While many students were perplexed by the various “It’s coming” signs around the school as far back as November, the signs placed by teacher Asif Rahman were in fact alluding to next year’s set of new classes. Upcoming courses include Anatomy and Physiology 1-2 and Leadership Technology.
Counselor Steve Allekotte says, “Anatomy and Physiology is going to be taught by Mr. Rahman. It’s going to be offered to sophomores to seniors. He taught it six years ago in Marin County, and he’s really excited about bringing it here.”
Asif Rahman says, “My educational background is actually in physiology. I was a biology major with a concentration in physiology. When I came here, I saw that this course was not here. Once you’re done with biology, what are you supposed to take? There’re AP classes, and then there’s biotech, so I wanted to give students another option for science to take that’s not an AP. It’s a fairly commonly taught class, which was why I was kind of surprised to see that the course of study was not here in this district.”
The course is a one-year upper division advanced biology program. It is designed to provide students an in-depth, enriched study of the structure and function of the human body. Rahman says, “We start off from microscopic structures and build our way up to the entire organism. This goes along with the levels of organization,”
He adds, “You start with atomic structure, and then molecules, and then macromolecules, organelles, cells, tissues, organs, and finally the organ system. Basically, in order to understand how the organism works, you have to understand all those preceding levels, because it all builds upon itself.”
In addition to Anatomy and Physiology, Leadership Technology will also be available to students. The class is designed to expose students to 21st century technology. Jim Smith will be the first to offer this course in the district.
“This will be a hands-on class where students will learn how to troubleshoot technical problems with computers, peripherals, and the network,” Smith says. “They will also learn how to better utilize these tools and serve the community.”
Freshman Murray Sandmeyer says, “I think it’s great to offer extra opportunities to people who want to learn more about practical, real-world subjects. I personally am familiar with computers for the most part, but not with other, less conventional equipment.”
Sophomore Megumi Nozawa added, “I’m in Robotics but I can’t really do computer work. I think it’s really good for other people who are doing programming and electronics, because in Robotics, we always lose time teaching kids how to do stuff. So, I think this is a good thing because I can learn how to use technology. During other times outside of Robotics, I don’t really want to waste my time learning how to work with technology.”
Both Anatomy and Leadership Technology courses are undergoing approval by UC’s to meet the “A-G” requirements. In this process, the course is analyzed by undergraduate admissions and by the subject expert. During this stage, the number and level of pre-requisites, academic rigor, and level of student work is closely looked at. The reviewer then uses a checklist to determine whether the course can be approved based on the faculty’s regulations. A course review is given back to the school and determines whether the class has been approved or not.
For Anatomy, Rahman says, “There is a course of study, a template that you have to follow, but the problem with this year is that they changed it and I’m sort of beta testing on their new state standards involving scientific literacy. So that’s kind of caused a little bit of an issue.”
He further comments, “It’s a fairly lengthy process, but it wasn’t so bad because I taught the course so many times, so I was able to do it. I feel really confident about the content and what needs to be delivered. It was just a matter of putting it all together and formatting it properly.”
Both courses approximate thirty students per class. However, if more students choose to take the course, the quantity of that specific class rises. Allekotte says, “At Aragon, we try to get the kids the classes they ask for. So, if ninety kids signed up for those classes, then we’d have three classes.”
Students can look forward to taking these classes in the near future. As for Anatomy and Physiology, Rahman says, “It’s possibly the greatest class any human being has conceived of or taken, and I think it’s a fun class. I think that kids, especially this age are curious about how their body works and it gives kids the opportunity to explore and answer questions about their bodies that they may not have otherwise been able to do.”
