By Eric Furth
Staff Writer
Costa’s new high-level Biotechnology course will be effective in preparing a select group of students for future college majors and scientific careers.
A new three-year Biotechnology elective will be offered to incoming sophomores starting in the 2015-2016 school year as a means to encourage students who enjoy science to pursue it further. The curriculum students participate in, ranging from work within the labs to experiments off-campus, will allow students with a passion for science an opportunity to expand their knowledge.
According to biology teacher Jessica Bledsoe, Biotechnology is based on practical application of classwork to experiments, exposure to unique problem-solving and student collaboration, serving as a unique path toward Science Technology Engineering and Math, or STEM, college majors and careers.
Although the curriculum for the course is still being written by Bledsoe, it is designed to be a rigorous preparatory course starting during a student’s sophomore year. Beginning the program as a sophomore allows students to have one year on campus as freshmen to decide whether or not they will apply for the elective. Also, most freshmen take preparatory biology, allowing them to weigh their interests in the topic before they launch themsleves into a rigorous three-year elective.
The elective only takes 15 students per year who must meet prerequisite grades, followed by an interview with Bledsoe. The small class size and selectivity ensures that all students have a common goal in furthering their individual foundations in science and is necessary due to its indepth and hands-on course load.
According to Bledsoe, by the end of the course, students will have accumulated a notebook with the information and experience of a typical University of California graduate and have participated in labs, such as DNA extraction and precipitation and forensic DNA mapping. This experience will prove especially valuable during college applications, as students seeking a career in science will have an in-lab skill set and overall resumé more advanced than other applicants.
The comprehensive lab work, extensive notebook and personalized experiences will also help the students retain the information during the course, resulting in a heightened grasp on advanced scientific techniques, processes and concepts.
Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale believes that Biotechnology should be a part of Costa’s permanent curriculum and could become a potential model for future advanced courses of this caliber. Biotechnology will be one of the few science-related electives to be offered at Costa. If it harbors a high success rate, other electives centered around science may become available, such as a program with focuses on engineering.
This elective is an advantageous step forward for Costa’s curriculum as it benefits a select group of students who wish to study the subject in depth and could pave the way for more electives that cater to students’ more specialized desires.
Also, the small class size will allow both Bledsoe and students to collaborate effectively and quickly throughout the dense curriculum. Most of Costa’s electives are large, collaborative envrionments that not only benefit a student’s education but unite classmates through common interest. Biotechnology will contribute that same idea to Costa but for a unique group.
Biotechnology will enhance Costa’s course offerings as an elective that helps students with a particular fondness for science and harnesses their desire to gain more knowledge on the subject through hands-on and in-depth application of studies.
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