Download Biology syllabus 2011

Block Island School
Biology
2011-2012
Dr. Susan Gibbons
Course Description
This course develops in students an understanding and appreciation of biological concepts
including unity and diversity of life, levels of organization inherent in all life, form follows
function, interaction of life with its environment, the relationship between evolution and
adaptation, mechanisms of genetics, and manipulation of genetic material to artificially
select for certain traits.
Textbook: Biology (Prentice Hall, 2010) and accompanying resource materials.
Assessment will include homework, laboratory reports, quizzes, tests, simulation and/or
dissection labs, and demonstration of scientific principles through writing activities and
hands-on projects.
Grading Policy
Assessment will include homework, text outlining, laboratory reports, quizzes, tests,
problem-solving labs, projects, writing assignments, and demonstration of scientific
principles through hands-on projects.
•
•
•
•
Class grades will be based on attentiveness/participation, text outlining, homework, lab
activities and reports, written assignments, quizzes and tests, and special projects.
Grading will be based on percentage earned of total possible points.
Homework is due the next school day after it is assigned. Late homework will lose point
values for up to 2 days, after which it will not be accepted. Obviously copied homework,
or homework completed during class time will be assigned a grade of “O”.
Specific due dates for lab reports, writing assignments, and other projects will be
provided. Late assignments will lose point values for up to 2 school days after the due
date, after which they will then not be accepted.
Course Objectives/Performance Expectations
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
Knowledge
Skills
Students will know . . .
Students will be able to . . .
• Explain the goal of science
• Differentiate among manipulated, responding,
• That scientific conclusions, theories and laws and controlled variables in an experimental design.
should be based on controlled scientific research,
•Write hypotheses and design basic experiments
but are also impacted by human values.
to test them.
•How historical researchers in biology impacted
•Discuss commonalities shared by all living things.
the development of the scientific method.
•The basic characteristics and organizational levels •Interpret graphs and data tables that show
of living things.
relationships among scientific data.
•How standardized tools and procedures support •Use standardized measurement techniques, units
the goals of science.
and tools to carry out basic procedures in Biology.
• How to relate the goals of science to the
scientific method
Chapter 2: The Chemistry of Life
Knowledge
Students will know . . .
Skills
Students will be able to . . .
• Explain the role of subatomic particles in
atoms.
•That transfer or sharing of electrons results in •Differentiate among isotopes of the same
chemical bonding.
element
•That polarity affects the behavior of molecules. • Distinguish between covalent and ionic bonds
• That the properties of acids and bases depends •Discuss the role of polarity and hydrogen bonds
in water
on H+ and OH- concentrations.
• Tell the difference between solutions and
•That carbon is an essential component of
suspensions.
organic molecules.
• Use the pH scale to explain the properties of
•That groups of organic macromolecules allow
acids and bases.
living things to carry out many of their life
• Discuss what properties of carbon make it so
functions.
important to organic molecules.
•That chemical reactions involve changes in
• Explain the monomer, polymers and functions
energy.
of each group of organic compounds.
• Explain the role of enzymes in the energy
changes associated with chemical reactions
• That subatomic particles help to explain the
properties and behavior of atoms and elements.
Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6: Ecology Unit
Knowledge
Students will know . . .
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Skills
Students will be able to . . .
How levels of organization in
• Label and describe the levels of ecological
ecology relate to each other
organization used by ecologists.
How abiotic and biotic factors
• Compare and contrast abiotic and biotic
impact an ecosystem.
factors
• compare ways in which various heterotrophs
How various producers and
(consumers) obtain energy from other
consumers obtain and provide
organisms
energy and nutrients within an
•
Interpret a food web by describing interacting
ecosystem
food chains within the web.
How a food chain shows the flow of
• Summarize the water and carbon cycles.
energy through an ecosystem
How water and carbon cycle through • Explain the difference between climate and
weather
the biosphere.
• Explore the literature and current research
The difference between weather and
related to global warming controversy.
climate.
• Explain how competition, predation and
Factors that influence global
herbivory shape communities.
climate.
• Give examples of succession patterns and
How niches, competition, predation
stages of various communities.
and herbivory shape communities. • Identify the major biomes of the Earth.
The stages and causes of ecological • Describe factors that influence population
succession
growth rates.
Characteristics of the primary global • Analyze the relationship between resource use
biomes
and sustainable development.
• Explain how biodiversity and genetic variation
Factors that affect population
contribute to the health of all ecosystems.
growth
How the human population size has
changed over time
The relationship between resource
use and sustainable development
The value of biodiversity in all
organisms.
Chapter 7: Cell Structure and Function
Knowledge
Skills
Students will know . . .
