Faculty – Sciences
Biology
Biology is widely recognised as the study of life and living matter. One of the three main scientific disciplines, Biology can be divided into numerous specialised fields.
It is fun to study biology. It focuses on:-
What is life?
How do we protect it?
What is DNA?
How and why we resemble our parents and how different are we from others. In the world of millions of people what makes us unique?
Can we control our thoughts and emotion?
If, all these thoughts intrigue you then you should really study Biology. The one common notion, that comes in everyone’s mind is that one needs to study Biology if one wants to be a doctor. But, that’s not the case. There are many career areas in the subject, like bioinformatics, bioengineering, bio-robotics, biotechnology. If you love scuba diving, you can be a marine biologist and help in studying, understanding and saving the marine life. If you are a travel enthusiast, why not change it into your passion and become a wildlife biologist.
In BCS, the teachers in the department help you to achieve your dreams, and find these answers by helping you to understand and the theory and also the practical aspects. The students are motivated to make various projects, which are put up for exhibition, helping and nourishing them by giving wings to their thoughts.
Chemistry
The understanding of basic chemical and scientific ideas has assumed greater significance than ever before for living in a technological society and for understanding and dealing with the problems and issues of everyday life. Chemical literacy is needed to understand, evaluate and make decisions about many current and future issues. Chemical education at school needs both to help students understand and use basic chemical concepts.
The endeavour of the Chemistry department has always been to equip a student to meet the challenges of an increasingly complex and science dependent world.
Right from the Middle school to the Senior level our students are exposed to chemical experimentation and knowledge in the well-equipped Chemistry laboratory under the guidance and watchful supervision of Chemistry teachers. In the Chemistry lab, students are taught the art of handling various chemicals safely. In the Annual Science exhibition students produce fascinating projects related to the field of chemistry and perform live experiments in front of the guests and parents. No stone is left unturned towards providing able guidance, support and exposure to the students regarding the importance of chemical education in their daily lives.
Computer Science
The Computer Science department provides students with a broad and deep foundation in theory and modern software and hardware concepts as well as introducing students to latest programming languages and paradigms.
Students have an opportunity to engage in significant programming and software development work, learning to innovate, and we also offer students opportunities to collaborate on both traditional and latest trending concepts in information technology.
They begin by learning about the Microsoft Office applications, Scratch programming, HTML, computer networking and its components, internet tools, app development, cloud technology, flowcharting and introduction to a programming language at Middle school level (6 to 8).
At ICSE level (9 and 10), only Science students can opt for Computer Applications and are introduced to object-oriented concepts and basic programming in JAVA.
Pupils from non-medical Science stream at ISC level (11 and 12) can opt for Computer Science and do the advanced concepts of object-oriented programming in Java, Boolean algebra, hardware concepts, data structures and file handling. These concepts prepare them for engineering subjects at junior level.
Computer Science is about logic, problem solving and creativity. With every passing year, students form a strong foundation in the subject. It helps them to build the fundamental concept of programming. It enables the students to gradually build their understanding levels. The main objective of the curriculum is to help the students to enhance their logical and analytical thinking and foster creativity. The students learn to create their own applications.
Bishop Cotton School has a state of the art laboratory, where the students are exposed to the latest technology. A separate unit which is called the “Internet Browsing Centre” is set up for the students to browse internet at an appropriate time which is set by the school curriculum.
Environmental Studies
Environment literally means the surroundings in which we are living. Environment includes all those things on which we are directly or indirectly dependent for our survival, whether it is living components like animals, plants or non-living components like air, water, soil. Environmental education connects us to the world around us and imparts knowledge about the current situation and future prospects of nature.
Our main aim to teach the subject involves:
1. To help students acquire a basic understanding of environment and its associated problems.
2. To help students acquire a set of values and feelings of concern for environment.
3. To develop skills for identifying and solving environmental problems.
4. To provide an opportunity to be actively involved at all levels in working towards the resolution of environmental problems.
5. To learn how to use natural resources more efficiently and sustainably.
6. To know the interrelationship between organisms in populations and communities.
7. To develop an appreciation of diversity, to understand the meaning of ‘Biodiversity’ and its importance and how to conserve biodiversity.
8. To motivate students for participating in environment protection and environment improvement. Whether it is spreading awareness against plastic use or air pollution, various activities are conducted beyond- the –classroom course to make students understand the significance of protecting the environment.
9.To encourage pupils to examine and interpret the environment from a variety of perspectives- physical, geographical, biological , sociological , economic, political , technological ,historical , aesthetic and ethical.
10. To understand the impacts of development on environment and how to reduce it. In this direction, here at BCS, our students opting for environmental studies, take part in Environmental Science seminars organized by the State Government from time to time. They are encouraged to lead a tree plantation project and to maintain the aesthetic and natural beauty of the environment in and around the school campus. The Nature club has been a very important part of the Environmental Studies Department, wherein students are actively involved in taking care of and maintaining the ecology of the campus.
To sum up, the main aim of the subject is to expose students to the real-life world, natural and social, in which they live; to enable them to analyse, evaluate, and draw inferences about problems and concerns related to environment; to add, wherever possible, to our understanding of environmental issues.
Physics
I am just a child, who has never grown up I still keep asking these how and why questions. Occasionally I find the answer.—Stephen Hawking
The goal of physics is to understand how things work. We offer a Physics course that prepare students for a range of educational and career goals from medicine to engineering or working towards a degree in Physics, from research or simply to broaden their scientific literacy.
Studying Physics strengthens quantitative reasoning and problem-solving skills that are valuable in areas beyond Physics.
Physics at Bishop Cotton is taught at three levels, first Middle school (classes 7 and 8), second ICSE level (classes 9 and 10), and third is ISC level (classes 11 and 12).
In the Middle school pupils are exposed to role of Physics in their daily life. They try to understand the role of light, sound, heat, electricity and motion. They start understanding scientific terms used and reasons behind their observation of events around them. We promote Audio-Video and first-hand experience by taking them to laboratory to try out different lab activities, which they love, the most. When they come to ICSE level, performing experiments and problem solving becomes a fundamental part of their physics learning. At this stage they understand the effect of experimental errors and they learn different ways to minimise them.
At ISC level if any pupil opts for Sciences, Physics is a compulsory subject along with Chemistry. He can choose either Maths or Biology. At this level besides performing academic experiments, the boys complete a project on any topic of their choice, which is research oriented. They have to perform experiment, collect data and analysis their observations.
The Science exhibition is an important activity in school for which the resources and guidance is provided by the teachers, but the students make their own projects in small groups under supervision of the teacher. They give shape to their ideas with great interest.
Physics is preparation for almost any career, because it teaches students how to analyse complex problems. It gives students a strong quantitative background that can be applied in any technical field.