I cannot believe we are already approaching Week 4 of Oasis Academy Biology and Physics! Time has flown by! I continue to brag to my fellow colleagues, family, and friends about the quality of students attending our charter!

The Biology students are continuing to work their way through The Chemistry of Life! This week we will revisit chemical reactions and talk about enzymes, while reviewing food labels and learning about calorimetry. Our first project based learning experience has begun with our driving question: Is the statement often heard by dieters, "I've completely given up sugar," actually possible?

The Physics students are continuing their unit: Motion in One Direction! This week we will be discussing acceleration and objects in free-fall. Our first project is underway: mousetrap cars! The purpose of this project is two-fold, first to reinforce the concepts of motion and velocity, and second to understand how project based learning works. For many of the students in the sophomore class, this is their first real experience with project based learning as they are brand new to Oasis Academy.

Project based learning is the focus of this school and should be the meat & potatoes of a unit, not the dessert at the end. For those who are unfamiliar with what I am talking about, please check out What is Project Based Learning  http://bie.org/about/what_pbl.