Attention Parents of Honors Biology students:
On the left hand side of this page if you click on Useful Links you will see a document entitled "Honors Biology Summer Project 2019." The summer 2019 project is a requirement for enrolling in Honors Biology at JHS. This document will provide your student with instructions for how to carry out the summer project.
During the 2019-2020 school year you should only expect to see a grade posted on PowerSchool every three weeks. That's because in Honors Biology, a student's grade within a 2-3 week unit is based upon accumulated points. At the beginning of each unit, the students are given a list of all the activities/labs for the unit. The students have the opportunity to choose which activities they want to do to earn their points towards a grade of D (60 points required), C (70 points required), B (80 points required), or A (90 points required). I have written and collected the activities so that no matter what combination of activities a student chooses to do, he/she will be able to master the required objectives for the unit. This allows for differences in learning styles and increases student motivation. For each unit, the students know how many points each activity is worth and how many days in class we will devote to the unit. Since different students may choose different activities, the present on-line grade book will not accommodate such a "buffet style"/individualized system of learning. Therefore, I will also continue to keep a separate computer grade book (spreadsheet) that has each activity/lab listed in it and the students' individual grades on the activities. At the end of each week, I will post the students grades on the classroom bulletin board (by ID numbers, not names), so that they will always know their point total and progress. The only grade that will show up on PowerSchool is the grade for the completed unit. To compute the 9-weeks grade, PowerSchool will treat each unit grade as a percent, and will average together the unit grades. If you wish to see individual activity grades, please feel free to e-mail or call me. - Joe Ruhl ([email protected], 772-4700, ext.2651)
For more details, check out the document below entitled "Teaching Methods in Honors Biology."
Science Research Course
Attention students signed up for the Science Research Course:
If you go into the folder below that is labeled "Science Research Course" you will find the grading policy and deadlines for the course for the 2019-20 school year. The Lafayette Regional Science & Engineering Fair will take place March 13, 2020 in Stewart Center on the Purdue campus!
Genetics Course
New discoveries and new information in the exciting field of genetics make this field the most rapidly evolving area in the life sciences today. In fact, genetics is what modern biological sciences, medicine, pharmacy, agriculture, food sciences, and wildlife conservation are all based upon. Click on the Genetics Course link below and you will find the curriculum document for this course.