This Course Is Based on the Four Big Ideas Set Forth by AP

AP Biology Course Outline

This course is designed around the AP Biology Curriculum Framework that focuses on the major concepts in biology and their connections. This course is equivalent to an introductory college-level biology course. It is to provide my high school students with a deep understanding of biology concepts as well as give them the opportunity to practice laboratory investigations that critical thinking and problem solving.

I will work each year to add to my course proven activities that will enhance my student’s opportunities to learn the content both within the lab setting and outside it. Within this audit are some of the major materials that I use during the year to teach the content.

This course is based on the four Big Ideas set forth by AP:

Big Idea 1: The process of evolution drives the diversity and unity of life.

Big Idea 2: Biological systems utilize free energy and molecular building blocks to grow, to reproduce and to maintain dynamic homeostasis.

Big Idea 3: Living systems store, retrieve transmit and respond to information essential to life processes.

Big Idea 4: Biological systems interact, and these systems and their interactions possess complex properties.

These four Big Ideas will not be taught in isolation but will be connected when possible. Students will be asked to make formal connections using sticky notes on the Big Idea posters that hang permanently in our room. Students will also document the connections on their own curriculum map. This is a visual reminder that each concept is connected to many others. The Big Ideas will be woven into labs, activities, and discussions.

Eight core units are covered with the learning objectives for each unit clearly outlined for the students as follows: Science as a Process, Evolution, Energy Transfer, Continuity and Change, Relationship of Structure and Function, Regulation; Interdependence in Nature, societal and environmental concerns. These topics are integrated throughout the course in which students will be assessed by labs which use technology to collect data and solve problems. Furthermore, in efforts to correlate overlapping themes in biology and encourage students to apply concepts we learn about in class, newspaper and current events are used to discuss happenings around the world on a weekly basis. These issues are used to relate different cultural differences and gain an insight into how they affect everyone.

Service-Learning Projects – each student is required to conduct a Service Learning Project dealing with a theme covered in AP Biology. Students will use a theme and apply it to a real-life scenario which will better their community by addressing societal and environmental concerns. The projects are driven by the needs of the community and are design to reinforce the concepts learned in the course. This is conducted after the AP exam in April. Examples: Students designed and planned, in conjunction with the CAD class, a gazebo and landscape plantings for the new canal park. Over two years time they completed the project. In 2013 the students are planning to test water supplies of nearby farms and waterways to determine water quality.

SCIENCE PRACTICES

1. The student can use representations and models to communicate scientific phenomena and solve scientific problems.

2. The student can use mathematics appropriately.

3. The student can engage in scientific questioning to extend thinking or to guide investigations within the context of the AP course.

4. The student can plan and implement data collection strategies appropriate to a particular scientific question.

5. The student can perform data analysis and evaluation of evidence.

6. The student can work with scientific explanations and theories.

7. The student is able to connect and relate knowledge across various scales, concepts and representations in and across domains.

Materials

The primary textbook used in this course is:

Safava, D., Hillis,D., Heller, C., Berenbaum, M.. 2011.Life: The Science of Biology9rd Edition

The primary lab investigation manual used in this course is:

AP Biology Investigative Lab Manual: An inquiry-based approach. 2012. New York, NY:

The College Board.

Extra Reading:

Preston, Richard. 1995. The Hot Zone. New York:Anchor-Double Day.

Skloot, Rebecca. 2010. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York:Crown Publishers

This course will enhance the content with reading selections from the New York Times, Scientific America, Science New, and PBS as well as peer reviewed journal articles using online databases to which our class has access.

Class wiki page will be used extensively for class work and assignments. Students will post projects here to allow for peer review. www.albionapbiology.pbworks.com

Laboratory:

The high school is set up on a block schedule. The class is scheduled everyday for 80 minutes. No less than 25% will be devoted to lab experiences; this will be at least 2 days a week. Lab techniques will be modeled in class and then incorporated into inquiry and guided inquiry labs. A minimum of two labs will be conducted for each of the big ideas. In addition to the AP Labs several activities will give students hands-on practice with the unit content. Students will keep laboratory notebooks for the purpose of providing a record of their thought process, experimental set up and results. Students will present their work by creating posters, writing science reports and posting their work online on the wiki page. Peer review will be an integral part of the process of refining the science. The laboratory investigations selected will enable the students to apply the seven science practices as defined in the Curriculum Framework.

Mathematical Data Analysis:

Students will identify and use appropriate mathematical procedures to analyze data from their experimental investigations. These include, but are not limited to, an understanding of and ability to appropriately apply the concepts of Mean, Standard Error, and Standard deviation, paired and unpaired t-test, and Chi-square analysis.

