VCE Biology: Sample Teaching Plan

VCE Biology Units 1 and 2: 2016–2020; Units 3 and 4: 2017–2021 SAMPLE TEACHING PLAN

VCE Biology: Sample teaching plan

Sample Course Outline – VCE Biology Unit 1: How do living things stay alive?

Note: This is a sample guide only and indicates one way to present the content from the VCE Biology Study Design over the weeks in each school term. Teachers are advised to consider their own contexts in developing learning activities: Which local fieldwork sites would support learning in the topic area? Which local issues lend themselves to debate and investigation? Which experiments can students complete within the resource limitations of their learning environments?

Week / Area / Topics / Learning activities
1 / How do organisms function? / Cells (basic structural features of life; prokaryote; eukaryote; surface area to volume ratio; internal structure of the cell; cell organelle structure and function) / · Experiment: Is yeast alive?
· How to correctly and safely use a light microscope to make biological drawings of stained and unstained cells, including preparation and staining of a wet mount
· Preparation of biological drawings of a diversity of cells from a variety of kingdoms (stimulus material includes professionally prepared biological drawings)
· Experiment: surface area to volume ratios
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3 / Crossing the plasma membrane (characteristics of the plasma membrane; internal and external cellular environments; simple diffusion; facilitated diffusion; osmosis, active transport) / · Experiment: movement of materials across a membrane by diffusion and osmosis
· Simulation: active transport
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5 / Energy transformations and functioning systems (distinction between photosynthetic autotrophs and chemosynthetic autotrophs and heterotrophs; photosynthesis; aerobic and anaerobic respiration; vascular plant systems; mammalian systems) / · Student-designed experiment: Photosynthesis and cellular respiration
· Data analysis: distinction between autotrophs and heterotrophs
· Jigsaw activity: student groups work on a selected vascular plant system
· Disease research: students choose a disease of interest and consider cause and treatments from system, organ and cellular perspectives
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8 / How do living systems sustain life? / Survival through adaptations and regulation (structural, physiological and behavioural adaptations; models for biomimicry; homeostasis; stimulus-response model; feedback loops; malfunctions in homeostasis) / · Zoo excursion: structural, physiological and behavioural adaptations
· Homeostasis activity
· Animations: stimulus-response models
· Biomimicry research investigation
· Model class zoo: students each create an imaginary animal or plant that is adapted to a specified environment
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10 / Organising biodiversity (classification of biodiversity; binomial nomenclature; morphology and molecular characteristics; strategies for managing Earth’s biodiversity) / · Activity: classification of plants using a key (including student-created plants from class zoo)
· Activity: classification of animals using a key (including student-created animals from class zoo)
· Activity: binomial nomenclature – creating a key
· Data analysis: management of biodiversity – Bronwyn Fancourt research into Eastern Quoll decline in Tasmania
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12 / Relationships between organisms within an ecosystem (amensalism; commensalism; mutualism; parasitism; predation; keystone species; food chains and webs; factors affecting distribution, density and size of a population) / · Simulation: food chains and food webs
· Field trip: food chains and food webs
· Experiment: limiting factors on duckweed population growth
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15 / Practical investigation / Negotiation with students/class to define research question – laboratory investigation and/or fieldwork (hypothesis formulation; determination of aims, questions and predictions; identification of independent, dependent and controlled variables; methodology and equipment list; fieldwork techniques; risk assessment; undertaking of experiment and/or fieldwork; analysis and evaluation of data, methods and models; limitations of conclusions; possible further investigations; poster presentation)
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18 / Unit revision
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