Syllabus
Advanced Placement Biology
2015-2016
Campbell County High School
Instructor: Mr. Matthew Ewald
Room: A234
Phone Number: 635-4161 ext.1234
Email:
Course Overview:
The Advanced Placement Biology curriculum is equivalent to a college course usually taken by biology majors during their first year of college. Depending on a student’s score on the AP exam administered in May, a student can earn up to four hours of college biology credit (depending on the particular university’s standards). The primary emphasis of the course is on acquiring an understanding of concepts, developing a grasp of science as a process rather than as an accumulation of facts, gaining personal experience in scientific inquiry, recognizing unifying themes that integrate the major topics of biology and applying biological knowledge and critical thinking to environmental and social concerns.
Topics covered in the course include chemistry of life, cells and cell energetics, heredity, molecular genetics, evolution, diversity of organisms, structure and function of both plants and animals, and ecology. The course is broken down into three topics: 25% molecules and cells, 25% genetics and evolution, and 50% organisms and populations. In addition, approximately 25% of class time will consist of lab time, including the twelve College Board AP Biology labs.
The aforementioned topics are integrated throughout the course using the four big ideas, the enduring understandings within each big idea and the essential knowledge within the enduring understandings.
The 4 Big Ideas:
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
The Big Ideas:
The big ideas are interrelated, and they will not be taught in isolation. The course will connect the enduring understandings from one big idea with those of the others wherever practical. Students will maintain a curricular map of the big ideas and enduring understanding showing connections as they are made by the students themselves.
Examples illustrating the types of connections to be made throughout the course:
Big idea 1 and 3:
EU 1.B: Organisms are linked by lines of descent from common ancestry.
EU 3.A: Heritable information provides for continuity of life.
DNA and RNA are carriers of genetic information through transcription, translation and replication. Students will model information flow in a kinesthetic activity and discuss the similarities in the process among different domains. DNA replication ensures continuity of hereditary information.
3B: Big idea 1, 2 and 4:
EU 1.B: Organisms are linked by lines of descent from common ancestry.
EU 2.B: Growth, reproduction, and dynamic homeostasis require that cells
create and maintain internal environments that are different from their
external environments.
EU 4.1: Interaction within biological systems lead to complex properties.
Electron Transport Chain (ETC) and chemiosmosis kinesthetic activity.
Students draw an inner mitochondrial membrane, making sure to cover all of the major structures
and functions. They identify the membrane as a feature allowing separation within
the cell. Students explain and justify how this separation is achieved in
prokaryotes to generate a proton gradient, and they will present the
evolutionary connections across domains through a BLAST search for proteins
in the ETC.
3C: Big idea 1 and 3:
EU 1.A: Change in the genetic makeup of a population over time is evolution.
EU 3.A: Heritable information provides for continuity of life.
Students will participate in a Hardy-Weinberg activity where they calculate
allelic frequency change. These alleles will be connected to DNA and
related back to the evolutionary history of the organisms being studied. In
a second part of this activity, students will investigate the role of
environmental change in the changing genetic make-up of a population.
3D: Big idea 1 and 4:
EU 4.B: Competition and cooperation are important aspects of biological systems.
EU 1.C: Life continues to evolve within a changing environment. Students will track the changing flowering phenology of particular species of flowering plants across a wide territory (such as North America or Europe) or the changing flight patterns of migratory insects or birds in relation to global climate change.
Making Connections:
Students are provided with opportunities to meet the learning objectives within each of the big ideas. These opportunities must occur outside of the laboratory investigations.
The science practices and the learning objectives are used throughout the course. All activities and class work will be connected to at least one learning objective that will be clearly communicated to students so they can see the science practices and learning objectives as the framework around which the learning of the course takes place. The science practices and learning objectives will also be addressed in classroom activities and projects external to the formal lab investigations. Representative examples of activities are below:
4A: Students will participate in a Hardy-Weinberg simulation as a class activity.
