Washington. The curricula that I developed was my culminating project for my master's degree. Since my background is in both chemistry and biology, I hope to use my knowledge base and my experiences as an undergraduate to develop a course which is both stimulating and useful to my students. I hope that my students will agree with the outcome of my efforts.

If there are other teachers out there who are teaching a high school course similar to mine, I would like to correspond with you and share some thoughts and ideas.

-Craig Mitchell