Curriculum and Instruction
Science
Marine Science Field Trip
28 11th grade science students On June 1, 2017, students from Marine Science and Advanced Placement Environmental Science were given the opportunity to visit the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Philip Merrill Environmental Education Program. On the field trip,students learned the effects of human activities on the Chesapeake Bay and on the organisms that live there. Students explored the brackish water of the tidal marsh via canoe. They measured abiotic factors by collecting water samples and using tools and technology. With nets, students collected fish and other aquatic organisms and identified them. The full day field trip was an excellent opportunity for students to apply concepts they had learned in the classroom and carry out authentic data collection in the field all while enjoying the outdoors! |
Climate Change Research and Presentation
Advanced Placement Environmental Science - 66 students of 10th, 11th and 12th grades in 2015-16, 58 students of 10th, 11th and 12th grade in 2016-17, 65 students of 10th, 11th and 12th grades in 2017-18; 60 students of 11th and 12th grade in 2018-19
After studying the composition and structure of the atmosphere, including greenhouse gases and their affect on our planet, students researched Climate Change. Students collaborated in class to create a PowerPoint about the specific effects, observed and predicted, of climate change on a particular region of the United States. Additionally, students presented on specific challenges for the region as well as how people living there can adapt to those challenges. Each group's region was presented to the class.
Advanced Placement Environmental Science - 66 students of 10th, 11th and 12th grades in 2015-16, 58 students of 10th, 11th and 12th grade in 2016-17, 65 students of 10th, 11th and 12th grades in 2017-18; 60 students of 11th and 12th grade in 2018-19
After studying the composition and structure of the atmosphere, including greenhouse gases and their affect on our planet, students researched Climate Change. Students collaborated in class to create a PowerPoint about the specific effects, observed and predicted, of climate change on a particular region of the United States. Additionally, students presented on specific challenges for the region as well as how people living there can adapt to those challenges. Each group's region was presented to the class.
Meaningful Watershed Education Experience - 420 ninth grade students in 2017-2018 School Year and 389 ninth grade students in the 2018-2019
Centennial High School students have participated in the Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience since 2014. More recently, as a part of both the Biology Gifted and Talent and Earth/Space science curriculums, every ninth grade student participated in an assessment of our school yard. Students assessed sources of pollution on campus, measured soil compaction and water quality, analyzed storm water run-off and noticed beneficial environmental features that were present. The school yard assessment required the coordination of seven teachers and the science department's lab manager. In the 2017-18 school year, students rotated through several stations set-up around the school's campus over three days. In the 2018-19 school year, teachers took their individual classes out separately throughout the first quarter to complete the assessment. Individual classes' data was compiled to complete the Schoolyard Assessment.
In order to make connections between our schoolyard and the larger watershed, students travelled to the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area to do a stream assessment at South Wind Trail. On October 31, 2017 and October 26, 2018, 240 students (total) travelled by bus to carry out the stream assessment. The assessment, with the help of Howard County Conservancy volunteers, allowed students to use authentic equipment to test water pH, dissolved oxygen, nutrient levels, turbidity and other abiotic factors. Additionally, students used dip nets to collect benthic macro-invertebrates. Students identified the macro-invertebrates and classified them by level of sensitivity to pollution. Data that was collected was compiled and shared back at school. Furthermore, students developed action plans to reduce the impact of our school yard on local streams and the Chesapeake Bay.
Centennial High School students have participated in the Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience since 2014. More recently, as a part of both the Biology Gifted and Talent and Earth/Space science curriculums, every ninth grade student participated in an assessment of our school yard. Students assessed sources of pollution on campus, measured soil compaction and water quality, analyzed storm water run-off and noticed beneficial environmental features that were present. The school yard assessment required the coordination of seven teachers and the science department's lab manager. In the 2017-18 school year, students rotated through several stations set-up around the school's campus over three days. In the 2018-19 school year, teachers took their individual classes out separately throughout the first quarter to complete the assessment. Individual classes' data was compiled to complete the Schoolyard Assessment.
In order to make connections between our schoolyard and the larger watershed, students travelled to the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area to do a stream assessment at South Wind Trail. On October 31, 2017 and October 26, 2018, 240 students (total) travelled by bus to carry out the stream assessment. The assessment, with the help of Howard County Conservancy volunteers, allowed students to use authentic equipment to test water pH, dissolved oxygen, nutrient levels, turbidity and other abiotic factors. Additionally, students used dip nets to collect benthic macro-invertebrates. Students identified the macro-invertebrates and classified them by level of sensitivity to pollution. Data that was collected was compiled and shared back at school. Furthermore, students developed action plans to reduce the impact of our school yard on local streams and the Chesapeake Bay.
