Dobson High School - Equus Yearbook (Mesa, AZ)

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f? OW 2 GOOD R U? 1. A BEAKER IS: A-----a glass container. B a muppet character. C the class geek's nickname. 2. WHAT CAUSES AN ECHO? A I don’t know. A I don’t know. A I don’t know. 3. SCIENCE STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO WEAR GO- GLES TO: A protect their eyes. B amuse bored science teachers. C pay tribute to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Striving for perfection in physics. Bob Redden makes sure his mea- surements are pricise. cademics 165

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Sophomores Sharon Anderson Well on her way to becoming a nu and Julie Burton discover how clear scientist, senior Terry Spen- many calories were in that ham- cer is careful not to mix the wrong burger they had for lunch. chemicals. A new approach to teaching biology was working in groups and using o TEXT BOOKS No complaints came from the biology classes when the students found out they weren’t using books. Instead, they used a mo- torcycle with no en- gine. “We posed a problem, let the kids solve it, then intro- duced new terms that interrelated,” explained Mr. Cos- tenson. “This con- cept, the learning cy- cle, allowed us to cover all material with no books, less homework, and it was a lot more fun.” Along with biology, other “The labs were fun when I finally understood what I was doing. I just didn’t have much interest in sci- ence because I don’t really think that I will use it that much in the future.” —Ava Nance classes progressed too. A 15th chemistry class was added due to the growth of interest, resulting in the most chemistry students ever enrolled. Over all, the science depart- ment was just too good to keep under wraps! Design by Kristin Johnson. Photos by Tawny a Chitwood. 164 S cience

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Through the rush and the hurry to finish that last minute math assignment, the students found IT’s Not AS EASY Talking to math students was much different than you would have expected. When Ms. Nor- ris’ calculus class was asked “Do you have fun in this class, or do you just take it just to prepare for college? they responded with “Do we have fun? We have a blast!” But math wasn’t all fun and games as many people learned. The students worked hard for the scores they received. They searched for formulas, postu- lates, definitions and worked through problems again and again. “I learned more this year than 1 ever had in the past,” explained sophomore Albert Hidalgo. Among other things, the math de- partment has tried to accomplish getting students in classes they will be most successful in. “Our department has had the highest semester scores in the district,” commented math head Nancy Theile, further proving their motto, “A department that counts. Design by Leigh Pyper. Photos by Laura Davis. 166 2 a,h Math gave me the opportunity to expand my thoughts to levels I had never reached. -David Taylor