Welcome to Secondary Science! Open School's Advanced Placement Environmental Science class gets serious studying Crosby Park's floodplain forest. Teachers: Megan Hall, Tom Totushek, and Anna Butler Open School was founded on idea that kids learn better by doing and our program is full of opportunities to experience science through engaging hands-on inquiry. Students in grades 7 through 12 can choose from a wide range of thematic class choices – many not taught anywhere else in the district. Classes include: Marine Science, Astronomy, Mechanics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, A.P. Environmental Science, and A.P. Biology, all of which fulfill and go beyond the Minnesota State Science Standards using creative, inquiry-based methods. Favorite Classroom Activities In our Biology class, students extract and study DNA from bananas, and then make smoothies! In our Physics class, we fly hot air balloons and build bottle rockets! In our Earth Science class, we travel to Lilydale to gather fossils from an ancient inland sea! Beyond the Classroom: Guest Speakers and Field Trips With exciting scientific discoveries happening all around, we bring working scientists from all fields to our classrooms and take many field trips to see science in action. Some thought-provoking speakers and excursions include: Zoo Mobile teachers who bring live red-tailed hawks and giant snakes An entomologist who shows us how to control plant pests without pesticides in A.P. Environmental Science Trips to Como Zoo to study primate behavior for a Biology unit on animal and human behavior A marine biology day at the Minnesota Zoo, where we meet dolphins, pet sharks, and interview a scuba diver while he's inside a coral reef Did you know? Open School now offers Advanced Placement science!