Biology II Syllabus*

Quarter 1: Survey of Protista, Fungus, and Plant Kingdoms

Students will be able to identify organisms based on characteristics using cladistic and phyletic tools.

Students will be able to show evolutionary relationships between the different kingdoms/phyla/classes.

Quarter 2: Survey of Animal Kingdoms

Students will be able to identify organisms based on characteristics using cladistic and phyletic tools.

Students will be able to show evolutionary relationships between the different kingdoms/phyla/classes.

Quarter 3: History of Human Evolution

Students will be able to identify the key hominid adaptations that lead to the evolution of the human species.

Examine human history by describing the progression from early hominids to modern humans.

Explain the relationship of humans to other life forms and explain evidence that identifies all people as a single species.

Quarter 4: Evolutionary Survey of Human Systems and Behaviors

Students will be able to identify the general anatomy and describe the general functions of human systems.

Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of human development.

EVALUATIONS: Students will engage in inquiry-based investigations, including dissections. Students will also be required to produce individual projects.

Homework is assigned to students as a learning tool. It is imperative that students keep up with homework so that it can be used to their best advantage. Therefore, MOST homework (especially worksheets) will be graded as a completion score. This means that, for a student who has not had any absences, late assignments will not be accepted for full credit (credit begins at 50%). Most homework scores that are not 100% usually indicate that the student did not have it completed. Periodically, some homework will be graded for accuracy; these may or may not be announced.

Quizzes are every Friday, generally covering the material of that week. Do not be surprised on Fridays. If you are absent on a Friday, the missed quiz is not made up, it simply does not figure into your grade; if this occurs, your total points for that category will simply be different from others in the class. Patterns of absences on Fridays are noticed very quickly!

How your quarter grade will be figured: there are four categories into which your work will fall, weighted as follows:

Tests35%

Quizzes25%

Labs25%

Assignments15%

Therefore, if your average for each category is as follows: tests-92; quizzes-87; labs-88; assignments-90; your overall all grade is computed using the formula below.

(92*.35) + (87*.25) + (88*.25) + (90*.15) = 89.45, or 89 (B)

* Tentative