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Advanced Placement Biology Syllabus
Philosophy
AP Biology is one of the upper-level science courses taught at our school. Teaching AP Biology gives me an
opportunity to facilitate lessons in which our students learn science as a process. Many students will enroll in this
course and other science courses because they enjoy learning about science. Students will gain a rich conceptual
understanding of content as they develop questions, form hypotheses, and design experiments to provide
evidence of fundamental biological concepts. First, and foremost, our key responsibility is to help our students
develop a love of science based on knowledge and exploration.
Instructional Objective
The AP Biology Course provides an opportunity for high school students to pursue and receive credit for college
level course work completed in secondary high school classes. The AP Biology course is based on the premise that
college-level material can be taught successfully to enthusiastic, academically able secondary school students. In
essence, the AP Program is a cooperative endeavor that helps high school student’s complete college-level
courses and permits colleges to acknowledge and encourage this endeavor through the granting of appropriate
credit and placement.
The College Board Curriculum Framework provides guidance in allocating the time spent during the year in
teaching units on Evolution, Ecology, Genetics, and Information transfer through organisms and populations. The
curriculum is focused on four Big Ideas that guide students in exposure to the interrelationship of biological
concepts. Twenty-five percent of total instructional time should reflect student participation in laboratory
investigations. A more student-directed, inquiry-based lab experience supports the AP Biology course
revision and AP Course Audit Curricular Requirements as it provides opportunities for students to design
plans for experiments, data collection, application of mathematical routines, and to then refine testable
explanations and predictions. Laboratory investigations support the recommendation by the National
Science Foundation that “science teachers build into their curriculum, opportunities for students to develop
skills in communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and commitment to lifelong learning.”
Textbook Correlation
Biology, 11th edition
Authors: Sylvia Mader and Michael Windelspect
Copyright 2013 McGraw-Hill publishers
Curricular Content Requirements
The Big Idea focus will be visually displayed in classroom posters, computer image projection, and on bulletin
board student assignment documents.
• Big Idea 1 - The process of evolution drives the diversity and unity of life.
•
•
•
Big Idea 2 - Biological systems utilize energy and molecular building blocks to grow, reproduce, and maintain
homeostasis.
Big Idea 3 - Living systems retrieve, transmit, and respond to information essential to life processes.
Big Idea 4 - Biological systems interact, and these interactions possess complex properties.
For each of the four Big Ideas, there is a set of Enduring Understandings which incorporates core concepts
that students should retain from these learning experiences.
AP Biology Laboratory Investigations and Science Process Skills
Students will complete at least two of the recommended AP Biology lab investigations for each Big Idea. These
core labs are supplemented with additional labs to enhance students’ understanding of major concepts.
Students will be engaged in hands-on laboratory investigations for more than 25% of classroom instructional time.
Student-directed labs will be accompanied by written lab reports that include: a primary question, reference to a
Big Idea, experimental outline and variables, procedural steps necessary for investigation, appropriate charts,
graphs and data tables, and finally an analysis of results that leads to formulation of a valid conclusion for the
investigation. Appropriate mathematical routines will be implemented during investigations to summarize and
validate experimental data and results.
Class lessons will be planned with an emphasis on implementation of Scientific Inquiry as students make
observations, pose questions, examine books and other sources of information to see what is already known and
ultimately communicate results of investigations. Students will develop scientific skills that allow them to make
predictions, use critical and logical thinking, and consider alternative explanations of results. Inquiry teaching
methods will increase student understanding of how scientists study the natural world.
A variety of lab skills are necessary for successful implementation of investigations. The Science Practices enable
students to establish lines of evidence and use them to develop and refine testable explanations and predictions
of natural phenomena. Science practices will be incorporated throughout the entire year during classroom lab
investigations, written lab reports, and independent student research projects.
1.0
The student can use representations and models to communicate scientific phenomena and solve
scientific problems.
2.0
The student can use mathematics appropriately
3.0
The student can engage in scientific questioning to extend thinking or to guide investigations within the
context of the AP course.
