Science

The scientific method has profoundly affected every aspect of human existence, and may well decide the future of our species. With cutting-edge facilities, advanced technology, and ready access to the renowned Alf Museum, Webb's science program gives students countless opportunities to practice real science -- in the classroom, in the laboratory, and in the field. Webb students have studied coral reef systems along the coasts of Central America, discovered new prehistoric species on our fossil-prospecting Peccary Trips, explored Mayan ruins, and even presented their findings at international conferences.

Webb science classes emphasize hands-on participation and examples drawn from daily life, building students' mastery of key principles and introducing them to advanced concepts and techniques. Single-sex classes in the ninth and tenth grades ensure that boys and girls are prepared to participate on equal terms in our coeducational upper-level classes.

Whether in chemistry, biology, and physics or electives like environmental science, paleontology, and oceanography, Webb science classes spark students' curiosity and foster a lifelong appreciation of the ways the scientific process allows us to understand and transform our world. 

The Raymond Alf Museum of Paleontology acts as a unique resource for students of The Webb Schools providing the opportunity to learn all about paleontology. In return, the museum benefits from a large workforce of enthusiastic and able student collectors and curators. Students at Webb learn about paleontology in three settings: they participate in the collection of fossils on peccary trips, they enroll in classes taught by museum staff, and they participate in the museum after-school program (preparing and curating specimens).

Peccary Trips

Since the late 1930s, fossil collecting trips for Webb students have been known as "peccary trips." During the academic year, most peccary trips go to Barstow, CA. Students learn collection techniques such as prospecting (walking and looking for specimens lying exposed on the ground), quarrying (removing a specimen from rock using tools) and screen-washing (using a screen to sift through rock to recover small fossils).

Summer Peccary Research Trip

Every summer the museum offers the Summer Peccary Research Trip, co-led by Museum Director Don Lofgren and Curator Andy Farke. This trip is designed for students who want to be part of a field research crew, but at the same time want to have an adventurous experience. Over the next few years, the museum will concentrate its summer efforts on collecting in the Kaiparowits Formation of southern Utah and the Renova Formation of Montana.

Museum After-School Program
Webb students have the opportunity to participate in an after-school program at the Alf Museum where they work in the Preparation Lab, preparing fossils found on peccary trips. Here, one might find them extracting a Miocene horse tooth from hard sandstone using an air scribe, or preparing a giant turtle shell for display. Students learn a variety of professional techniques for cleaning, identifying and repairing specimens.

 

 

Since Ray Alf’s time, Webb students and teachers have been looking at the stars from the hilltops. In the 1930s, they looked through Alf’s hand-made telescopes. Today, students have access to a much wider range of technology for viewing both the stars and the sun.
Hefner Observatory
Hefner Observatory

Under the direction of science teacher, Steve Sittig and his father Stuart Sittig, and with the assistance of Webb students and teachers, the Observatory was completely rebuilt in the summer of 2000. The dome was constructed and the technology upgraded through the generosity of an endowment established by Robert A. Hefner III '53, after whom the Observatory is named. The dome now houses a fully-reconditioned Celestron-14 telescope - one of the most powerful amateur telescopes available - as well as a Celestron-8.5.

The Hefner Observatory also features digital and video cameras attached to the scopes that allow imaging of the planets and the moon, as well as a solar filter which enables students to look directly at the sun.

A storage shed was added in 2004 to store Webb’s famous 24-inch trailered Newtonian telescope, designed by Webb teacher David Chandler in the 1970s. Its portability allows it to accompany peccary trips to the high desert, where it provides stunning views of faint, deep-space objects in the pristine skies near Barstow.

At an elevation of approximately 1,200 feet, the Observatory is midway on the mountain range between the renowned Mt. Wilson Observatory above Pasadena and Pomona College's 40" scope at Table Mountain. According to Sittig, Caltech in Pasadena has a comparable-size telescope on the roof of one of their buildings.

In addition to the telescope, Sittig and students have constructed what they believe to be one of the world's largest armillary spheres on the sight of the old Observatory. The armillary sphere, whose use dates back to the middle ages, is an intricate skeleton of tubes and wood that is used to project longitude and latitude lines into space and construct a map of the celestial sphere.

The Observatory serves as a learning environment for Webb astronomy students, but Sittig also enjoys hosting informal "star parties" for interested stargazers in the Webb community.

The paleontology program and the Alf Museum research programs continue to be among Webb's greatest and most unique assets.  The study of paleontology is even incorporated into freshman science as an introduction to museum research.

Beyond paleontology, the program's major strengths continue to be teaching expertise and the expansion of class offerings, including AP Environmental Science, Honors Advanced Research, and Oceanography/Marine Biology.

Science facilities are excellent and include a variety of well-equipped labs for biology and chemistry, a SEM (scanning electron microscope), an Observatory (astronomy), and more.