AP Physics: Electricity and Magnetism - 30 students in 11th and 12th grade
In December of 2018 Electricity and Magnetism students researched different kinds of renewable energy. The students created posters explaining the physical mechanisms responsible for creating electricity, as well as the positive and negative aspects of the alternative energy source's effect on the environment. |
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Social Studies
Honors Government - 125 students of 10th grade in 2019.
In Honors Government, part of the curriculum involves studying land and resource use policy in Maryland and the greater United States. In one activity, students analyze land use patterns and policy in the Chesapeake Bay region over the past century. Topics vary but included population density, land management, and resource valuation. In a related activity, students read an article on urban sprawl vs. smart growth then answered and discussed questions in groups [see A]. In another activity on resource management, students read about fracking, then developed arguments for or against the practice, and finally shared points of view with peers [see B].
In Honors Government, part of the curriculum involves studying land and resource use policy in Maryland and the greater United States. In one activity, students analyze land use patterns and policy in the Chesapeake Bay region over the past century. Topics vary but included population density, land management, and resource valuation. In a related activity, students read an article on urban sprawl vs. smart growth then answered and discussed questions in groups [see A]. In another activity on resource management, students read about fracking, then developed arguments for or against the practice, and finally shared points of view with peers [see B].
Math
AP Statistics - 99 students from 11th and 12th grade
As a final project in May 2018, Statistics students examined collected data of something in nature and then applied their knowledge of statistics to analyze their data set. Students needed to prove the significance of their data using various statistical methods and try to draw conclusions about their surroundings from it, noting the importance of their topic. One group measured pH values of soil at school and locations near school, noting that soil pH is higher near roads parking lots. They compared their measurements to ranges in which different types of plants are able to grow, noting that variations in pH can help determine what kinds of plants can grow. |
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Fine Arts
Photography 1 - 20 students from all grade levels
In November 2019 Photography students watched videos about the human impact on nature, and talked about the science behind it littering and carbon footprints. They examined current world issues having to do with the topic and analyzed how other photographers have shed light on these issues through art and allowed people to see the extent of the problems. In response, the student created a series of at least 3 to 5 images that go together to tell a story of human impact on their environment. Documenting negative and positive impact.
In November 2019 Photography students watched videos about the human impact on nature, and talked about the science behind it littering and carbon footprints. They examined current world issues having to do with the topic and analyzed how other photographers have shed light on these issues through art and allowed people to see the extent of the problems. In response, the student created a series of at least 3 to 5 images that go together to tell a story of human impact on their environment. Documenting negative and positive impact.
Studio Art 2 - ## students
In October 2018 students were tasked with composing and creating a work of art in the Mandala style (radiating spirals) of something they found in nature. The class started by examining the importance of spiral patterns in nature, such as the construction of shells, and then needed to look for other places in the environment where this spiral pattern arose.
In October 2018 students were tasked with composing and creating a work of art in the Mandala style (radiating spirals) of something they found in nature. The class started by examining the importance of spiral patterns in nature, such as the construction of shells, and then needed to look for other places in the environment where this spiral pattern arose.
English
12 Honors - 63 students of 12th grade during the 2017-18 school year and 61 students of 12th grade during the 2018-19 school year
Students started the year reading, analyzing, and writing about the poetry of the English Romantics generating the year-long inquiry into how humanity relates to Nature through literature. Readings from William Wordsworth ("The World Is Too Much with Us"), Samuel Coleridge ("Frost At Midnight"), John Keats ("Ode To a Nightengale"), and Percy Shelley ("Ozymandias") were used to explore the benefits gained from maintaining a mental connection with Nature. Students conducted a number of art projects like tracing a tree and having our own pastel sketch competition of the trees behind the school (as seen in the pictures posted in this report) to look at natural elements in a deeper way. These provoked a variety of creative writings that were revised and shared with other students throughout the school. A neat prompt came from the tracing a tree activity where students, after they traced a tree, wrote a personification poem from the point of view of the tree in the moment they were tracing it. These lines were then added into the traced sketch. Students then wrote a poem about what was going through their minds while they traced the tree. These lines were then added to the sketch to make a concrete collage mixing language and image, demonstrating the bonds among all Earth life. The Romantics call for the need of a mental and spiritual connection with Nature was then contrasted to the science fiction dystopian vision of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and later to the Post-Modern fractured perspective of Ken Kesey's Chief Bromden in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Contrasting the 19th Century literature to the 20th Century literature provided a quality framework for students to explore their own relationship with Nature, on personal, social, cultural, national, and global levels.
