HEADLINES

What is Life? We usually know it when we see it, but what is it? This course introduces students to the big picture of life on Earth.  Students discover that all living things, despite their complexity, share the same basic characteristics.  Students learn that all organisms (bacteria, protists, fungi, plants, and animals) are composed of cells, and that a single cell is the fundamental unity of life. Students explore the relationship of organisms to their environment, and recognize life as a temporary condition experienced for various lengths of time by all living things. It is our hope that, in their efforts to answer the question "What is life?" students will develop an appreciation for the awesome diversity of life on Earth and a personal interest in life in all its forms.

An ecosystem is the largest organizational unit of life on Earth, defined by a physical environment and the organisms that make their living there. Students learn that every organism has a role to play in its ecosystem, and has structures and behaviors that allow it to survive. This course provides the first steps of ecological understanding for students, with the hope that their future steps will be considered and measured, with the interests of all life being served.

This course focuses on Earth's atmosphere, weather, and water. A good understanding of meteorology as an earth science isn't complete without an introduction to concepts that cross into the realm of physics and chemistry. Understanding weather is more than reading a thermometer and recording air-pressure measurements. Students need to grapple with ideas about atoms and molecules, changes of state, and heat transfer before they can launch into the bigger ideas involving air masses and fronts, convections cells and winds, and the development of severe weather.