4.0
Student can plan and implement data collection strategies in relation to a particular scientific question.
5.0
The student can perform data analysis and evaluation of evidence.
6.0
The student can work with scientific explanations and theories.
7.0
The student can connect and relate knowledge across various scales, concepts, and representations in
and across domains.
Course Overview
AP Biology is taught as a second high school biology course, so I work closely with the Pre-AP Biology and
Chemistry teachers to correlate activities and lessons. Some of our students enroll as sophomores and take
chemistry and AP Biology concurrently, while most take the course in the twelfth grade. Class sessions presently
occur on a 90 minute block schedule, however we may return to the 50 minute daily class schedule in the future.
Students also spend an additional two hours per week in after-school tutorials. Four Saturday district-run Prep
sessions are provided including one dedicated to labs only. Because we also work closely with other district
schools to coordinate lesson plans, lecture notes, AP practice tests (two per six weeks), after school and Saturday
tutorials, and labs activities, along with our tutoring schedules, students are encouraged to attend tutorials
offered by the other schools in the district to aid in understanding. Finally, students are expected to maintain a lab
notebook for all the required AP labs and sign a contract to take the AP exam in May. Student notebook
documentation of assignments is used for review before the AP Exam in May.
Big Idea
Enduring
Understanding
Big Idea 1
Course outline/timeline
AP Biology labs /activities
Unit 1 –Introduction to Evolution (10 days)
Chapter 1
The
process of
evolution
drives the
diversity
and unity
of life.
•
•
1C
Changing
environment
Scientific methods are used for investigations.
Biologists make observations and formulate
hypotheses.
Chapter 22
•
•
•
Inferences and observations Darwin made on the
Galapagos Islands.
Natural selection and adaptation create evolution.
DNA and fossil record provide evidence for evolution.
Lab: Scientific Methods
Activity – Is it Alive: Sewer Lice
Observation
Lab: Origins of Life
Video: Journey of Man
Video: Evolution Change and
Common threads
Chapter 24
1D
Natural
processes
•
•
•
Biological species emerge from reproductive isolation.
New species originate from sympatric and allopatric
speciation.
Punctuated equilibrium shows the tempo of evolution.
Macroevolution illustrates evolution.
Chapter 25
1B
Common
ancestry
•
•
•
•
Phylogeny has a biogeographic basis
The history of life is punctuated by mass extinctions.
Phylogenetic trees are hypotheses. Three domains of
life on earth.
Student project: Create a model geographical timeline
AP Lab – Artificial Selection
HHMI lab – Battling Beetles to
illustrate species interaction
Big Idea 2
Unit 2 – Molecules and Cells (15 days)
Chapter 3
Biological
systems
utilize
energy and
molecular
building
blocks to
grow,
reproduce,
and
maintain
homeostasis.
•
2A
Properties of
water
•
Illustrate how the structure of water determines its
function.
Student project: Survey of water pH and temperature
on the diversity of life of local ponds.
Article: The harm done by Acid
Deposition
Lab: Diversity and Environmental
factors
Chapter 4
•
Big Idea 4
Correlation
4A –Nucleic
acids and
protein.
2B
Internal
Compartments
Movement
across
membranes
2E
Growth,
reproduction
Big Idea 4
Correlation
4A Membrane
bound
structures.
Kidney- matter
movement.
2D
Dynamic
homeostasis
Big Idea 3
Correlation
Cells
communicate
Carbon chemistry provides building blocks of organic
molecules
Chapter 5
•
•
Characteristics of lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, and
nucleic acids
Discussion – Protein shape changes if hydrogen bonds
disrupted.
Chapter 7 – required content
•
•
Discuss /create models of organic
compounds.
Activity: Slide show of ultra
structures of the Eukaryotic cells
Compare prokaryote and eukaryote cells.
The endomembrane system, cell surfaces, and
junctions.
Chapter 8
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Membranes are mosaics of structure and function
A membranes molecular organization results from
selective permeability
Student research – Receptor proteins are vital for
immune responses.
Water flow is facilitated by aquaporins.
