Anaheim : School Gets Grant for Science Classes

Canyon High School has been awarded more than $300,000 from the state Department of Education to begin a new science curriculum allowing students to pursue career-oriented studies.

The program, beginning in the 1994-95 academic year, will let 11th- and 12th-grade students specialize in medical, environmental or engineering aspects of science.

“Our hope is to provide more relevance to what the kids are learning,” said Principal Ralph Jameson. “We hope to compose learning situations for these kids that more than anything else will take them out of high school with strong thinking and problem-solving skills.”

The school will receive $32,000 from the state to plan and develop teaching techniques for the new curriculum, Jameson said. Then the school will receive $300,000 over three years.

Jameson said the high school will begin testing new students in the eighth grade to determine their career interests. After taking traditional science classes in the 9th and 10th grades, all Canyon students will be encouraged to enter one of the three science tracks.

“We hope the outcome will be that students who are not necessarily science-oriented will enter this program and pursue this program and that will keep them involved longer,” Jameson said.

Jameson said Canyon High’s teachers and administrators have been working on a new science curriculum for more than two years and have secured commitments from such corporations as General Motors to work with the school’s 1,700 students.

“You have to build an idea of where you are going and then look for money instead of looking for money and then trying to develop goals,” Jameson said.