Science Department
Our Science Department offers many opportunities for aspiring scientists through our College Preparatory (CP), Honors, and Advanced Placement (AP) classes with laboratories, field trips, collaborations, and a wide range of hands-on learning, projects, and science activities. We produce science-literate students who successfully matriculate to the best and most selective colleges. Our goal is to integrate science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) throughout the science program. In the Middle School, a spiral curriculum encompasses studies in Life Science, Physical Science, and Environmental and Earth Science. Middle School students dissect squid and sharks, visit and conduct experiments at nearby Thomas Creek, and utilize scientific methods.
We produce science-literate students who successfully matriculate to the best and most selective colleges.
Upper School students have access to a wide variety of fundamental and cutting-edge content in physics, chemistry, biology, and environmental science.
Up to 10 Upper School students may attend the Future of Individualized Medicine Conference held at Scripps Research in La Jolla, CA (usually in March each year) with scholarships available for complimentary attendance. Learning outside of the classroom with field trips, laboratory visits, and collaborative environmental programs (The Nature Conservancy; TNC) are examples of unique educational opportunities that the SRS Science Department offers within its curriculum, making it one of the top college prep schools in Nevada.
Teachers strive to cultivate students’ natural curiosity and passion for learning while eliciting mastery of laboratory, data analysis, and problem solving skills.
Science students learn to understand and apply the unifying principles of science and math to describe and analyze natural phenomena using research writing and logical argument. In our science classrooms, students participate in discussions, labs, research, reading, data collection and calculations, with interpretive writing, oral presentations, online activities, hands-on classroom and field activities, and problem solving: both individually, and in small and large group settings. Students learn from a variety of methods such as discussion-, project-, and problem-based learning, scientific inquiry, and student-centered teaching using laboratory experiences, field trips, scientific collaborations, and guest visits/lectures/labs.
Our Science Department faculty is committed to conducting at least one lab, demonstration, or hands-on, learning-based activity each week to engage students both intellectually and physically.
Our Science Department is unique in many ways: we utilize creative pedagogy with students' college preparatory goals in mind instead of focusing on fad educational approaches. Also, students’ acquisition and application of knowledge is measured by a variety of assessment strategies as opposed to traditional standardized tests. Our Science Department faculty is committed to conducting at least one lab, demonstration, or hands-on, learning-based activity each week to engage students both intellectually and physically. Over the past 20 years many SRS graduates have gone on to undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs in medicine, engineering, biotechnology, and health sciences at the very best science institutions.
Courses Offered:
- Lower School
- Grade 3 Science
- Grade 4 Intro to Laboratory Science
- Grade 5 Integrated Science I
- Middle School
- Grade 6 Integrated Science II
- Grade 7 Integrated Science III
- Grade 8 Integrated Science IV
- Upper School
- Grade 9 Conceptual Physics
- Grade 10 Biology CP/Honors
- Grade 11 Chemistry CP/Honors
- AP Biology (Elective)
- AP Physics I (Elective)
- Human Anatomy and Physiology (Elective)
- AP Chemistry (Elective)
- AP Physics C(Elective)
- AP Environmental Science (Elective)
