Dobson High School - Equus Yearbook (Mesa, AZ)

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Scattered Across the Campus Math Copes with Increasing Numbers Solving algebra equations in a room decorated with Engish posters wasn't unusual to the students whose math classes were in the English department. Classes were also held in the agriculture and business departments and the portables. Due to the large number of students taking math there simply wasn't enough room for everyone to fit in the math depart- ment alone. Increased enrolment also meant the addition of five new teachers: Ms. Becker, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Crab- tree, Ms. Pendergast and Mr. Scott. This caused an office built for thirteen teachers to be used by nine- teen. Algebra A and a one semester trigonometry class were new this year. Algebra A was a new approach to algebra designed to make it easier to understand, remember and enjoy. Students who wanted to ac- celerate themselves in math could have taken the fast-paced one semester trigonometry class. The consumer math textbooks were also replaced. To increase enthusiasm for math, a display case for students' work was purchased this year. With the math department's continued work on improving their department, they lived up to their motto, Math Department — We Make a Difference. Design by Christine Gates. Photos by Steve Wilbur. During a pre-algebra class, Ms. Oney assists freshman Charles Sommer with his homework. Step by step, they follow the work involved in solving an equation. Moth Acadomlcs 169

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Simply tapping a few carefully select- ed keys on the keyboard, brings infor- mation to the screen of senior Michael Yakerson’s computer. Trying to finish their homework before the end of the hour, algebra students in Ms. Szafranski's class concentrate on their work. Solving and explaining problems on the blackboard, Mr. Brenneman helps to make the challenging class of cal- culus easier to understand. 168 Moth Academics

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Perceptive Thinking Students Enlightened To Facts of Science Science was more than observations and note- taking. Once in the science department, a person could try to ruin their lab manual with chemicals, cut up a frog, accidently break a beaker, and learn about their lab partner. For some students, writing was a targe part of their science class. Taking down everything caused some people uneasiness. Debbie Hale worried, I hoped my observations were right and they made sense. Sean O'Rourke didn't fike the snakes in his desert biol- ogy class. He admitted, They were al over in class, and I hated them. The teachers in the science department tried to make science an enjoyable class. Mr. Wylie, a teacher of consumer chemistry and earth science, took his students on an informative field trip to the Grand Canyon. The annual trip was a good exper- ience for them. The classes in science went on many field trips this past year. Every Friday, science teachers wore their science shirts. The back of the shirt was a picture of them all wearing a big grin. The shirt represented their special interest in science and their endeavor to make sci- ence an interesting class to their students. Design by Tracey Metcalfe. Photos by Andy Phelps. Mr. Barrett explains the concept of dilution of free fall in terms of the Pythagorean sequence to his fifth hour phys- ics class. 170 Science Academics