COURSE PURPOSE:
To provide a capstone experience for students of the Bachelor of Science in Natural Science and satisfy the subject matter of the Single Subject Teaching Credential in Science. The course in designed to provide and interdisciplinary applications of concepts of science in the classroom and in the field using integration of both physical and biological sciences material while studying a specific ecological system.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: The course is constructed to provide for written and oral communication and promote quantitative reasoning through scientific investigation and complex analysis of science problems associated with making informed decisions. The course is designed to cross tradition departmental divisions and integrate science as a whole.

The student will be required to formulate hypotheses, develop questions, observe, compare, order, relate, infer, draw conclusions based on accumulated data from study and experimentation. Curiosity, open-mindedness, and objectivity are encouraged for better student understanding and to exam cause and effect relationships.

Project based group study will consist of the following: 1) problem identification, 2) experimental design with controls and variables, 3) theoretical models which include physical and life science, 4) formulation of/ and hypotheses testing, 5) observation and measurement., 6) data analysis and evaluation, and project presentation as an oral group poster and an individual written paper.

Mechanisms of living system including molecular, cellular, and organismic levels of life and physical science. The reactions and interactions of structure of mater, chemistry and physics including the transformation of energy involved in mechanical, thermal, optical, electrical, and magnetic. Students are encouraged to make decisions, to utilize inquiry and to work in collaborative cooperative learning groups.