My MS kids and HS kids both have labs. They dissected rats in honors bio which seemed to me to be a bit much, but definitely a hands on lab!

My middle schoolers have labs

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has zero labs in honors bio. It depends on the teacher. Same now for Chemistry.

How F'd is that! And more importantly how is this in line with "equity" - mcps' favorite word or used to be favorite??

No it depends on class size. Lab stations require spacing for safety. Overcrowded classes can not do labs.

This is a cop-out. Teams of teachers can partner to rotate kids through labs while the others are taking some of the kids for classroom activities.

The truth is that labs are a lot of work and now that virtual labs exist, they are often substituted.

Can you please tell me where the teams of teachers are? And enough supplies? And the time? Wow. People really have no idea what’s going on do they.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has zero labs in honors bio. It depends on the teacher. Same now for Chemistry.

How F'd is that! And more importantly how is this in line with "equity" - mcps' favorite word or used to be favorite??

No it depends on class size. Lab stations require spacing for safety. Overcrowded classes can not do labs.

This is a cop-out. Teams of teachers can partner to rotate kids through labs while the others are taking some of the kids for classroom activities.

The truth is that labs are a lot of work and now that virtual labs exist, they are often substituted.

Sorry it is reality. You imagine same class being taught by multiple teachers instead of one teacher with classes all day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has zero labs in honors bio. It depends on the teacher. Same now for Chemistry.

How F'd is that! And more importantly how is this in line with "equity" - mcps' favorite word or used to be favorite??

No it depends on class size. Lab stations require spacing for safety. Overcrowded classes can not do labs.

This is a cop-out. Teams of teachers can partner to rotate kids through labs while the others are taking some of the kids for classroom activities.

The truth is that labs are a lot of work and now that virtual labs exist, they are often substituted.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has zero labs in honors bio. It depends on the teacher. Same now for Chemistry.

How F'd is that! And more importantly how is this in line with "equity" - mcps' favorite word or used to be favorite??

No it depends on class size. Lab stations require spacing for safety. Overcrowded classes can not do labs.

Anonymous wrote:Define labs. All the regular/Honors science curricula include hands on activities that can be exploration to inquiry to data collection and analysis. If you mean full labs with lab reports, then you need to look at the AP courses. And even those don’t necessarily require formal lab reports anymore.

But they used to?
Why the shift away from full labs and reports? Does anyone know if this is in line with what's happening "out there" - in the science industry, e.g NIH, biomedical places etc?

Define labs. All the regular/Honors science curricula include hands on activities that can be exploration to inquiry to data collection and analysis. If you mean full labs with lab reports, then you need to look at the AP courses. And even those don’t necessarily require formal lab reports anymore.

Anonymous wrote:My kid has zero labs in honors bio. It depends on the teacher. Same now for Chemistry.

How F'd is that! And more importantly how is this in line with "equity" - mcps' favorite word or used to be favorite??

My kid has zero labs in honors bio. It depends on the teacher. Same now for Chemistry.

My Blair kid had no labs for AP Chem!

They had labs in Honors Chemistry last year.

We've got labs in honors bio, too.

Anonymous wrote:Why don't students do labs in HS Biology? Do they have them in AP Biology? How about in Chemistry class? When did this change - labs to no labs, and why? How can MCPS bring back labs?

Our Middle School had Science labs including dissections. My older DC is in HS Honors Bio- and will be having labs this year.
Pyle/Whitman

Why don't students do labs in HS Biology? Do they have them in AP Biology? How about in Chemistry class? When did this change - labs to no labs, and why? How can MCPS bring back labs?