Students started the year reading, analyzing, and writing about the poetry of the English Romantics generating the year-long inquiry into how humanity relates to Nature through literature. Readings from William Wordsworth ("The World Is Too Much with Us"), Samuel Coleridge ("Frost At Midnight"), John Keats ("Ode To a Nightengale"), and Percy Shelley ("Ozymandias") were used to explore the benefits gained from maintaining a mental connection with Nature. Students conducted a number of art projects like tracing a tree and having our own pastel sketch competition of the trees behind the school (as seen in the pictures posted in this report) to look at natural elements in a deeper way. These provoked a variety of creative writings that were revised and shared with other students throughout the school. A neat prompt came from the tracing a tree activity where students, after they traced a tree, wrote a personification poem from the point of view of the tree in the moment they were tracing it. These lines were then added into the traced sketch. Students then wrote a poem about what was going through their minds while they traced the tree. These lines were then added to the sketch to make a concrete collage mixing language and image, demonstrating the bonds among all Earth life. The Romantics call for the need of a mental and spiritual connection with Nature was then contrasted to the science fiction dystopian vision of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and later to the Post-Modern fractured perspective of Ken Kesey's Chief Bromden in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Contrasting the 19th Century literature to the 20th Century literature provided a quality framework for students to explore their own relationship with Nature, on personal, social, cultural, national, and global levels.
World Languages
French 3 and French 3 Honors - 75 students of 10th grade in 2019.
One of the themes in French 3 is the planet, the world students live in, and their role in improving the environment. To these ends, students participated in class discussions about strategies to help the local environment and then wrote interpersonal essays about their connections with and impacts to the local environment [see A]. On another occasion, students reviewed vocabulary related to natural and man-made disasters. They then researched examples of historic disasters, procured data and supporting artifacts, and produced infographics that were presented to the class [see B]. Pertaining to population and resource management, students read articles on the Tiny House Movement, developed questions, and used them to catalyze classroom discussions on the demographic, ecological, and philosophical significance of the movement. Lastly and along those same lines, students read an article on the stress global meat consumption places on ecosystems and the biosphere [see C]. Students discussed key points, argued different perspectives, and then wrote reflection and opinion pieces on the topic.
One of the themes in French 3 is the planet, the world students live in, and their role in improving the environment. To these ends, students participated in class discussions about strategies to help the local environment and then wrote interpersonal essays about their connections with and impacts to the local environment [see A]. On another occasion, students reviewed vocabulary related to natural and man-made disasters. They then researched examples of historic disasters, procured data and supporting artifacts, and produced infographics that were presented to the class [see B]. Pertaining to population and resource management, students read articles on the Tiny House Movement, developed questions, and used them to catalyze classroom discussions on the demographic, ecological, and philosophical significance of the movement. Lastly and along those same lines, students read an article on the stress global meat consumption places on ecosystems and the biosphere [see C]. Students discussed key points, argued different perspectives, and then wrote reflection and opinion pieces on the topic.
Journalism
School Newspaper Water Testing
The Wingspan is the school newspaper for Centennial High School. In January 2019 the newspaper investigated the lead levels in the drinking water of the school and ran an article exposing the unsafe levels of lead found in some of the drinking fountains throughout the building.
The Wingspan is the school newspaper for Centennial High School. In January 2019 the newspaper investigated the lead levels in the drinking water of the school and ran an article exposing the unsafe levels of lead found in some of the drinking fountains throughout the building.
Family and Consumer Science
Food and Nutrition Technology - 76 students of 9th through 12th grade in 2019.
During the agro-ecology unit, students in Food and Nutrition learned about food systems, their complexities, and the factors that influence them. Students reflected on the relationships between agriculture and the environment; investigated important issues in agriculture; compared industrial, organic, and sustainable practices in plant/ animal production; and assessed the healthfulness of the food environment. Working collaboratively, in one activity students selected an agricultural problem on a topic like the Irish potato famine, monoculture, drought, the Dust Bowl, eutrophication, and famine. Students then researched it, developed plans to address the issue, and finally wrote explanatory essay on the topic [see A]. In another activity, students developed food production chains, i.e., from farm to plate for both plants and animals, and then compared them to real-world production line examples [see B]. In a related activity, students debated the pros and cons of food production while role-playing (e.g., farmer, environmentalist, geneticist, seed banker, mother, supplier, congressman, and local and chain grocers). Lastly, students wrote reflections on agriculture related statements by important historical figures [see C].
During the agro-ecology unit, students in Food and Nutrition learned about food systems, their complexities, and the factors that influence them. Students reflected on the relationships between agriculture and the environment; investigated important issues in agriculture; compared industrial, organic, and sustainable practices in plant/ animal production; and assessed the healthfulness of the food environment. Working collaboratively, in one activity students selected an agricultural problem on a topic like the Irish potato famine, monoculture, drought, the Dust Bowl, eutrophication, and famine. Students then researched it, developed plans to address the issue, and finally wrote explanatory essay on the topic [see A]. In another activity, students developed food production chains, i.e., from farm to plate for both plants and animals, and then compared them to real-world production line examples [see B]. In a related activity, students debated the pros and cons of food production while role-playing (e.g., farmer, environmentalist, geneticist, seed banker, mother, supplier, congressman, and local and chain grocers). Lastly, students wrote reflections on agriculture related statements by important historical figures [see C].