Within this activity, students will make predictions and test them using
mathematical models to study population genetics.
Students will chose several organisms to investigate some aspect of their evolutionary relatedness. Students will narrow down an appropriate, under-explored question about the organism of their choice through research, and develop testable hypotheses. Students will share research results.
Students will examine evidence regarding speciation of major groups of plants and major extinctions on Earth. Students will plan, design, and carry out data collection plans to evaluate these scientific claims.
4B: Students will compare cells in different domains with regard to internal
membranes and their function. Students will extend this analysis to an
examination and application of scientific explanations in endosymbiont theory.
Students will create presentations showing the relationship between molecular events and global cycles such as between photosynthesis/respiration and global carbon cycles. They will connect local ecosystems (farm, river, and creek) to this activity.
4C: Students will work with models demonstrating the immune system,
digestive system, action potential, action at the nephron, working of the
sarcomere, and cellular communication, which allow students to problem
solve as they change conditions within the model. Students will model the
effect of change (for example disease or drugs) and communicate the results
predicted due to the change.
Students will select and read an article in a scientific journal on a medical procedure, device, drug trial, or similar event. Students will statistically analyze and evaluate the data and report on the findings.
4D: Students will identify, explain and justify how intracellular structures interact
with each other, such as rough endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi
apparatus, or mitochondria and chloroplasts in plants, or the DNA inside the
nucleus and the ribosomes outside the nucleus.
Textbooks:
· Biology for AP Biology by Campbell and Reece, 9th ed., Benjamin Cummings, 2011.
· Advanced Placement Biology Laboratory Manual for Students, The College Board, 2001.
Course Schedule:
Topics / ** Possible Lab Exercises / chaptersChemistry of Life
• What is life?
• Structure of an atom
• Types of chemical bonding
• Functional groups
• Organic Chemistry (macromolecules)
• Characteristics of enzymes
• Water / Acids, Bases and pH / Campbell
1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Cellular Structure and Function
• Fluid mosaic model of the plasma membrane
• Types of cellular transport
• Sub-cellular organization
• Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
• Cell communication
• Free energy changes
• Molecules and reactions involved in metabolism
• Fermentation and cellular respiration
• The Cell Cycle
• Stages involved in mitosis and meiosis
• Alternation of generations
• Spermatogenesis and Oogenesis / Diffusion and Osmosis
(Investigation 4)
Enzyme Catalysis
(Investigation 13)
Mitosis and Meiosis
(Onion Root Tip)
Cell Respiration
(Investigation 6) / Campbell
6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13
Genetics
• Mendelian Genetics• Punnett squares and pedigrees
• Beyond Mendelian Genetics
• Chromosome Theory of Inheritance
• Structure of prokaryotic and eukaryotic chromosomes
• The Central Dogma
• Gene regulation in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
• Viruses
• Biotechnology / Molecular Biology
Genetics of Organisms
Genetics lab
Online movie “The Race for the Double Helix”
pGLO Bacterial Transformation / Campbell
14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
Evolution
• Evolution as the Foundation of Modern Biology
• Chemical evolution / Hardy-Weinberg
(Investigation 2)
BLAST
(Investigation 3) / Campbell
22, 23, 24
The Evolutionary History/Survey of Biological Diversity
• Phylogeny and the Tree of Life
• Bacteria and Archaea
• Protists
• How Plants Colonized Land
• The Evolution of Seed-bearing Plants
• Fungi
• Invertebrates
• Vertebrates / Campbell
25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34
Plants
• Plant Form and Function
• Photosynthesis / Photosynthesis
(Investigation 5)
Transpiration
(Investigation 11) / Campbell
35, 36, 38, 10
Animal Form & Function
• Animal Nutrition• Circulation and Gas Exchange
• The Immune System
• Osmoregulation and Excretion
• Hormones and the Endocrine System
• Animal Reproduction
• Animal Development
• Neurons, Synapses and Signaling
• Nervous System
• Sensory and Motor Mechanisms
• Animal Behavior / Pill Bug Behavior
(Investigation 12) / Campbell
40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51
Ecology
• The Role of Evolution in Population Ecology• Community Ecology
• Ecosystems
• Bridging the Gap Between Biological Knowledge and Conservation/Restoration Ecology / Global Warming movie and discussion / Campbell
52, 54, 55, 56
** Labs mentioned in the course schedule cover all labs that may be possible. We try to allot 25% of overall class time to lab activities, but the schedule can change. We will do our best to meet this schedule as the year progresses.**
Grading:
Grades will be determined each quarter as follows (the assignments can be given a point value up to the amount listed after the assignment):
I. Exams: Up to 100 points
II. Lab Reports, Writing Pieces: Up to 75 Points
III. Quizzes: Up to 50 points
IV. Daily Classwork, Informal Quizzes, Homework, AP Exam Practice: Up to 25 points
Grades will be determined by first adding up the total number of points earned by the student. This number will then be divided into the total number of points possible for that grading period. This percentage will be the student’s percentage for that grading period. Different assignments are not weighted; however varying point values are given to the different assignments.
