AP BIOLOGY SYLLABUS 2017-2018 MRS. Yvonne Arnsdorff
Effingham County High School Room 908
SCIENCE DEPARTMENT e-mail:
TEXT: Biology-AP edition, 11th Ed. Campbell, N.A. & Reece, J.B. The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Co., 2018.
Replacement cost is $251.93.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This is a majors level college biology course taught in high school. At the end of the year the students will have an opportunity to take a standardized exam that will determine their eligibility for advanced placement and/or credit in college biology courses. The expectation is that students will take the AP Biology exam in May. The course covers a large amount of material and makes heavy demands on the student. It is extremely important that the student keep up with all assignments, read the textbook and study outside of class. A minimum of 10-15 pages of reading per school night should be anticipated.
The aim of the AP Biology course is to achieve an understanding of the unifying principles of modern biology, an understanding of how biological information is gathered and interpreted, and to introduce the high school student to the scope and demands of college level work. Included in the course will be lab activities required by the Advanced Placement program. The Advanced Placement exam stresses a student’s ability to explain, analyze, and interpret biological processes and phenomena more than his/her ability to recall specific facts.
ABSTRACT #1 DUE FRIDAY 9/22/17
ABSTRACT #2 DUE FRIDAY 11/17/17
ABSTRACT #3 DUE FRIDAY 2/23/18
ABSTRACT #4 DUE FRIDAY 4/20/18
AP Biology Big Ideas
Big Idea 1: Evolution: The process of evolution drives the diversity and unity of life.
Big Idea 2: Cellular processes- Energy & communication: Biological systems utilize free energy and molecular building blocks to grow, to reproduce, and to maintain dynamic homeostasis.
Big Idea 3: Genetics & information transfer: Living systems store, retrieve, transmit, and respond to
information essential to life processes.
Big Idea 4: Interactions: Biological systems interact, and these systems and their
interactions possess complex properties.
Science Practices for AP Biology
A practice is a way to coordinate knowledge and skills in order to accomplish a goal or task. The science practices enable students to establish lines of evidence and use them to develop and refine testable explanations and predictions of natural phenomena. These science practices capture important
aspects of the work that scientists engage in, at the level of competence expected of AP Biology students.
Science Practice 1: The student can use representations and models to
communicate scientific phenomena and solve scientific problems.
1.1 The student can create representations and models of natural or
man-made phenomena and systems in the domain.
1.2 The student can describe representations and models of natural or
man-made phenomena and systems in the domain.
1.3 The student can refine representations and models of natural or
man-made phenomena and systems in the domain.
1.4 The student can use representations and models to analyze situations
or solve problems qualitatively and quantitatively.
1.5 The student can reexpress key elements of natural phenomena across
multiple representations in the domain.
Science Practice 2: The student can use mathematics appropriately.
2.1 The student can justify the selection of a mathematical routine to solve
problems.
2.2 The student can apply mathematical routines to quantities that describe
natural phenomena.
2.3 The student can estimate numerically quantities that describe natural
phenomena.
Science Practice 3: The student can engage in scientific questioning to
extend thinking or to guide investigations within the context of the AP
course.
3.1 The student can pose scientific questions.
3.2 The student can refine scientific questions.
3.3 The student can evaluate scientific questions.
Science Practice 4: The student can plan and implement data collection
strategies appropriate to a particular scientific question.
4.1 The student can justify the selection of the kind of data needed to answer
a particular scientific question.
4.2 The student can design a plan for collecting data to answer a particular
scientific question.
4.3 The student can collect data to answer a particular scientific question.
4.4 The student can evaluate sources of data to answer a particular scientific
question.
Science Practice 5: The student can perform data analysis and evaluation
of evidence.
5.1 The student can analyze data to identify patterns or relationships.
5.2 The student can refine observations and measurements based on data
analysis.
5.3 The student can evaluate the evidence provided by data sets in relation to a particular scientific question.
Science Practice 6: The student can work with scientific explanations and
theories.
6.1 The student can justify claims with evidence.
6.2 The student can construct explanations of phenomena based on evidence
produced through scientific practices.
