Download VCE Biology: Sample teaching plan

VCE Biology Units 1 and 2: 2016–2020; Units 3 and 4: 2017–2021
VCE Biology: Sample teaching plan
Sample Course Outline – VCE Biology Unit 4: How does life change and respond to challenges over time?
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
1
2
3
4
5
6
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8
Area
Learning activities
 Activity: peppered moths natural selection
How do
 Experiment: gel electrophoresis of food dyes
humans
DNA manipulation (use of enzymes; PCR; gel electrophoresis;
 Experiment: effects of changing environmental conditions on the expression
impact on
of a trait (light on genetically modified barley)
recombinant plasmids)
biological
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Simulations:
transcription and translation
processes?
 Experiment: a transformation of E.coli using the pGLO plasmid
 Poster evaluation: strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats of provided
examples
 Experimental design brainstorming: four groups: ‘photosynthesis’,
Practical investigation (experimental variables; scientific research
‘respiration’, ‘antibiotics’ or ‘DNA techniques’ as an extension of prior
Practical methodologies and ethics; data organisation, analysis and evaluation;
experiments
investigation organisation of biological concepts; nature of evidence; scientific report  Test: hypothesis formulation and experimental design
writing conventions)
 Student experiment: negotiation, confirmation and materials preparation
 Student undertaking of experiment
 Reporting/poster write-up phase
 Evolution card game: dog selection pressures
Changes in the genetic makeup of a population (qualitative
treatment of gene pool changes; evolutionary processes; selective
 Group presentation: student group selection of NOVA online or
breeding)
www.nclark.net/Evolution%20activity
How are
species
related?
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© VCAA 2016
Topics
Changes in biodiversity over time (changes in life forms in Earth’s
geological history; evidence of biological change over time; patterns of
biological change over geological time)
Determining relatedness between species (molecular homology as
evidence of relatedness between species; use of phylogenetic trees;
evolutionary case studies of novel phenotypes – beak formation in
Galapagos finches and jaw formation in African cichlid fish
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Simulation: creation of coacervates – evolution from simple to complex life
Multimedia presentation: different types of evolution
Modelling: geological time line
Data analysis/bioinformatics: evolutionary relationships between species
and phylogenetic trees
 Flowchart: beak formation in Galapagos finches
VCE Biology Units 1 and 2: 2016–2020; Units 3 and 4: 2017–2021
SAMPLE TEACHING PLAN
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11
Human change over time (primate, hominoid and hominin
characteristics; trends in hominin evolution; human fossil record)
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13
14
15
16
17
How do
humans
impact on
biological
processes?
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© VCAA 2016
Biological knowledge and society (techniques and social/ethical
implications of gene cloning, genetic screening and DNA profiling; use
of GMO and social/ethical implications of transgenic organisms;
management of epidemics and pandemics; rational drug design)
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Quantitative palaeobiology: bone measurements and height predictions
Skull study: Bone Clones, Inc kit
Activity: opposable thumbs
Skill development: ‘clot’ measurement
Media analysis: hobbit research findings
Animations: gene cloning
Case studies: use of DNA profiling in criminal investigations
Survey: transgenic crops – data collection and analysis
Microscopy: ‘bugs’
Research and data analysis: spread and control of student-selected virus
(Ebola, bird flu, Zika)
 Experiment: antibiotic effects
 Modelling: production of Relenza
Unit revision
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