Canton High School

Advanced Placement Biology – Ms. Stang

Course Syllabus 2014-2015

Length of Course: 4 Quarters, plus one half-semester Lab

E-Mail: Website: http://stangbio.wikispaces.com

Phone: 781-821-5050 x2612 Room: B259

CHS CORE VALUES

Academic Excellence & Rigor, Continuous Improvement, Inclusive Community, Respectful & Responsible Relationships

Course Description: Biology investigates living things, theories, models and nature through experimentation, examination and observations leading to the understanding of the diversity, complexity and interconnectedness of life on earth. This course is designed as a university level Introductory Biology class and will cover similar subjects. This course is also designed to prepare students to take the College Board Advanced Placement Exam in Biology, oriented around the four AP Biology “Big Ideas”: Evolution, Cellular Processes, Information Transfer, and Interactions. In doing so, it will require students to develop scientific inquiry skills and to adopt a level of responsibility for their learning that more closely aligns with the college experience than with the high school experience.

In this class, you will be exposed to a broad range of ideas and concepts. You will be encouraged to think deeply and use resources effectively, discovering connections between what we do day to day, quarter to quarter. Investigations, problem solving exercises, discussion, writing, presenting, and self-evaluating will comprise an important part of the class, and you are expected to be a full participant in every exercise. You will be encouraged to learn by doing and work productively with others. I encourage you to ask questions and welcome your ideas! Biology is an extremely demanding subject, but also a very meaningful, interesting, and important journey.

Classroom Expectations: Students are expected to follow student handbook rules and policies at all times.

Be Polite, Prepared, and Professional.

Actions which interfere with your classmates’ ability to learn and/or my ability to teach are not acceptable. My behavioral expectation for you is that you will respect that, have fun, and help make the classroom something we all look forward to every day!

Daily Materials: Students should come prepared for class every day with:

•  an agenda/assignment notebook;

•  binder (preferable) or folder containing all previous class handouts (never throw things away!);

•  a basic four-function calculator. If it can do more than add, subtract, multiple, divide, square root, and convert to a percentage, it will not be permitted in lab or on tests. Costs no more than $1-2 from a drug store or grocery store.

•  lined paper, either in a notebook or looseleaf in your 3-ring binder;

•  a notebook devoted exclusively to lab. Paper may be either lined or grid, though grid is recommended;

•  a pen, and a pencil on test days.

No cell phones, iPods, or other devices may be seen or heard in class. All devices must be TURNED OFF and left in the student’s backpack throughout their time in the room. No food, gum, or drink is permitted, except for water.

AP Exam:

All students must register for the AP Biology exam, administered the morning of Monday May 11th, 2015. It consists of two sessions, one with multiple choice and numeric response questions, and the other both long-form and short-form free response questions (essays). Sign up forms will be distributed later in the year. A significantly lower test fee is available to students from income-qualifying households.

Course Policies:

Attendance

Students are to be present each day that class meets, and in their assigned seats by the time the bell rings. The only exceptions are excused absences, which parents must call in to the main office. Students are individually responsible for ALL missed material. The instructor is not responsible for reminding students to pick up or hand in missed work.

Late Work.

a. Late homework, including weekend essays, will not be accepted and will receive a zero.

b. An essay that is done but not printed for any reason (i.e. you miss the start of class or have to leave class to go print it) has its score reduced by 50%. Broken home printers are not accepted as an excuse; students who don’t print essays at home must use the library or computer lab to print them before class. Essays may NOT be printed at Ms. Stang’s computer, as doing so requires the lesson to stop and everybody to sit and wait while the teacher’s computer is in use. Students must bring hard copies of all essays to class, and failing to meet this expectation will be penalized.

c. A formal lab report handed in one day late has its score reduced by 50%. Labs handed in two or more days late receive a zero.

d. If absent from class for an UNEXCUSED reason, the student will receive a zero for any assignments, activities, and tests that were missed.

e. If absent from class for an EXCUSED reason, student is expected to see teacher to make up work missed. Confirmation from the office that the absence is excused is required. Students will be given a number of days to make up work equal to (# of excused absences + 1). For instance, if a student is excused absent on Monday and Tuesday, the student must hand in missed work no later than Friday. If a student is aware that he/she will be absent from class prior to the absence, it is his/her responsibility to get makeup work from the instructor prior to the absence. For long term absences, a plan should be worked out with guidance.

Due Dates.

Assignments are due at the beginning of class on the due date. Assignments and readings are announced both in class and on the course website. Plan to spend 30-60 minutes every day on AP biology work. Traditional high school homework will be infrequently assigned; the expectation is that students keep up independently with reading the textbook, reading and understanding labs, and studying. Most weekends will have an essay assigned, which will be due the first day of the following week. Excuses for not completing an assignment such as not having access to a computer will not be accepted, as computers are available at school and in the Canton Public Library for free. Use study halls and access to home or Canton computers wisely!

Make-up Tests/Quizzes

Retakes of tests and quizzes are not offered. If a test or quiz is missed due to an excused absence, it is the student’s responsibility to contact the instructor to schedule a time to make the test/quiz up within 1 week. Tests missed due to unexcused absence receive a zero.

Make-up Labs.