Assessments:

Students will be assessed using different tools. For each unit the goal is to have a project that will allow for the incorporation of content from all chapters and give the student some degree of choice. For example in ecology the Human Impact project allows the student to choose the topic. The Cell unit book will reinforce the cellular components but give creative opportunities to students to be individual. Essays will give the student the chance to pull all the required knowledge together and write cohesively on a specific topic. These are graded and then class time is devoted to analyzing the essay and the standard. Quizzes are given regularly to keep students on track with the material. Unit tests are given in AP style multiple choice and long answer questions. Students are working toward having the knowledge base required for the final AP exam in May.

Course Schedule:

Science as a Process (1 week)
Content / Readings / Activities/Labs / Assessment / Science practice
Laboratory Safety
Scientific method
Investigative Science
• Designing an experiment
• Peer review process
• Data analysis / Lab Contract
Reading-Scientific method in action
Charley Drewes Blackworm material / Independent/dependent variables worksheet
Guided-Inquiry lab / Simpson worksheet
Final Poster with peer review process
Notebook check
Experiment Set up Quiz / SP2,3,4,5
Students will have received the first assignment 2 weeks before school starts. They will read two selections for the Blackworm and answer questions. This first week will consist of: safety in the lab using worksheet and a tour of the lab; review of microscope techniques; experimental design and set up; keeping a lab notebook. Students will work with the Blackworm making observations, posing questions and ultimately designing an experiment to test a selected toxin. After a teacher progress check, students will complete their designed experiment. Students will create a poster to present their work. The rough draft will go through peer review. Final posters will be graded and displayed in the hall.
Unit 1 Evolution (Big Idea 1)
Content / Readings / Activities/Labs / Assessment / Science Practice
Evidence and mechanisms
Natural Selection
• Darwin’s theory [1.A.1-3]• Descent with modification, Natural selection [1.A.1]
• Evidence for Darwin’s theory [1.A.4] [1.B.1]
Genetic Variation
• Gene pools and allele frequencies [1.A.4]
• Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium [1.A.1]
• Natural selection, genetic drift [1.A.3]
Cladograms: constructing and using
•Phylogenetic classification [1.B.2]
• Cladograms [1.B.2]
Species formation
• Speciation [1.C.2]
• Patterns of evolution [1.C.1]
Early Earth
• Early Earth/Origin of life [1.D.1&2]
• Fossil record/dating [1.D.2]
• History of life on Earth [1.D.2.a]
Evolution of Genes and Genomes
• Development and differentiation [2.E.1]
• Hox genes [2.E.1] [3.B.2.b]
Evolution of Diversity
• Reproduction, Tropism and photoperiodicity [2.C.2] [2.F.2] [2.E.3] / Chap 21
Reading Guide
Video Clip- Darwin
Grant Article -Unpredictable evolution
Chap 22
Reading Guide
Hardy-Weinberg notes
Chap 22
Reading Guide
Chap 23
Video- PBS Evolution in Action
Chap 25
Miller-Urey video
Endosymbiosis video
Chap 24
Homeobox notes
Chap 26-29 / Historical chart –Evolution Theories
Butterfly Natural Selection activity
Lab #1 Artificial Selection lab
Strawfish Activity
Lab #2 Hardy-Weinberg
Practice problem worksheet
NOVA cladogram basics
PBS-Sex and the single guppy
PBS Deep time
What Darwin Never Knew video and discussion
Sean Carroll video clip, questions
Biodiversity project power points
Flower dissection / graded
Essay 2004 #2
Lab notebook
Lab write up
H-W Practice sheet 2 graded
Quiz
H-W Essay2004 2b
Interpreting cladograms worksheet
BLAST lab(pt 1)
Test
Essay- Endosymbiosis theory
Project grade
Test
Lab notebook
Quiz / SP1,6,7
SP5,6
SP2,5
SP1,3
SP1,5
SP6
SP6,7
SP7
Evolution: This major unit will link to all the other units. It will be taught with many videos and readings from experts that support evolution, giving clear evidence for the science. For the biodiversity project students will each take a chapter 26-30 and create a teaching module to educate their classmates. Project will include appropriate vocabulary, worksheet, power point, 5 post chapter quiz questions. Special time will be taken to discuss the importance of the evolution of seed plants. This will include a flower dissection and germination of seeds to label the anatomy. Importance of food as an environmental stressor will be examined by looking at the work of the Grants and Galapagos Finches. This will tie into Big idea 4, biological systems interact. This paper will be used several times during the unit discussions. Connection to Big Idea 3, storing and transmitting genetic information, will be made during the chapter on evolution and genes with a particular look at the conservation of the homeobox in most species. [CR4]