6.3 The student can articulate the reasons that scientific explanations and
theories are refined or replaced.
6.4 The student can make claims and predictions about natural phenomena
based on scientific theories and models.
6.5 The student can evaluate alternative scientific explanations.
Science Practice 7: The student is able to connect and relate knowledge
across various scales, concepts, and representations in and across
domains.
7.1 The student can connect phenomena and models across spatial and
temporal scales.
7.2 The student can connect concepts in and across domain(s) to generalize or
extrapolate in and/or across enduring understandings and/or big ideas.
Unit 1:
Evolution
Students will not be assessed on details of the methods used to date fossils nor the names
and dates of the five major extinctions. This reduction/elimination of content should save
approximately four instructional days.
Eliminating the details of the fossil-dating methods, in addition to those associated with
the five major extinctions (which are now illustrative examples), allows more time to be spent
completing inquiry-based activities and labs such as Phylogenetic Tree Analyses based on
a student-generated research question using the www.phylogenetic.fr website, the NCBI
(National Center for Biotechnology Information) gene sequencing database, and the BLAST lab
in AP Biology Investigative Labs: An Inquiry-Based Approach (2012).
Unit 2:
Cellular Processes:
Energy and
Communication
Since cellular organelles and their functions are now considered prerequisite knowledge,
approximately six to seven instructional days will be saved. This reduction represents time which
would have been spent on mnemonic activities and helping students use rote memorization to
learn every detail and factoid associated with photosynthesis and respiration.
Most of the content in Campbell and Reece, (“The Chemical Context of Life”), which
focuses on the chemical foundations in biology, is not required content in the course because
it is now considered prior knowledge. This will save approximately five instructional days and
allow me to move more quickly into the genetics unit.
Coverage of Campbell and Reece, (“Cellular Respiration: Harvesting Chemical
Energy” and “Photosynthesis”) is reduced. This includes oxidation and reduction, rote
memorization of names and structures of molecules, and processes and cycles in respiration.
The reduction of photosynthesis material includes properties of light, structure and function of
pigments, and C4 and CAM plant adaptations for carbon fixation and photorespiration.
The instructional time saved will allow more time in “flipping the classroom” and giving students
meaningful homework assignments, which allows them to review concepts previously learned.
The reduction in the coverage of cellular organelle and function content and the basics regarding
the chemical foundations of biology (e.g., atoms, compounds, elements, bonding, matter)
provides opportunities to build on prior knowledge and deepen understanding of the cell and its
biochemical functions. Students are able to connect survival of the cell and the many roles of
proteins.
The reduction in content coverage also allows for more time to be spent on Campbell and
Reece, “Cell Communication.” This is a topic that many students find difficult, so the
additional time to delve deeper here will be appreciated.
Unit 3:
Genetics and
Information
Transfer
In this unit, reductions in content have been made: content from Campbell and
Reece has been eliminated as part of the scope of what students need
to know. The previous content requirements for Advanced Placement Biology
pertaining to DNA replication, transcription, and translation have been reduced. It is not
necessary for students to memorize the names of most enzymes involved in the process from
gene to protein; this will save approximately one to two instructional days. Instead of focusing
on the steps involved in the gene-to-protein process, I can now go directly into teaching more
concepts involving genomics, gene regulation, and social/ethical issues surrounding advances in
biotechnology.
More time is now spent on the following:
• regulation of gene expression
• genomics, ethical issues, genetic manipulation
• gene regulation
• mathematical models that support evolution
• evolutionary change and speciation
The instructional time saved with the content reductions allows me to offer students additional
inquiry-based and student-directed activities. For example, students get a closer look at genes
and the role that they currently play in advancing biotechnology by performing both of the
biotechnology labs (Bacterial Transformation and Restriction Enzyme Analysis of DNA) in AP
Biology Investigative Labs: An Inquiry-Based Approach (2012). Students are able to explore
heritable genes and how they relate to current issues through the analysis of Case Studies and content-related
movies such as Gattaca.