• The main concepts of cell theory.
• The difference between prokaryotes and
eukaryotes.
•The function and location of each major cell
structure.
•The difference between osmosis and diffusion.
•How osmotic pressure affects plant and animal
cells.
•How diffusion, facilitated diffusion and active
transport are used to move materials across a cell
membrane.
Students will be able to . . .
• Explain cell theory.
• Distinguish between prokaryotic and eukaryotic
cells.
• Discuss the location and function of each major
cell structure.
• Explain how osmosis and diffusion are affected
by concentration gradients in and out of a cell.
• Categorize the components of multi-cellular
organisms based on increasingly complex levels of
organization.
•Why cells specialize and organisms develop levels
of organization.
Chapter 8: Photosynthesis
Chapter 9: Cellular Respiration and Fermentation
Chapter 10: Cell Growth and Division
Knowledge
Students will know . . .
Skills
Students will be able to . . .
• Describe how the problems associated with
DNA overload, surface to volume relationships,
and materials exchange are solved by cell division.
• How the phases of the cell cycle interact to
produce successful copies of cells.
• Diagram the events of the cell cycle and mitosis.
• How the lifespan of various human cells relates • Explain the function and components of each
to their ability and need to divide at different
cell cycle phase, and consider the problems that
rates.
would occur if any one phase was omitted or
•How cell cycle regulation connects to the health unsuccessful.
•Recognize the phase shown in various cells
of cells and organisms.
through a microscope.
• Analyze data on cell lifespan as it relates to cell
division.
• Compare the roles of internal and external
regulators on cell division and cell health.
• How DNA overload and materials exchange
issues drive the process of cell division.
Chapter 11: Intro to Genetics
Knowledge
Knowledge
Students will know . . .
Students will know . . .
• The difference between true breeding and
hybrid organisms.
• The difference between true breeding and
hybrid organisms.
• The difference between dominant and recessive • The difference between dominant and recessive
alleles.
alleles.
• How homozygous and heterozygous genotypes • How homozygous and heterozygous genotypes
affect phenotype.
affect phenotype.
• Why independent assortment allows different
traits to segregate independently during gamete
formation.
• Why independent assortment allows different
traits to segregate independently during gamete
formation.
•How incomplete dominance, codominance,
multiple alleles and polygenic traits differ from
simple dominant and recessive trait patterns.
•How incomplete dominance, codominance,
multiple alleles and polygenic traits differ from
simple dominant and recessive trait patterns.
•How the process of meiosis produces haploid
gametes and contributes to genetic diversity.
•How the process of meiosis produces haploid
gametes and contributes to genetic diversity.
•How gene mapping helps to identify the location •How gene mapping helps to identify the location
of specific genes on a chromosome.
of specific genes on a chromosome.
Chapter 12: DNA and RNA
Knowledge
Skills
Students will know . . .
Students will be able to . . .
• That early researchers helped prove that DNA • Explain how the experiments of Griffith, Avery,
is crucial to heredity patterns through
and Hershey-Chase provided evidence for the
experimental techniques.
function of DNA.
How
the
various
components
of
DNA
and
•
• Use Chargaff ’s rules to build a model of DNA.
RNA connect in the molecules.
•Use DNA models to demonstrate replication and
• The basic structure of DNA and RNA
transcription to RNA.
molecules.
•Use models of RNA and tRNA and the amino
• The processes associated with DNA replication, acid wheel to demonstrate protein translation.
RNA transcription, and protein translation.
• Explain what types of DNA/protein errors
result from point, frameshift, and chromosomal
• How point, frameshift, and chromosomal
mutations affect protein synthesis and function. mutations.
•Basic principles associated with gene regulation
in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms.
Chapter 13: Changing the Living World
Knowledge
Students will know . . .
Skills
Students will be able to . . .
• Give examples and discuss advantages/
disadvantages of selective breeding techniques,
including hybridization and inbreeding.
• How molecular biology tools and techniques
allow scientists to create and use recombinant
• Discuss ways in which genetic variation in a
DNA to transform cells.
population of organisms can be increased.
•The potential advantages and disadvantages
•Use models to demonstrate bacterial
associated with producing transgenic and cloned transformation.
organisms.
• Develop a balanced presentation on a genetically
modified food crop or animal.
• How selective breeding can contribute to both
increases and decreases in genetic diversity.
Chapter 14: Human Heredity
Chapter 15: Genetic Engineering
Chapter 16: Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
Chapter 17: Evolution of Populations
Chapter 18: Classification
Chapter 19: History of Life
Chapter 25: Intro to Animals
Chapter 26: Animal Evolution and Diversity