By Uy Pham
Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year, Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) will offer two new science elective courses, Advanced Placement (AP) Physics 2 and Forensic Science, pending student interest and course requests. Additionally, high-achieving and selected freshmen Honors Biology students may take a summer advancement class in preparation to take AP Chemistry during their sophomore school year.
Read more to find out key information regarding each course.
AP Physics 2
Currently, FVHS offers three physics courses: Physics, AP Physics 1 and AP Physics C: Mechanics. Both current AP Physics courses cover one semester of a typical introductory-level college physics course. The difference is that AP Physics 1 is algebra-based, while AP Physics C involves elements of calculus.
Following the retirement of AP Physics C teacher Jeff Larson after this school year, the physics teachers have elected to offer AP Physics 2 instead of AP Physics C. The course will cover different content compared to AP Physics 1, including units regarding thermodynamics, electric circuits and quantum physics.
AP Physics 2 represents the algebra-based version of the second semester of an introductory college physics course.
“The idea is that if a student takes both AP Physics 1 and 2, they’ll get a full year of physics content over those two courses, as opposed to AP Physics 1 which is the first half of the content, and then taking AP Physics C which is the same content [as AP Physics 1] with calculus applied,” FVHS Science Department Coordinator Lehua Werdel said.
AP Physics C has been long offered at FVHS, while AP Physics 1 has only been offered for five years, as the College Board has modified physics course options over the years.
Students will be required to pass the AP Physics 1 course as a prerequisite to advance to AP Physics 2. AP Physics 1 teacher Debbie Dickinson will also teach the AP Physics 2 course.
“Any physics course is good for anybody majoring in science or math because typically physics is required in college for any math or science major, including health fields,” Werdel said. “Because physics courses in college are notoriously really difficult, it’s beneficial to have an introduction to physics [in high school] prior to going to college.”
Forensic Science
In the new forensic science course, students will explore the science of forensics, which is crime scene investigation. The course will satisfy the “D” Science requirement of the University of California’s A-G admission requirements as a biological science.
“Everybody’s watched TV shows and movies on crime scene investigation,” Werdel said. “The course is actually a blend of biology, chemistry and physics … That’s the nature of the type of things you’re investigating. You’ll need physics to understand splatter patterns, chemistry for toxicology and analysis and biology for anatomy and physiology.”
Forensic science offers a real-world exploration of scientific concepts through situations such as murder mysteries and other case studies. Techniques such as DNA electrophoresis, hair analysis, fingerprinting, blood spatter, decomposition and toxicology will be introduced in the course.
At the end of the year, students can expect to utilize the skills they have acquired throughout the year to analyze a simulated crime setup.
Current biology teacher Deborah Brown will be teaching the course with prior experience teaching a forensic course in Long Beach Unified School District.
This course will be offered as a third or fourth-year elective science course. Students will need to pass one year of a physical science and a biological science course to be eligible to take the course.
“We’re trying to capture every kid’s interest, [especially] those just not wanting to do a third or fourth year science because they’re not interested in what we’re offering,” Werdel said. “We thought this would be a good course to offer something a little bit different. It also works well for the students in the criminal law pathway and would be an interesting science class to take with [Criminal Law].”
AP Chemistry Summer Advancement
For various high-achieving freshman Honors Biology students, this summer advancement course will serve as an introduction to chemistry and prepare the students to have the foundations to take AP Chemistry in their sophomore year.
The summer chemistry course will be taught in person during the FVHS Summer School session by current chemistry teacher Lauren Cook. Cook has designed a curriculum to teach certain fundamentals within the AP Chemistry course to prepare students for the transition to a rigorous chemistry course during the school year.
“We’re trying to grow AP Chemistry enrollment, especially for top-tier students already on the honors pathway in science,” Werdel said. “We want to maintain that without them having to go to a summer chemistry course at Golden West College or a private school where they have to pay for it.”
In past years, qualified freshmen would have to take a chemistry course at Golden West College during the summer, which often conflicted with the school year, or a summer course at a private school, which consists of tuition costs, to progress to AP Chemistry in their sophomore year.
The course will not be offered for academic credit, but student performance will be taken into consideration regarding whether students should progress to AP Chemistry or regular chemistry.
“Hopefully, with the right support, they can still find success … We’ll see how the kids do, but we’re excited to try to get more sophomores in the course,” Werdel said. “We’re trying to make sure kids are really aware of the fact that this course is rigorous and hard, and you’ve got to be resilient. You’re going to fail a bit and find your successes as you go. We want kids [to be] successful.”
Prerequisites for the summer course include grades in Honors Biology and the student’s math course, such as Algebra 2 Honors and Accelerated Geometry. Student eligibility will be dependent on their math and science performance.
If students have further questions about any of these courses, Werdel invites students to contact her at (lwerdel@hbuhsd.edu) or visit her in room 212, along with contacting their respective guidance specialist.