Student research project: nerophrogenic diabetes
insipidus caused by non-functional aquaporins.
(Chapter 44 – related content)
Comparison of homeostasis and regulation of body
temperature.
Compare/contract osmoregulation and lower animal
excretory systems.
Homeostatic mechanisms reflect common ancestry and
adaptation in different environments.
Model: construct a model of a cell
membrane or proton pump
AP Lab: Diffusion Osmosis lab
Model construction: The
sodium/potassium pump
Discussion – cell walls of bacteria,
protists, fungi and plants.
Article: One Bad transporter and
cystic fibrosis
Article: Truth in a test tube: Using
urine to test for bodily functions.
Chapter 11
•
•
•
Cell signaling evolved early in the evolution of life.
Receptions, transduction and response to signals
Signal receptors are plasma membrane proteins
Model – Illustrate the activation of
a gene by a growth factor.
2A
Free energy
2C
Biological
Feedback
systems
mechanisms
utilize
energy and Big Idea 4
molecular
Correlations
building
4B – coenzymes
blocks to
and cofactors
grow,
affect enzyme
reproduce, function
and
Big Idea 4
maintain
Correlations
homeostasis. 4B-Interactions
promote
efficiency
2A
Big Idea 2
Living systems
require free
Biological
energy and
systems
matter
utilize
energy and
molecular
building
blocks to
grow,
reproduce,
and
maintain
homeostasis
Big Idea 2
Unit 3 – Energy Transformations (4 days)
Chapter 6 – required content
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Discussion of Law Of Thermodynamics
Vitamins are essential to cellular metabolism.
Enzymes speed up metabolic processes
Activity: Cause of disease- rickets, pellagra, scurvy
Discussion: minerals and osteoporosis
Metabolic control often depends on allosteric regulation.
(Chapter 41 – related content)
Digestive enzymes facilitate nutrient acquisition in cells
throughout the body.
Nutrients are necessary for homeostasis.
Unit 4 – Energy and Environmental Interaction
(10 days)
Chapter 9 – required content
•
•
Cellular respiration and fermentation are catabolic,
energy-yielding processes.
Respiration involves glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, and the
electron transport chain.
Chapter 10 – required content
•
•
•
Autotrophs use chloroplasts to initiate photosynthesis.
The products of the light reactions are used to assemble
carbon compounds during the Calvin cycle.
Photosynthesis is the biospheres metabolic foundation.
Chapter 36
•
•
•
•
•
Selective permeability, proton pumps, and water
potential drive water transport in plants.
Aquaporins increase the rate of water transport.
Symplasts and apoplasts function in plant tissue.
Transport of xylem sap and translocation of phloem sap
distribute water in plants.
Xerophytes have evolutionary adaptations that reduce
transpiration.
Lab - Toothpickase data and
calculation of reaction rates
Article: A toast to Alcohol
Dehydrogenase
Article: Hormones and
Hunger
AP Lab –Cellular Respiration
Article: When mitochondria
Spin their wheels
Lab - Fish respiration lab
AP Lab – Photosynthesis
Article: Biofuels
Independence In Nature –the
role of respiration and
photosynthesis in global
warming
AP Lab - Transpiration
Big Idea 4
Biological
systems
interact, and
these
interactions
possess
complex
properties.
4A
Interactions
in systems
Big Idea 1
Correlations
1A Genetic
makeup of a
population
Big Idea 3
Correlations
3EOrganisms
exchange
information
4C
Interactions
with the
environment
Unit 5 – Ecosystems Interactions (12 days)
Chapters 50
•
•
•
Interactions between organisms and their environment
determine the distribution and abundance of organisms.
Abiotic factors affect species dispersal, distribution and
habitat
Geographic distribution of aquatic and terrestrial biomes
Chapter 37
•
•
•
Legume root examination, nitrogen as a plant nutrient.
Nutritional adaptations: symbiosis of roots and microbes
Parasitism and predation adaptations in plants.
Chapter 51
•
•
•
Ethology explores both the proximal and ultimate cause of
behavior in organisms.
