Core Science-Humanities

3rd Grade

Throughout the year, students work to answer the questions, “Who are the ancestors of Big Rock?  “How were the rocks of Big Rock Campus formed?”  “What are indigneous ways of thinking?” through an in depth study of cycles, symbiosis, landforms, rocks, minerals, and The Tongva and Chumash tribes. 

4th Grade

Throughout the year, students work to answer the questions, “What does it mean to be connected?”  “Who am I?” “Where have I come from?” through an in depth study of a variety of topics including: systems, cultural identity, the vascular plant system, chaparral plants, and ancestors.

5th Grade

Throughout the year, students work to answer the questions, “How does life persist?” “What does it mean to be human?” through an in depth study of a variety of topics including: balance, cooperation, the human body, human prehistory, and timelines.

6th Grade

Throughout the year, students work to answer the questions, “How do (eco)systems take care of themselves?” “What determines the decisions a society makes?” through an in depth study of a variety of topics including: self-regulation, values, Southern California ecosystems, and cultural time periods. 

7th Grade

Throughout the year, students work to answer the questions, “How do living systems respond to stress?” “What caused climate change?” through an in depth study of a variety of topics including: stress, power, the evolution of life, and the Industrial Revolution.

8th Grade

Throughout the year, students work to answer the questions, “How does the idea of systems thinking affect how I tend to myself, others and the world?” “How might a symbiotic worldview, if widely adopted, change people's attitudes towards the Earth, and our fellow species?” through an in depth study of a variety of topics including: interdependence, social justice, regenerative agriculture, government systems, and racial conflict.

Environmental Science:
California Field Ecology

In this course, students explore foundational concepts of environmental science to understand the Earth as a living system. Topics of study include: The Earth System, Principles of Ecosystems, Energy and Energy Flow, Nutrients and Nutrient Cycling,

Atmospheric Dynamics, and Global Climate Change and the Carbon Cycle.

Quantum Physics
in Living Systems

In this class, students are  introduced to a recent, but rapidly developing interdisciplinary research field known as quantum biology which investigates the role of quantum effects in biological systems. Topics of study include: Quantum Coherence, Quantum Entanglement, Quantum Tunneling, and Superposition.

Atmospheric Chemistry

In this class, chemistry fundamentals are blended with an understanding of how elements and compounds cycle through the Earth. Topics of study include: The Periodic table & Atomic Structure, atoms, compounds, ions, chemical reactions, chemical bonds, synthetic and natural existence of elements and compounds, impact of biogeochemical cycling (carbon, nitrogen, water), and composition & layers of atmosphere & ability to host life.

Holistic Science:
Plant Apprenticeship

Students look at the history of different ways of knowing including mechanistic and holistic science. This exploration is grounded in a Plant Apprenticeship, in which students chose to become the student of a particular plant species that grows at Manzanita by integrating traditional scientific approaches with experiential and intuitive processes.

Indigenous Resistance History

This course explores events and relationships in US History involving the continent’s original inhabitants. Students study the context of forced relocation of 12,000 Navajo people in Northern Arizona in order to make room for coal mining. The work culminates in a visit to the community of Big Mountain, where some people have remained on their ancestral lands and been continually affected by this relocation order for the last 50 years.

History of Empires

In this course, students explore the history of empire. They identify its characteristics and themes and throughout the semester analyze which current social, political, and environmental issues today can be attributed to the legacy of past empires.

The biggest goal is to better understand how and why we as humans began to move away from nature many thousands of years ago and created societies dominated by materialism, military conquest, expansion, and supremacy and how a return to nature can help us to heal ourselves and the world at large.

Colonialism and Consumerism

In this class, students explore the history of colonialism, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries, in relation to many of the characteristics central to capitalism. Students are encouraged to consider the beneficial and harmful consequences of capitalist practices, but also enquire how the legacy of colonialism, particularly here in the Americas, relates to many of the most pressing issues the United States and world face today, including wealth, poverty, racism, education, health, and the devastating impact on our environment. 

Gender and Race Studies

In this course, students interrogate and examine the ways in which race, gender, and class shape the institutions of family, education, the legal system, immigration, citizenship, as well as the economy