Science
Our Science Department combines scientific inquiry and critical thinking to help students pose good questions, design experiments to address them, and interpret the data collected in order to extract meaningful results.
Our course offerings emphasize collaborative and project-based work, regular hands-on laboratory work, and rigorous analytical thinking to take students beyond traditional rote memorization of concepts. Our goal is to produce scientifically literate, life-long learners with a deep and rich appreciation of their world.
Small class sizes and modern, computerized laboratories provide ready-access to state-of-the-art equipment. Our faculty provide an appropriate balance of motivation and support to further students’ understanding, by connecting the scientific concepts explored in their coursework to real-world applications.
Coursework and Requirements
Coursework and Requirements
Ninth- and tenth-grade students take an introductory sequence in physics, chemistry, and biology that exposes them to the core science disciplines. Juniors and Seniors select from an array of advanced courses that emphasize an interdisciplinary approach and mastery of material that is meaningful beyond the classroom. Many students take more than one science course concurrently during their junior and senior years.
Unique Offerings
Thacher’s Horse Program and 427-acre campus nestled in the foothills of the Los Padres National Forest provide opportunities that students won’t find anywhere else. The Veterinary Medicine class benefits from hands-on care of our own horses and pigs right here on-site, while our Environmental Science, Advanced Biology and other courses utilize as classrooms our outdoor spaces, from creek beds to beehives, solar fields to composting facilities.
The dark night skies in Ojai also provide excellent opportunities for hands-on learning in our Astronomy course. The Thacher Observatory, which underwent a major renovation during the Fall of 2016, is now a state-of-the-art, fully robotic, research-grade facility. It offers students in our astronomy and data science courses significant opportunities for applied learning and represents one of the finest such facilities at any high school in the nation. The Observatory supports NASA-funded research on eclipsing binary stars and transiting exoplanets led by one of our own faculty members in partnership with Harvard University, Boston University, and the University of California at Santa Cruz.
The dark night skies in Ojai also provide excellent opportunities for hands-on learning in our Astronomy course. The Thacher Observatory, which underwent a major renovation during the Fall of 2016, is now a state-of-the-art, fully robotic, research-grade facility. It offers students in our astronomy and data science courses significant opportunities for applied learning and represents one of the finest such facilities at any high school in the nation. The Observatory supports NASA-funded research on eclipsing binary stars and transiting exoplanets led by one of our own faculty members in partnership with Harvard University, Boston University, and the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Thacher also has a unique relationship with the Turtle Conservancy, an international leader in wildlife conservation located just a short walk from Thacher’s campus. Students in our Field Biology and Conservation class work in close collaboration with conservation scientists from the Turtle Conservancy to design and conduct research projects that facilitate the conservation of endangered turtle and tortoise species.
And students in our Advanced Chemistry course undertake multidisciplinary work at the intersection of Archaeology, Art History, and Art Conservation Science. For example, students chemically synthesize archaeological and historical pigments, analyze and quantify their colors with reflectance spectroscopy, and then use the pigments to paint their own ceramic tile using the fresco lime cycle chemical reactions. They learn how scientific principles and spectroscopic analytical methods can both inform our understanding of ancient societies through their cultural heritage materials (pottery, metals, and glasses) and identify art forgeries.
- Leo
“In Advanced Topics in Environmental Science, our teacher made sure the things we learned in the classroom were grounded in our interactions with the surrounding environment. I came away a changed person, both more aware of my natural surroundings and passionate about protecting them.”
East Hampton, New York
Science Department Faculty
List of 8 members.
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Ms. Heather Grant
Science Department Chair, Biology and Chemistry TeacherMount Holyoke College - BABio
Montana State University - MS -
Mr. Edgar Arceo
Psychology Teacher; Los Padres Dorm HeadKenyon College - Bachelors of Arts (B.A)Bio
University of Pennsylvania - Masters of Science in Education (M.S.Ed)
Middlebury College - Masters of Arts (M.A.) -
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Dr. Christopher Vyhnal
Science Department; Chemistry and Geology TeacherColgate University - BABio
University of Tennessee - MS
Dartmouth College - PhD -
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A college preparatory boarding school for grades 9-12
Notice of nondiscriminatory policy as to students: The Thacher School admits students of any race, color, national, and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national, and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other School-administered programs.