Behavioral ecology emphasizes evolutionary hypotheses.
Organism acquire learning, cognition, and social behaviors
Chapter 54
•
•
•
Lab – Owl Pellet dissection
Predator/prey relationships
AP Lab – Energy Dynamics
Research: Hydroponics growth
of plants for human
consumption
Activity - Behavior of planarians
Article: My Pheromones Made
me do it!
Research: Climate changes in
Texas
Tropic relationships determine the routes of energy flow and
chemical cycling in ecosystems
Analyze the nitrogen, phosphorus, water, and carbon cycles
Human activities may cause climate change.
Chapter 39
•
•
•
Plant responses to hormones, light and environmental stimuli.
Plant defense to herbivores and pathogens
Activity: Seed germination vs. light
Lab – Plant tropisms
Unit 6– Genetics, Reproduction and Development
(20 days)
Chapter 12
Big Idea 3
Living
systems
retrieve,
transmit,
and respond
to
information
essential to
life
processes.
3A
Heritable
Information
3B
Cellular and
molecular
mechanisms
•
•
Mitosis and control of the Cell Cycle
Cancer cells have escaped cell cycle control
AP lab: Cell Division: Mitosis
and Meiosis
Chapter 13
•
•
•
•
•
Meiosis and origins of Genetic Variations
Sexual life cycles produce genetic variation among organisms
Asexual reproduction is an advantage for some organisms
(Chapter 46 & 47 – related content)
A complex interplay of hormones regulates reproduction
Embryonic and fetal development occur during preganancy
Chapter 45
•
•
•
The endocrine and nervous systems are structurally,
chemically, and functionally related
The hypothalamus and pituitary integrate many functions
Thyroid hormones function in development, bioenergetics
and homeostasis.
Chapter 38 – Reproduction in flowers
•
•
•
3C
Processing
genetic
information
is imperfect
Male and female gametophytes develop within anthers and
ovaries. Seeds containing embryos develop from ovaries
when provided with a supply of nutrients.
Evolutionary adaptations of seed germination contribute to
seedling survival
Sexual and asexual reproduction are complimentary in the
life histories of plants
Chapter 14
•
•
Gregor Mendel, Punnett squares, dihybrid crosses, and
genetic problems reveal inheritance patterns
Article: Blue people characteristics
Chapter 15
•
•
Morgan traced a gene to a specific chromosome
Independent assortment of chromosomes and crossing over
produce genetic recombination
Chapter 48
3D
Cells
communicate
Chemical
signals
•
•
Nervous systems perform three overlapping functions of
sensory input, integration, and motor output
Analyze the evolution and diversity of nervous systems
Chapter 43
•
•
•
•
Nonspecific defense mechanisms fight infection
Lymphocytes provide the specificity and diversity of the
immune system.
T cells and B cells orchestrate immune responses to
pathogens
Trace the history and pathology of the AIDS, an
immunodeficiency disease caused by a virus.
Lab – Flower dissection
Article – Plight of the
Honeybees
Activity: Pedigree analysis
Activity – Genetics Corn and
Chi Square
Activity – M & M Chi square
Activity – Karyotype analysis
Discussion: Tay-Sachs disease
malfunction of lysosomes.
Lysosomes facilitate apoptosis;
programmed cell death –
cellular differentiation
Model: Neuron stimulation
Activity: Stages of Immune
response
Video: AIDS – Evolution of an
Epidemic
Big Idea 3
Living
systems
retrieve,
transmit,
and respond
to
information
essential to
life
processes.
3A
Heritable
Information
3B
Expression
Molecular
mechanisms
Big Idea 4
Correlation
4C Diversity
among
components
of the
environment
Unit 7 – Molecular Biology (15 days)
Chapter 16
•
•
Rosalind Franklin, Watson, and Crick formulated a model for
the DNA double helix.
A large team of enzymes are used for correct connection of
nucleotides during DNA replication.
Chapter 17
•
•
•
The study of metabolic defects provides evidence that genes
specify proteins.
