Profile Coordinator First Choice Science: Chris Roderick E-mail: Local: 1758 Office: 7A.10

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First Choice Science is:

• part of the Dawson Science Program
• a means of satisfying the Health Science Profile and the Pure and Applied Profile requirements

First Choice Science has:

• an integrated teaching and learning approach
• a focus on the intellectual development of individual students
• an emphasis on teacher-student interaction for academic guidance
• an enriched curriculum, higher standards, and an intellectually challenging milieu

In First Choice Science, a student will:

• take all science courses with the same group of students
• be pre-registered in their mathematics and science courses
• share the same teachers and study area
• participate in a regularly scheduled seminar series
• have a resource person (Profile Coordinator) available for academic advice and help
• develop the skills for presenting scientific work publicly
• have an early introduction to the use of email, electronic conferencing, and other GroupWare features

Selection Criteria:

Admission to First Choice Science (FCS) is by invitation only. Only students who apply to Dawson College as their first choice college will be considered for admission. To be considered for admission the following minimum grade requirements must be met:

• 80% overall Secondary V Average
• 85% each in Secondary V Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics

Admission to FCS is contingent on the spaces available and is therefore extremely competitive – achieving the above minimums may not be sufficient. Students deemed eligible will receive a letter inviting them to join FCS.

Enrichment Activities:

• Enrichment seminars are scheduled every Wednesday 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. These are usually presentations given by invited speakers from academia and industry on topics covering recent developments in science and humanities. These sessions sometimes include activities, competitions and debates, to name a few.
• Students must publicly present one component of their Comprehensive Examination portfolio. More information on the Comprehensive Examination is available in the Science Students' Handbook, available online. FCS students must either make an oral presentation of their work, or present their work at a poster session.
• Students are encouraged to participate in the various internal and external science competitions available to the college student, as well as in various College activities (e.g., athletics, student government, multi-disciplinary collaborations). These opportunities are promoted at the Seminar sessions, with detailed information being made available online to students.

Philosophy and Practice:

It is the philosophy of FCS that the needs of those dedicated students wishing to expand their intellectual horizons beyond the norm be addressed. Equally important is the need to develop in each student a leadership potential, the ability to communicate clearly and effectively, and the ability to develop ideas and present them in a public forum. To this effect:

• Many topics are treated at a more sophisticated level than in the regular science stream.
• Active student participation through classroom discussion, office hour meetings, and extracurricular activities is encouraged.
• Students are encouraged to enter and are supported in their participation in provincial, national and international biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and physics competitions.
• Class tests may query students at a more sophisticated level than the regular stream sections.
• The enrichment nature of FCS does not give faculty a license to overwhelm students with excessive or inappropriately difficult material. It is understood, however, that the student will be an aggressive learner, intellectually curious, and highly motivated to expand their horizons.

Students' Grades:

The average grades of students enrolled in FCS are, in general, considerably higher those in the regular science stream [click this link to view]. The advantages resulting from this profile of study is that students will be better prepared after graduation to meet the rigors of University life, ensuring a smoother transition, and equipping them to pursue more advanced studies at University.

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