Demographics and Description of Course
This unit is designed for my ninth grade Earth Science students. These high school freshmen are attending Jefferson High School in Daly City, California, and they come to us from a handful of middle schools both within the district as well as inter-district transfers from San Francisco and East Bay school districts. Our student population is ethnically diverse; however, the majority of students reflect the local population demographics with 44% Hispanic or Latino ethnicities and 32% Filipino as reported in the 2010-2011 School Accountability Report Card (SARC) 3; according to the same report, the remaining ethnic constituents of Jefferson High School are 7% two or more races, 6% Black/African American, 6% Asian, 3% Pacific Islander, and 3% White (not Hispanic). 60% are classified as Economically Disadvantaged, approximately 70% come from families where English is not the primary language, whereas 46% of students are designated as English Language Learners, 6% are identified as Students with Disabilities. The percentage of our students on the subsidized meal plan is historically high, with 65% qualifying in 2011-2012. 4
Earth Science at Jefferson High School is intended as an introductory course to upper level college prep science courses. It is designed to ready students for advancement to these science courses by providing both foundational knowledge and basic skills through a diverse curriculum across four main branches of study: Geology, Meteorology, Oceanography, and Astronomy. This unit in Earth Science is designed as a precursor to both the Geology and Meteorology units, and as such will be covered in the beginning of the yearlong curriculum. I will deliver information that will recur throughout the course curriculum, namely in the aforementioned branches of Earth Science. However, the content of the unit is applicable to other course curricula within the physical and environmental sciences, and could easily be incorporated therein. The relevance of the unit to course curriculum will be further discussed in the Rationale and Background sections below.
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