Middle School Biology

Middle School Biology

Given the vast diversity of life on earth, it comes as no surprise that the study of biology has opportunities for every inquiring mind. The middle school biology department at Shanghai High School International Division is designed to make science fun and exciting by bringing new hands-on activities into the classrooms, and to make teaching and learning science a more enriching and rewarding experience for both students and teachers. Through daily homework assignments, lab experiments, projects, and regular exams, students will gain a basic understanding of how scientific knowledge is acquired, analyzed, and supported in the fields of biology.

Curriculum:

The curriculum provided by middle school biology department includes General Science for Grade 1 to Grade 5 students, Cell and Genetics for Grade 6 students, Human Physiology for Grade 7 students, Botany & Zoology for Grade 8 students. Different optional classes are also given by this curriculum, and they are weird science and science inquiry in lab for Grade 5 & 6 students, biology workshop for Grade 7 & 8 students.

Outcomes to achieve:

1. Understanding of biologically based personal or social problems and issues, such as health, nutrition, environmental management, and human adaptation.

2. Ability to resolve problems and issues in a biosocial context involving value or ethical consideration.

3. Development of students’ skills in making careful observations, collecting and analyzing data, thinking logically and critically, and making quantitative interpretations.

4. Ability to identify sources of reliable information in biology.

5. Understanding of basic biological principles, such as cells, genetics, evolution, human body systems, diseases, diversity of life.

Faculties:

Faculties in the middle school biology department are recognized for their excellence in teaching. All of the teachers are certified, all holding master's degrees. They bring energy, enthusiasm and creativity to the classroom. They are aimed to help students to develop problem-solving, critical thinking, and analytical skills in a lab-based setting.

Achievements:

Biology is one of the most popular courses in SHSID. The faculties in Biology department have created an environment of high achievement without antagonistic competitiveness, where academic rigor and creativity are celebrated and supported through optional classes and after school activities. Each year, we have teachers instruct students who want to participate in the Shanghai Adolescents Science and Technology Contest, and Brain Bee. We have won the first prizes in many competitions. To provide students in our school a even broader platform for scientific research and innovative thinking, in 2015, we have collaborated with the Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences (SIPPE), students in SHSID can join into the research team at SIPPE, and can carry out their individual investigations under the direction of researchers and scientists in SIPPE.