Academics
Academic Programs
Science
Science at Vistamar
The science curriculum at Vistamar focuses on integrating disciplines that are taught by subject specialists each year. The first year focuses on concrete learning taught through the Physical Sciences, primarily Physics (two trimesters) and Chemistry (one trimester). The second year focuses on more abstract learning through the Life Sciences by beginning with Chemistry (one trimester) then building on students' Physics and Chemistry knowledge with Biology (two trimesters). After the first two years, students have a solid foundation in all three science disciplines so they have the opportunity to take an AP Science course or other advanced work in the science of their choice, including Advanced Topics in Science which integrates Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. Students with a passion for and high aptitude in science may qualify to take an AP Science as early as the sophomore year.
Department Objectives:
- An understanding of how things work through the natural world
- The skills of critical thinking, hypothesis testing, and inference
- An appreciation for the tentative and incomplete nature of objective knowledge
- A command of applied mathematics
- A framework for organizing and evaluating information about living things and the material universe
- Consideration of the social and ethical implications of applied science
Course Information
- Physical Science
- Life Science (10th grade)
- Advanced Topics in Science
- Introduction to Inventions and Engineering
- Anatomy and Physiology
- Modern Biotechnology and Bioethics
- AP Biology
- AP Chemistry
- AP Environmental Science
- AP Physics I
- AP Physics C - Mechanics
- AP Physics C - Electricity and Magnetism
Vistamar School is a private independent high school in the South Bay region of Los Angeles.
