Ninth grade Biology students recently visited Central Park to study the essential question, "What is life?" "What do we have in common with trees and bacteria? Why aren't we made of a single large cell? In a recent assignment, 9th grade Biology students used microscopes and directly observed the local surroundings in Central Park. Students studied both the similarities across life forms and the diversity of life forms in the biosphere. Next, students explored the essential question "Why are cells small?" Using cubes as models of a cell, students investigated how size impacts the movement of resources required for life while further developing their data manipulation and presentation skills.

In Advanced Biology, 11th and 12th grade students are investigating how altitude and other factors impact breathing, seeking to answer the question, "Why is it so hard to catch your breath at high altitude? In a recent assignment, students first explored the essential question "How does air get into our lungs?" by participating in an engineering challenge to expand a balloon using negative pressure. Next, students explored the query, "How does high altitude impact the concentration of gases in the blood?" Finally, to better understand the impacts of high altitude on the human body, students read Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer and spent time in Central Park discussing the book.