By Zack Gill
Staff Writer
A new year brings a new class. This fall, for the first time ever, Mira Costa students will be able to take a new science class: Advanced Placement environmental science. The class will combine a wide variety of fields of science and culminate in an AP exam.
Enrollment for the class will begin with sign-ups in April. The class will be taught by earth science teacher Karl Kurz with possible assistance from marine biology teacher and Science Department chair Harold Coller.
“If there are three or more classes, Coller may be a co-teacher. This is my first time teaching the course and co-teaching is the most effective way to teach a new class. I can get feedback with everything I do,” Kurz said.
AP environmental science will be open to any student who passes chemistry CP with a B or higher. This means that most students who take AP environmental science are likely to be juniors, although it is open to seniors and possibly sophomores who are able to meet the prerequisites.
“It’s preferred that students have an earth science background, but I’m expecting new students I’ve never had as well.” Kurz said.
Depending on their academic track, students are funneled into various science classes during their junior and senior years.
Kurz says sophomores who take chemistry or honors chemistry often go on to take AP biology or AP chemistry, and seniors can take various physics courses. Kurz believes that AP environmental science can be a substituite for all of these classes.
“I’m not sure what science class I’m going to take next year, but it’s good to have options. I know a ton of people who don’t think they have the skills for AP chemistry and want an alternative to AP biology,” sophomore Tom Wissel said. “AP environmental science seems like an interesting and logical choice for them.”
AP environmental science focuses on a wide variety of different forms of science material, with emphasis on everything from biodiversity in a population to energy consumption.
“I think it’s great that we finally have an opportunity to take a course that’s a bit more relevant to now than other sciences,” sophomore Rachel Azafrani said. “With the environment in the state that it’s in, I want to learn as much as about it as possible.”
The AP environmental science course will give an opportunity for students to pursue another AP science course option while teaching a curriculum that reflects current global environmental affairs.
“This is a class that combines AP biology and earth science. It’s going to be completely different from any class we have ever offered here at Mira Costa,” Kurz said. “I think this is is a class that will be meaningful to the lives of students because it explores what’s really going on in the world around them.”
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