Natural Science - Year I

1. What should a student know before taking this course?

This course has no prerequisites. Students who have had some junior high science or world history may find the course easier than those who have not had much science or history yet, but a dedicated student should be able to complete all course work satisfactorily.

2. What level of mathematics is required?

You should be starting algebra, so that by the time we get to Galilean mechanics (late in the first semester), you can solve s = 1/2 * a * t² if you are given values for a and t. Otherwise, we do some work with graphs and tables of data, but no knowledge of the quadratic equation or trigonometry is necessary.

3. How much preparation time is necessary?

This is hard to answer without knowing how fast you read and how good your study habits are. For each IRC meeting, you will need to prepare

• my online Web Lectures for both the history and science sections of the course
• additional Web-based readings (this varies with the topic)
• a worksheet with iexercises and questions involving identification, single-word answer, and short paragraph answers
• quiz preparation, examination, and review
• occasional class presentations

My experience is that this will take most students about 4 hours to finish properly, including drilling on the historical facts (which scientist did what) and scientific theories. If you read slowly or have to do a lot of drill work, it may take you longer. In addition, after we meet and discuss the material, you will need to take

• a 10 question on-line quiz at the website (15-20 minutes)

You may also opt to take do labs, which will involve another 2-3 hours per week of your time, depending on what equipment you need to build or collect.

So each week, you should plan to spend 1.5 hours in class, 4 hours in preparation, and 1/2 hour in testing, or a minimum of 6 hours a week (8 with labs). A normal junior high physical science class or introductory high school general science course requires a minimum of 4 hours of class time (including lab time) and 2 hours of homework. This course is more intense that a normal junior high school science course because of the history component, so it requires somewhat more effort on your part.

4. What is a passing score?

My examinations tend to be very thorough, since I am interested in assessing what you have actually learned and understand. They include identification of scientists and their discoveries or theories, multiple choice on the scientific content of the major theories, and essays on the interaction between science and the societies in which it developed. I tend to actually grade rather easily: passing for the course is 50% or better on each of the fall and spring semester finals. Scores in the past have ranged from below 30% to above 95%. However, if you intend to take more science courses, you will want to aim for an average of at least 70% on the quizzes and exams.

6. What kind of grade will I get?

I do not give conventional A-B-C-D-F grades. All "grades" are pass/fail, based on a performance of 50% for freshman (higher for upper classmen) or better on the semester examinations, chapter quizzes, attendance, and participation in discussion and homework solution sessions. In other words, if you are a freshman, and you average 50% on the quizzes and score at least 50% on each semester final, you pass the course. A senior might need 65%; I would expect a senior to bring to essay questions more penetrating analysis techniques, and to be able to associate historical facts with knowledge gained outside this course.

I report your raw scores, along with general comments on your work, each semester. In the past, these evaluations have been adequate for most state or local school district reporting requirements.

If you require a formal transcript or score, we will scale your performance percentage to a generally accepted standard. The adjustment is based on the general class performance on the examination, your grade level, and the difficulty of the course, so may vary from course to course and from student to student depending on grade level (seniors should do better work than freshman!). A conversion scale will be furnished to the Scholars Online administrator and published so that if you need to report grades, they will conform to the norm used by many scholarship and college application programs.

7. What is your position on evolution theory?

We do spend one unit on the theory of evolution in this course. If you have concerns about my presentation of this material, please see my evolution page where this question is answered in detail.

8. How does this course fit into the overall science series?

There are three common ways to fit Natural Science into a homeschool curriculum. These are:

• for the student concentrating in humanities, or one with less background in mathematics, Natural Science in the 9th-10th grades, Biology with the lab option in 11th, and optionally Chemistry or Physics in 12th. [This will meet most college entrance requirements for at least one year of lab science, and provide sufficient background for a student to take introductory college level science courses.]
• for the student wishing a more thorough preparation in the sciences: Natural Science in the 8th and 9th grades, followed by Biology in 10th grade, and then Chemistry or Physics in either order in 11th and 12th grades.
• for the exceptional student wishing an intense preparation in the sciences: Natural Science I in the 8th grade, followed by a summer session course in Nat Sci II; Biology and Astronomy in the 9th and 10th grades, in either order; and Chemistry and Physics in the 11th and 12th grades, in either order.

More information is available at the Scholars Online Science Sequence page, including descriptions of the organization and design of the curriculum.

9. Will you be able to write me a letter of recommendation for my college (or secondary school) application?

Yes, I do write letters of recommendation for students on occasion. However, I cannot write such a letter on the basis of a few months' work. I require that you finish a complete year of instruction with me first, so that I have a basis for making an evaluation that reflects your true strengths and weaknesses. If this is your first class with me and your senior year, I may not be able to write your letter.

This course is offered through Scholars Online, a non-profit organization supporting classical Christian education through Internet-based courses. Permission to copy course content (lessons and labs) for personal study is granted to students currently enrolled in this course for the Academic Year 2008/2009 or Summer 2008. Reproduction for any other purpose, without the express written consent of the author, is prohibited.