Due to the amount of time required to set up labs, and due to the consumption of limited materials in executing them, labs cannot be made up. If a student misses a lab due to an excused absence, an alternate assignment will be given. It is the student’s responsibility to contact the instructor to request this accommodation.

Extra Credit.

Extra credit options are not offered.

Lab Notebooks.

Lab notebooks will not be graded or required to follow a particular format. However, some colleges and universities will only award credit for a lab course if they are given evidence of satisfactory completion in the form of a properly maintained lab notebook. Therefore, at the start of the year, directions on how to satisfactorily format lab notebooks will be made available to students who wish to abide by them, and students are strongly encouraged to thoroughly document all lab work in their notebooks.

Safety.

Students must follow lab procedures and safety guidelines at all times. Students must sign a lab safety contract prior to participation in lab activities. Failure to comply with laboratory safety requirements will result in a removal from the lab, and may result in a student being barred from future laboratory exercises. The student may receive a zero for the lab, as well as any future labs the student is barred from.

Detentions.

Detentions may be assigned Monday-Thursday for numerous reasons including, but not limited to, interruption or other disrespectful behavior, failure to clean up after lab, or three unexcused tardies. It is the student’s responsibility to inform a parent or guardian of the detention.

Plagiarism

Academic honesty is expected as a minimum, and all work must be in your own words. Plagiarism is not tolerated under any circumstances, no matter whether it was intentional or unintentional, therefore students must be sure they familiarize themselves with what constitutes plagiarism. Sources of plagiarism include copying from the textbook or a lab handout, writing identical to another student’s, and cutting and pasting from the internet. It is academic dishonesty to look up answers to essay questions from when they were assigned in previous years – it is recommended that you use the textbook, not the internet, for weekend work. All ideas must be properly cited. Any plagiarized assignment will be given a zero, and may be referred to administration for further penalties. Sharing work results in a zero for ALL INVOLVED. Cheating on exams will result in a zero with no retake possibilities, with further referral to administration. If a student is unsure at any time whether their work on an assignment could constitute plagiarism, they should consult their instructor before submitting it.

Grading: Each quarterly grade is based upon the following categories, which contribute to the quarterly grade as follows:

65% Exams (multiple choice and numeric response in-class, essay weekend take-home)

35% Lab Reports, Homework, and In-Class Activities

Exams will be modeled after AP exams. In-class exams contain multiple choice questions with some numeric response “grid-in” questions. To prepare students for the AP exam itself, exam questions require heavy critical thinking and are time-limited. Students will receive practice with the format of test session 2, the free response questions, in the form of essay questions assigned over most weekends.

Lab Reports will take different forms for different labs. Some will be formal written reports, others will be assessed based on posters or presentations. Smaller assignments, such as assignments, lab questions and modeling practicals, will also be scored in this category.

Edline: Grades are updated regularly on Edline, for both students and parents to view at any time. Edline is also used for sending out course announcements via E-Mail. All students must have an active and verified E-Mail address in use with their Edline account. Verified E-Mail addresses have a green rather than an orange circle next to them in your profile.

Please be aware that Edline automatically calculates current a quarter and course grade based upon averages. This means that calculated course grades tend to fluctuate significantly early in the term, when there are not many assignments being averaged together. This is normal and mathematically inevitable, and is not necessarily cause for alarm. The course grade can also drop after a new assignment as been entered, even one with a high grade. For instance, if a student scores 96% on test #1 in a term and the student scores 94% on test #2, the student’s grade for the course will drop after test 2 is entered, even though the student did well on it. This, too, is simply a function of the nature of an average, and is also not necessarily cause for alarm.

Course Websites: http://stangbio.wikispaces.com and http:www.masteringbiology.com

While Edline will be utilized for the course calendar and grade reports, two courses website is also available to supplement this class. The wikispaces includes copies of in-class lecture notes, lists of learning objectives for each unit, and links to helpful review and extension resources on the web. Lecture notes are made available at the beginning of the unit and students are encouraged to download them and home and bring them to class. The website is a highly valuable resource for both you and your parents or guardians to make use of. It is, however, no replacement for class and all announcements made in class supersede information on the website. Mastering Biology includes practice and review questions, as you’ve seen in your summer assignment.

Textbook: Biology In Focus, Urry et. al. 2013. Students are responsible for damage or loss of the text.

Additional Texts: Other shorter readings may also be selected, such as news articles and journal articles from the primary scientific literature. Students may watch clips of various nature documentaries.

Resources for Help:

·  The wikispaces website and Edline calendar.

·  Your peers! Learn to use your network. Studying together or asking for help in understanding ideas and concepts is not cheating or plagiarism; on the contrary, it is a really good idea. This is a college level course, so I STRONGLY recommend that you form a student study group from the beginning of the year – that’s what college students do to cope with their courses!

·  Your teacher. Helping you understand this science is what I’m here for and is what I love to do. I am available most days 1:45-2:10, and later than that by appointment. Don’t hesitate to get help from me with a difficult concept or assignment. Struggling with mastering these ideas is not bad, nor is it an indication that you are “bad at biology.” It’s an important part of the learning process, the only student who “can’t do biology” is the one who doesn’t work on it!