Unit 2 Ecology (Big Idea 2, 3, 4)
Content / Readings / Activities/Labs / Assessments / Science practices
Population Ecology
Density and dispersion [4.A.5.c] C Carrying capacity [4.A.5]
• Population modeling [4.A.5.c]
Species Interactions
• Organism interactions [2.D.1.b]
Community Ecology
• Energy, trophic levels [2.A.1.f]
• Biotic/abiotic factors [2.D.1.c] • Organism interactions [2.D.1.b] • Food webs [4.A.6]
• Ecosystem interactions [4.B.3] • Keystone species [4.B.3][4.C.4]
Ecosystems and Global Ecology
Energy flow and cycles [2.A.3.a]• Human impact [4.A.6] [4.B.3 & 4] [4.B.3.c]
Conservation Biology
• Biodiversity threats [4.A.6] [2.D.3]
• Human impact [4.A.6] [4.B.3 & 4] [4.B.3.c]
Animal Behavior
• Innate/Learned behaviors [2.E.3.a]
• Natural selection of traits [2.E.3.b]
• Communication, responses [3.E.1] / Chap 55
Reading Guide
CNN article: Wolf season
Octopus article
Chap 56
Reading guide
Chap 39.2 Plant defenses
Chap 57
Leaf Cutter video
Reading guide
Video: Keystone species- sea otter
Video: Mt St. Helen, 30 yrs later
Co evolution reading
Chap 58
Reading guide
Great Lakes: feast and famine reading
Chap 59
Chap 34 and 35 Plants
Chap 53
Reading guide
Video: Bee communication / Deer-Wolf study
Calculating birth/death worksheet
Wildlife Rehabilitator guest speaker
Succession activity
Berkeley: Co evolution case study
C-O, H2O cycles on white board
Calcium Data analysis
Human Impact Project
Lab #11 Transpiration Lab
Lab #12 Animal Behavior / Activity graph and questions
Essay- Growth curve
Essay 2000 #3 animal defenses
Lab notebook and lab write up
Essay: Energy transfer
Quiz
Questions answered
Essay- Nitrogen cycle
Cycles Quiz
Peer review and project grade
Lab Write up
Lab write up / SP5
SP2,5
SP1,6
SP7
SP3,5
SP1,3,5
Ecology: this next unit will be connected to Evolution because natural selection acts on an organism phenotype due to environmental conditions. The major project for this unit will be human interactions and how these have affected ecosystems. Students will use published data to support human impact on the environment. While biomes will not be taught by me, students will create a travel brochure for a specific biome that must incorporate specific details from each of the chapters. This will be due at the end of the unit. Presentations will be given to promote the wonders of the biome to classmates. The transpiration lab is done here with extra class time being devoted to plant physiology. Understanding of the vascular system is important for the concept of transpiration. Big Idea 1 will be examined again in light of co evolution reading.
Unit 3 Genetics (Big idea 3, 4)
Content / Readings / Activities/Labs / Assessments / Science practice
Inheritance, Genes and Chromosomes
Mendel’s Laws and probability [3.A.3.b]
• Inheritance patterns [3.A.3.b.3] • Human genetic disorders [3.A.3.c] •Origins of genetic variation [3.C.1] [4.c.1]
• Sex linked/limited genes [3.A.4.b]
• Chromosomal abnormalities [3.C.1]
Cell Cycle and Cell Division
Mitosis and cytokinesis [3.A.2] • Cell cycle regulation[3.A.2]
• Cancer [3.A.2.a] • Apoptosis [2.E.1.c]
DNA and Its Role in Heredity
• Sexual and Asexual reproduction • Meiosis and gametogenesis [3.C.2.c] • Mitosis, meiosis comparison
• DNA structure [3.A.1] [4.A.1] • Chromosomal abnormalities [3.C.1]
From DNA to Protein
•DNA/RNA structure, function [3.A.1]
• Transcription, translation [3.A.1] • Post transcriptional processing [3.A.1.c.2]
• Regulation of gene expression [3.B.1] • intracellular signals, expression [3.B.2] • Mutations [3.C.1]
Gene Mutations, Molecular Medicine
Recombinant DNA
• DNA electrophoresis
• Restriction enzyme analysis • PCR • Ethics- Genetically Modified Food, Transgenic animals, cloning
[3.A.1.e]
Regulation of Gene Expression
• DNA and RNA Viruses [3.C.3] • Horizontal gene transfer [3.C.2] • Operons [2.C.1.a]
•Regulation of Gene Expression [2.E.1] [3.B.1] / Chap 12
Reading guide
Chap 11
Reading guide
Video: Mina Bissell