Laboratory Experiences:
Students are given the opportunity to engage in student-directed laboratory investigations throughout the course for a minimum of 25% of instructional time. Students will conduct a minimum of eight inquiry-based investigations (two per big idea throughout the course). Additional labs will be conducted to deepen students’ conceptual understanding and to reinforce the application of science practices within a hands-on, discovery based environment. All levels of inquiry will be used and all seven science practice skills will be used by students on a regular basis in formal labs as well as activities outside of the lab experience. The course will provide opportunities for students to develop, record, and communicate the results of their laboratory investigations.
Communicating Laboratory Results:
Students will maintain a laboratory notebook and a portfolio throughout the course. In addition to the laboratory notebook, students will communicate to others in formats such as group presentations, PowerPoint presentations, poster sessions, and written reports. Communication tools are not only for the laboratory experiences, but represent examples of the collaboration, reflection, and articulation seen in the course as a whole. Students will use this collection of their work over time and reflect on the changes they can see in the quality or substance of their work through the year as they prepare to move into college courses and research experiences in the future. A key feature in the portfolio will be the requirement for student self-reflection in terms of the science practice skills that they have developed throughout the year.
Exams:
Exams will consist of multiple-choice, fill in the blank, short answer questions, and possibly matching.
Exam questions will come from all material associated with the class—lecture, textbook, and handouts.
Most exams will cover 2-4 chapters. The semester exams will be cumulative. The dates of the exams
will be announced one week before they are given in class.
Other assignments:
In addition to quizzes, exams, weekly assignments, lab reports, and other assignments mentioned in this
syllabus, other assignments will arise. For instance, you can anticipate assignments related to writing a
paper and performing a group project.
Regrades:
Each student has the opportunity to gain points back on an assessment (you will be given ½ of the full point value back). This may include quizzes, tests, lab reports or free response questions. There is a specific process that each student must follow to receive points back on an assessment. Each student will complete a test analysis sheet (given during class) that will serve as an entry slip to an interview/discussion with the teacher…Me. During the interview you will answer a few questions about the material and show me that you deserve the points. If you put the effort into learning the material, you will get the points back and ultimately do better in the class.
Lab Safety:
Eating and drinking are not allowed in laboratories. This is especially important in the labs in
which chemicals and microorganisms are routinely studied and used. Lab safety guidelines are
posted in the labs and will be covered at the beginning of the school year.
Academic Dishonesty:
Unless otherwise noted, all assignments, quizzes, exams, labs, etc. are to be done by each individual
student. You are encouraged to collaborate with other students. However, you must hand in work that
represents your own understanding of material, in your own words. Use proper means of citing
sources of information and ideas when appropriate. Doing otherwise is academic dishonesty, and
grounds for disciplinary action, including a zero for all parties involved for the assignment.
AP Biology