Instead, students learn some of the ways scientists and mathematicians use a computer. They use modeling programs to perform virtual experiments and simulations. And they learn some of the fundamentals of computer science such as Boolean algebra and circuitry. Ninth grade is also the time many students start getting involved with clubs, extracurriculars, and athletics. The second semester Biology course is integrated with a year-end, three day, indisciplanary field experience to Wallops Island, just south of Assateague on the Virginia coast, where students apply the knowledge they've acquired in all their science courses.
Students learn the fundamental forms of computer programming and software design.
In mathematics, students who took geometry in the ninth grade take Magnet Precalculus or Magnet Functions . If the student completed Functions the freshman year or Precalculus midyear during the sophomore year, the student is then enrolled in Analysis I, the Magnet's first calculus course. There are fewer required courses in the last couple of years of the Magnet curriculum. The rest of a student's Magnet schedule is completed with mix of the wide variety Magnet electives, and courses offered by other departments at Blair . These courses introduce the connection of physics to chemistry and the analytical and instrumental techniques of a chemist.