In the 2024-25 school year, WHS’ Science and Technology Education Department will be offering three new courses to all WHS students. Food Science, Home Technology and Robo Lab do not require prerequisites, will be semester courses and will count toward the 21st Century Life and Careers graduation requirement. There is no confirmation on which teachers will be teaching each course as of right now.
“The Science Department has been looking to expand our elective offerings for a long time. We had an opportunity this year to add some courses and we thought that it would be a good idea to choose courses that are a blend of science and technology education,” said Tom Paterson, head of the department. “All three courses will be very hands-on.”
Food Science is a blend of the traditional foods class and nutritional science. Students will understand nutrition by using a hands-on approach and cooking these foods, while learning about the interactions between diet and health. Biology Teacher Kathleen Bigelow has expressed interest in teaching the course and it will be taught in the foods room.
Home Technology includes building science and learning how our homes function. Students will learn about basic home functions and there will be a significant hands-on approach to this course. The main goal is that students will frame a wall of a home, including the electrical, framing and drywall. Environmental Science and Biology Teacher Jeffrey Robbins has expressed interest in teaching the course and it will be taught in the woodshop.
Robo Lab is a combination of robotics and engineering/design. Students will work on building small scale machines that operate with little human intervention. While it will include some similarities to the robotics class offered in eighth grade, the class will differ by combining aspects of engineering and gear toward creating automated systems. Physics Teacher Mark Harper has expressed interest in teaching the course and it will most likely be taught in the engineering room.
These courses were decided on by a poll conducted in high school science classes and the eighth grade classes at the middle school about two months ago. With the data collected, these three courses were the ones polled students were most interested in taking.
“I think it’s great to have a more diverse range of classes in the Science Department,” said senior Yenjay Hu. “For me, I would have loved to take the new robotics class as I enjoy building things and the application of the sciences.”
Paterson said, “I would like to go beyond those required classes that we have to take. I want to have many, many more semester-level science and technology education courses.”
“I hope everyone involved in these courses are very understanding that we are in the first year,” said Paterson. “Everyone is going to make mistakes. We want the students to help us figure out how to make great courses. There is no blueprint for it. The students are going to be a big part of the process for refining these courses and we’re going to have a good time.”
If these courses sound interesting to you, be sure to let your guidance counselor know when planning next year’s schedule.