I teach General Science and AP Biology in an urban magnet high school. This is a performing arts magnet school, located in the city of New Haven, CT. Being a magnet school we draw 30% of our students from surrounding districts that are a mix of urban and suburban school systems. In general our students perform well academically due to their desire to be in this school to study their chosen art. We utilize a block schedule with four 90 minute periods a day. A day will be either even or odd, resulting in any given class occurring every other day for our students. The students study their art every day, with 2 blocks scheduled for art instruction.
This unit has been produced for general science, also known as physical chemistry in this district. This is a mandatory class for all freshmen and is an introduction for them to chemistry through the lens of environmental science. For example, we teach units on acid rain, rather than just acids and bases.
