Science Courses That Matter

The science classes you take in middle school are more important than you might think. They do not just teach you facts about cells, chemicals, and forces. They teach you how to think scientifically: how to ask questions, design experiments, analyze data, and draw conclusions based on evidence. These skills are the foundation of every healthcare career, from physician to lab scientist to physical therapist. This page explains which middle school science courses matter most and how to get the most out of them.

Life Science (Biology)

Life science is usually the first science course where you learn about the human body, cells, genetics, ecosystems, and how living things work. If you are interested in medicine, life science is where that interest often starts. You will learn about cells (the building blocks of all living things, including your body), organ systems (how your heart, lungs, brain, muscles, and digestive system work together), genetics (how traits are passed from parents to children through DNA), and ecology (how organisms interact with their environment, which connects to public health and the spread of disease). Pay attention in life science. The vocabulary you learn here (cell, tissue, organ, system, DNA, gene, mutation, immunity) will come back in every biology and medical science course you take for the rest of your education.

Physical Science (Chemistry and Physics)

Physical science introduces you to chemistry (what substances are made of and how they interact) and physics (how forces, energy, and motion work). These subjects might not seem immediately connected to medicine, but they are fundamental to it. Chemistry explains how medications work in your body, how your cells produce energy, and how diagnostic tests detect diseases. Physics explains how X-rays create images of your bones, how blood flows through your vessels, how your ears detect sound waves, and how lasers are used in surgery. The math skills you develop in physical science (measuring, calculating, graphing) are used constantly in healthcare.

Earth and Environmental Science

Earth and environmental science connects to healthcare through environmental health and public health. Air quality, water quality, climate change, natural disasters, and exposure to pollutants all affect human health. Healthcare professionals who understand the relationship between environment and health are better equipped to serve their communities. If your school offers an environmental science course, take it. The connections between the environment and health are becoming more important every year. See our climate and health page for more on this topic.

Math Matters Too

Math is not a science class, but it is essential for science and for healthcare. Every healthcare career involves math: calculating medication dosages, reading charts and graphs, interpreting test results, understanding statistics, and analyzing research data. The math you learn in middle school (fractions, decimals, percentages, basic algebra, graphing) is the foundation for the more advanced math you will use in high school science, college courses, and professional practice. If math feels hard right now, that does not mean you cannot work in healthcare. It means you need to practice. Math is a skill, not a talent, and it improves with effort. Use free resources like Khan Academy® (see our Khan Academy® guide) to reinforce what you learn in class.

How to Get the Most Out of Your Science Classes

Ask questions: If something does not make sense, raise your hand. If your teacher moves on before you understand, ask after class. Asking questions is not a sign of weakness. It is what scientists do every day. The entire scientific process starts with a question nobody can answer yet.

Do the labs: Science labs are where you apply what you learned in the textbook. They teach you to observe carefully, measure accurately, follow procedures, and think about what your results mean. These are the same skills that healthcare professionals use when examining patients, running tests, and interpreting results.

Connect what you learn to the real world: When you learn about the circulatory system, think about what happens during a heart attack. When you learn about genetics, think about why some diseases run in families. When you learn about ecosystems, think about how air pollution affects people with asthma. Making these connections makes science more interesting and helps you remember what you learned.

Keep your notes: The notes and vocabulary from your middle school science courses will be useful when you take more advanced courses in high school. Keep a science notebook or folder that you can reference later.

For what comes next, see our Preparing for High School page, which covers how to plan your high school coursework. For STEM enrichment beyond the classroom, see STEM Programs and Camps.

Science Fair Projects: If your school offers a science fair, participating is one of the best ways to practice scientific thinking. A science fair project requires you to ask a question (hypothesis), design an experiment to test it, collect and analyze data, and present your findings. These are exactly the skills that healthcare researchers use to develop new treatments and that physicians use when evaluating whether a new study’s results should change clinical practice. Choose a project that interests you, whether it is related to health, biology, chemistry, physics, or environmental science. The topic matters less than the process of doing real science. Ask your science teacher for guidance on designing a strong project. See our STEM programs page for science competition opportunities.

Getting Help When You Struggle: It is normal to find some science and math topics difficult. Every healthcare professional, including the most accomplished physicians and scientists, struggled with something during their education. What matters is how you respond to that struggle. Use your teacher’s office hours or tutoring time. Form study groups with classmates. Use free online resources like Khan Academy® to review concepts at your own pace. Ask your parents for help or for a tutor if you need one. The ability to persist through difficulty, to keep working at something even when it is hard, is one of the most important qualities in healthcare. Physicians face difficult problems every day, and the ones who succeed are not the ones who found everything easy in school. They are the ones who learned how to work through challenges.

Electives and Additional Courses: If your school offers elective science courses (environmental science, computer science, health science, anatomy), take advantage of them. These courses expose you to topics that may not be covered in the required curriculum and can help you discover specific interests within the broad field of science. Computer science, in particular, is increasingly relevant to healthcare, as technology plays a growing role in everything from electronic health records to AI-assisted diagnosis. See our AI in medicine page and technology in medical education page.

Why Grades Matter (But Are Not Everything): Your grades in middle school science and math are important because they determine which courses you can take in high school (for example, strong math performance may allow you to take honors or advanced courses). However, grades are not the only thing that matters. Your curiosity, your effort, your willingness to ask questions and seek help, and your ability to learn from mistakes are all qualities that matter more in the long run than whether you earned an A or a B in seventh-grade science. Do your best, but do not let a single grade define your potential.

References

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). “Middle School Standards.” NGSS, 2025. https://www.nextgenscience.org/. Accessed March 2026.
Khan Academy. “Science.” Khan Academy, 2025. https://www.khanacademy.org/science. Accessed March 2026.