Welcome to the St. Paul's Biology Web Site.

    Welcome to Biology! I have planned a journey of discovery that will wow and amaze you! Genetic engineering... Endangered ecosystems...Technology and the power of knowledge. The list of biology-related issues facing society and mankind grows longer each day. A basic understanding of the methods, possibilities, and limitations of science is essential for everyone. 

    Scientific skills such as observation, inquiry, laboratory techniques, applied mathematics and graphing, and writing will be used throughout the course in order to teach you about the biological sciences.  This course may have some topics that you have learned about in the past, however in this class we will delve into greater depth and detail for each topic. During this course, you will be challenged and your mind stretched while using your scientific skills. You are a scientist in this class, so it is imperative that you keep all your data organized and neat.  Take pride in your work, as it is a reflection of you! 

   The Next Generation Science Standards aim to eliminate the practice of "teaching to the test." Instead, they shift the focus from merely memorizing scientific facts to actually doing science—so students spend more time posing questions and discovering the answers for themselves.

The Urgency for Next Generation Science Standards:

In 2007, a Carnegie Corporation of New York/Institute for Advanced Study commission of researchers and public and private leaders concluded that "the nation’s capacity to innovate for economic growth and the ability of American workers to thrive in the modern workforce depend on a broad foundation of math and science learning, as do our hopes for preserving a vibrant democracy and the promise of social mobility that lie at the heart of the American dream."

Unfortunately, science and mathematics achievement continues to lag compared to our international competitors, and this lag has already begun to impact the competitiveness of young Americans as well as the competitiveness of the U.S. in the global economy.

For example:

♦ The U.S. ranked 17th in science and 25th in mathematics on the 2009 PISA assessment. Less than 10 percent of U.S. students scored at one of the top two of six performance levels.

♦ More than a third of eighth-graders scored below basic on the 2009 NAEP Science assessment.

♦ U.S. high-tech manufacturing industries continue to have a larger share of global output than any other economy, but the U.S. global share fell from 34% in 1998 to 28% in 2010.

♦ The U.S. share of global high tech exports dropped from 19% to 15% in 2010; at the same time China's share of global high tech goods exports more than tripled, from 6% in 1995 to 22% in 2010, making it the single largest exporting country for high tech products. (http://ngss.nsta.org/why-standards-matter.aspx)