Unit 4:
Interactions
In this course, students are not expected to know plant and animal structures. Content coverage
from Campbell and Reece has been reduced. Students will now use
plants and animals as illustrative examples of content. The required systems for students to
know are immune, endocrine,and nervous. Other organ systems are used as illustrative examples.
These reductions save approximately five instructional days. This unit allows the student to further
apply all of the concepts that have been learned thus far in the AP Biology course
to an increasing hierarchy starting from the cell to the biosphere.
More time is now spent on the mmune, endocrine, and nervous
systems). There is an increased emphasis on homeostasis, chemical signaling, and regulation.
Content coverage of animal development now focuses on timing, coordination, and
regulation of animal development.
With the reduction of time spent on the plant and animal structure/function (march through the
phyla), more in-depth, student-directed, and inquiry-based activities and labs can be included.
For example, my students can conduct both the Energy Dynamics and Fruit Fly Behavior labs
in AP Biology Investigative Labs: An Inquiry-Based Approach (2012). Both of these labs require
more time than I would normally dedicate to a lab in this course, but the opportunity for students
to practice inquiry and enter the role of the scientist, directing their own learning, is well worth the
additional time.
Review until AP Exam in: May 2018
LABORATORY EXPERIENCES
A minimum of 8 labs required by the AP Biology Program will be completed during the course of the year (2 per Big Idea.) In addition to these there will be other labs that are designed to enhance your understanding of the material. You are required to keep a lab notebook which will be turned in for evaluation periodically. Please make sure you record data on every lab that we do, even if it is not in the AP lab book, all labs should be included in the lab notebook and should be titled and clearly marked with information from the Germania packet as your guide.
COMMITMENT
You are undertaking a rigorous course of study with the intended outcome of achieving college credit. Whether you receive credit or how much credit you receive will depend on your level of commitment. I am not here to remind you about assignments. You will receive written guidelines that will tell you when you should have read certain chapters, when labs are scheduled, when abstracts are due, etc. It will require organization and planning on your part to meet your deadlines and to be prepared for tests and assignments that are due. This is as it will be in college. Now is the time to develop the necessary habits. If you have trouble staying organized, use an agenda/planner and look at it daily.
GRADING: Your grade will be based on the following breakdown.
Tests 40%
Homework 10%
Labs/Lab write-ups 25%
Abstracts 10%
Quizzes/Lab Quizzes 15%
Average of the 2 nine weeks– 80% of final grade
Final Exam – 20% of final grade
Even if you take the AP exam, you will have to take the final in the spring.
Tests will be similar in design to the AP Biology Exam so that students can become accustomed to the format and time constraints. Obviously the tests given in class will be shorter but will reflect the same ratio of questions to time as the AP Biology Exam.
For one of the labs required by the AP program a formal lab write-up will be required. This write-up will be detailed and require additional research outside of class. It should be in MLA or APA format. The labs will help prepare you for the essay portion, as well as the lab set questions in the multiple choice portion of the AP exam. Labs for which formal write-ups are not assigned will be assessed with a quiz or lab practical. Labs may require an online pre-lab quiz as well.
Each student will be required to learn to use and read current scientific literature. Six abstracts will be due during the year. You will receive specific directions regarding how to complete an abstract and information on articles or periodicals that are permitted.
You will be required to maintain a notebook with all materials and handouts. Your syllabus should be the first item in your notebook. All material should be retained until the AP Biology exam in May 2018.
All assignments must be submitted as a hard copy. No assignments will be accepted electronically. Assignments must be printed out in advance.
ABSENCES:
Attendance is extremely important in AP Biology. If excessive absences have been a problem in the past it will make success in this course more difficult. Material is covered very quickly and in much more detail than in prerequisite courses. Obviously your tests will reflect much of what is covered in class, lecture, discussion and labs; it will not however be limited to those topics. Being present will help to ensure that you receive and understand at least the highlights of the material, making it easier to concentrate on what you are responsible for outside of class. Also, many of the labs will require several days, and in order to have a complete understanding of the lab you should be there for all of the instructions and procedures. This is particularly important with 7 period days!