By Lucy Hurlbut ‘14

A  new GeoScience curriculum has been created for MCPS, and Sherwood is one of four schools offering the course this year.

The class is taught by science teacher Glenn Gerhardt, who also teaches Astronomy and Physics. Students can take the class for the whole year or just one semester, because each semester discusses a different aspect of GeoScience. GeoScience is a broad field, and geologists study many aspects of nature such as oceans, rocks, fossils, the atmosphere and weather.

In the first semester, called Paleontology and Resources, students examine how mining works and what resources on Earth can be the most beneficial. Students also study the many layers of the Earth and the different types of rocks such as igneous and metamorphic rocks. Instead of a traditional multiple-choice semester exam, students do a final project. In groups, students choose an exo-planet (a fictional planet based on a real planet) in order to find out what kinds of resources exist, what the current conditions of the planet are, and the history of the planet.

The second semester is called Oceanography and Earth Systems. For the final project in the second semester, students design a functional ocean glider that they will get to test out.

“Students should take GeoScience, because it’s definitely hands-on. It is project-based, so there aren’t traditional tests, and no scantrons. Everything you learn goes toward completing a final project [each quarter],” said Gerhardt.

The GeoScience curriculum is not yet rigidly set, which is a positive for Gerhardt. “I have more freedom to try things out … it is a challenge … but I am happy I get to teach [it],” he said.

Many students have found the class more interesting than they thought it would.

“My ESOL teacher said this GeoScience class would be the perfect class for me, because I don’t like science much, but I did want to learn more about the Earth. I do like the class,” said sophomore Samuela Fotso.

Junior Erik Ortega’s counselor suggested he take the class. What he thought would be just another science class was much more than that. “It’s a great hands-on experience that makes the class more engaging and interactive,” he noted.

The curriculum may be in the process of being finalized, but students appear to be enjoying it so far. It will be the teachers and students of the four schools offering the course who test it’s effectiveness. It may succeed, so the class may be back again next year, this time perhaps with a more definite idea of the curriculum as a whole.