Transcription is DNA-directed synthesis of RNA
Translation is RNA-directed synthesis of a polypeptide
Video: DNA: The Secret of Life
Activity- DNA extraction from
both plant and animal
specimens
Model: DNA replication
Video: The Double Life of RNA
Chapter 18 – Virus & Bacteria
•
•
•
•
•
•
Viruses can only reproduce in a host cell
Phages reproduce during the lytic and lysogenic cycle
The short generation span of bacteria helps them adapt to
changing environments.
Control of gene expression enables individual bacteria to
adjust their metabolism to environmental change
Control of gene expression, operons, enables individual
bacteria to adjust metabolism to their environment.
Research Project – Effect of Intestinal E. coli on human
digestion.
AP Lab – Transformation
Research: Embryonic Stem cells
Chapter 19
•
3E
Transmission
of
information
Results in
changes
•
Repetitive DNA and other non-coding sequences account for
much of the eukaryotic genome
Oncogene proteins and faulty tumor-suppressor proteins
interfere with normal signaling pathways.
Video: Ghost in your Genes
Epigenome inheritance
Chapter 20
•
•
•
Restriction enzymes are used to make recombinant DNA.
RFLP analysis detects DNA differences.
PCR clones DNA. DNA technology offers forensic,
environmental and agricultural applications.
Student Research – Xenotransplantation : animal organ
transplants
Chapter 21
•
•
•
Embryonic development involves cell division, cell
differentiation, and morphogenesis
A cascade of gen activations sets up the segmentation
pattern in Drosophilia.
Homeobox genes direct the identity of body parts.
AP Lab – Restriction Analysis
Article: Golden Rice or
Frankenfood?
Unit 8– Evolution of Populations (8 days)
Big Idea 1
AP Lab – Hardy Weinburg
The
process of
evolution
drives the
diversity
and unity
of life.
Chapter 23
1B
Common
ancestry
•
•
•
•
A populations pool is defined by the allele frequency
Hardy-Weinberg theorem describes a non-evolving population
Macroevolution is caused by genetic drift and natural selection
Adaptive evolution: selectioncan be directional, diversifying, or
stabilizing.
1C
Chapter 25
Changing
•
Paleontologist use the fossil record to reveal the evolution of
life as punctuated by mass extinctions.
environment
•
•
Phylogenetic systematics is based on cladistic analysis
Activity - Cladogram Analysis
Chapter 26
1D
Natural
processes
Big Idea 4
Biological
systems
interact, and
these
interactions
possess
complex
properties.
4B
Competition
and
cooperation
4C
Diversity
Interactions
in the
environment
•
•
•
Life on earth originated close to 3.5 billion years ago.
Animal diversity exploded during the early Cambrium period
Plants, fungi and animals colonized the land about 500 million
years ago.
Unit 9 – Environmental Interrelationships (8 days)
Chapter 52
•
•
•
Exponential growth and limits of carrying capacity
Identify population-limiting factors
Age Structure Diagrams
Chapter 53
•
•
•
•
Competitive exclusion hypothesis
Characterize predation: mimicry and co-evolution
Terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem structure
Evaluate food webs and successions
Chapter 55
•
•
Genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity are vital to human
welfare.
Habitat destruction, introduced species, overexploitation, and
food chain disruption threaten biodiversity.
AP Lab – BLAST
Field trip: Fossil Rim wildlife
center and Dinosaur National
Park – Glen Rose, Texas
Student project: Document
evidence for changes in the life
history of Texas over millions
years.
Activity - Yeast population
study
Web/CD 53A:Madagascar and
the Biodiversity Crisis
WebCD55B: Introduced
Species: Fire Ants\
Unit 10 – Special Topics
Student long term independent projects:
3A
•
4A
•
4B
•
•
Create portfolios of diseases with genetic
engineered cures.
Find example of an invasive species and
document the environmental impact of
unlimited predation on native species.
Research a famous behaviorist and illustrate the
scientific concepts we have learned about
interrelationships among organisms.
Research the transmission of malaria and effect
on associated populations. Survey demographic
data to illustrate the number of sickle cell
anemia victims.