Students apply skills they learned in their last Biotech class.
The Aragon Biotech curriculum will expand for the 2019-20 school year as Aragon implements a separate class period for it. The class is an extension on the previously offered Biotech 3/4 class, and will also be taught by Biology teacher Katherine Ward.
“The course is called Biotechnology II,” said Assistant Principal Lisa Nagendren. “We have always offered the course, but at least for the last couple of years, we have not had enough students signed up to offer a separate class period for it.”
There is little explanation for the sudden increase of students, but both students and teachers have their own theories. Senior Nicholas Finke feels that it is a result of students of recent classes having more passion for biology.
“I think people want to take the class to be to have a good experience with people who love biology”
“I like Biotech [and] I like Ms. Ward,” Finke said. “Everyone who takes AP Bio is someone who takes biology very seriously and no one really fools around … I assume it’s the same with Advanced Biotech, and I think people want to take the class to be to have a good experience with people who love biology.”
The sudden surge in popularity could also be attributed to Ward’s efforts to get students interested in biology as a whole.
“I am not sure [why there are so many more students interested in the course],” Ward said. “[Though] I did a bit more advertising this year than in the past and sent personal invitations.”
Biotech II will be a class that allows students to utilize their knowledge from Biotech I, with more emphasis on knowledge application. The course even allowed students to potentially come in before school to work further on various independent projects.
“Biotech II requires students to use all of the skills they acquired/mastered in Biotech I to study Agricultural/Environmental Biotechnology and Diagnostics,” Ward said. “The emphasis in the second year is more on problem-solving and applying the techniques and protocols learned in the first year.”
Even though the course will now be taught in a more formal classroom setting, the class emphasis is firmly on independent work like individual topic research and lab creation, but also includes community based group projects like the previous year’s pipevine swallowtail garden.
“It is much more independent and students will be managing multiple labs at the same time,” Ward said.
As for what students can come to expect from the course, Ward plans to introduce students to new ideas about the environment around them and how they could use them to create solutions to various human issues.
“Students will learn about plant anatomy and physiology and plant propagation via asexual means,” Ward said. “They will learn how to assay for plant metabolites and prospect for potential plant products. Students will learn how to use biotechnology to engineer solutions to environmental problems and to monitor the environment.”
The revival of Biotech II illustrates the continued interest of students in the applied sciences, and the continued importance of Biotech in their everyday lives. By opening the class once again this year, Aragon allows those who love Biotech to pursue their passions at school.
