AP Biology Syllabus
2012-2013
Course Overview: The Course
The AP Biology course is designed to enable you to develop advanced inquiry and
reasoning skills, such as designing a plan for collecting data, analyzing data, applying
mathematical routines, and connecting concepts in and across domains. The result will be
readiness for the study of advanced topics in subsequent college courses—a goal of every
AP course.
This AP Biology course is equivalent to a two-semester college introductory biology
course and has been endorsed enthusiastically by higher education officials.
The Emphasis on Science Practices
A practice is a way to coordinate knowledge and skills in order to accomplish a goal or
task. The science practices enable you to establish lines of evidence and use them to
develop and refine testable explanations and predictions of natural phenomena. Because
content, inquiry, and reasoning are equally important in AP Biology, each learning
objective combines content with inquiry and reasoning skills described in the science
practices.
The science practices capture important aspects of the work that scientists engage in, at
the level of competence expected of you, an AP Biology student.
The key concepts and related content that define the revised AP Biology course and exam
are organized around a few underlying principles called the big ideas, which encompass
the core scientific principles, theories and processes governing living organisms and
biological systems.
Big Idea 1: Evolution
The process of evolution drives the diversity and unity of life.
Big Idea 2: Cellular Processes: Energy and Communication
Biological systems utilize free energy and molecular building blocks to grow, to
reproduce, and to maintain dynamic homeostasis.
Big Idea 3: Genetics and 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 re-express 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.
The class is conducted at the college level and students are expected to work
accordingly. The class meets 6 out of 7 days (due to a rotating schedule) for 48 minutes
with a double period 1 out of 7 days. There will be class lecture, activities and labs.
Hands on lab activities take up approximately 25% of the course time. Students are
expected to read the selected material, take notes and complete any handouts such as
questions or guided notes that will help them navigate through the material. Along with
the factual information learned, student will be able to utilize the biological knowledge
and demonstrate critical thinking through a series of written essays. Each unit culminates
with a test consisting of multiple choice questions with corresponding essays. Each
student is required to take the AP exam.
Text: Biology, Campbell & Reese 9th ed. (Pearson publishers)
Optional: Review book such as Cliff’s, Princeton Review, REA, Barron’s, Kaplan
Reading of the text is extremely important. Students will be expected to take their own
notes as they read in a composition notebook. The notes will be reviewed periodically for
a completion grade. Typed notes will not be allowed.
Internet: Students will be asked to view various internet sites such as Bozeman Biology
on YouTube and Kahn Academy as part of their assignments.
Labs: Labs will constitute at least 25% of the course work. The new curriculum includes more
emphasis on inquiry based labs, which means you will design your own experimental procedures
for a significant number of labs. In order to have as authentic a lab experience as possible, you
will keep a lab notebook to record procedures and observations during labs. All labs will be done
in pen. If you make a mistake, cross out (do not scribble out) the information and rewrite. In the
scientific work, lab notebooks are considered legal documents and all information must be
accessible. Formal lab write ups will be completed for each lab. You will turn in the formal write
up. There will be a minimum of 2 labs for each of the 4 Big Ideas. Due to the large
amount of time required for laboratory set-up, it is essential that students are present on
lab days. Additional non AP labs are also performed throughout the year.
AP Examination: (MAY 13, 2013) The exam is 3 hours long and includes both a 90minute multiple choice section and a 90-minute free-response section that begins with
a mandatory 10-minute reading period. The multiple-choice section accounts for half of
the student’s exam grade, and the free-response section accounts for the other half.
AP Biology Exam Format
Section I
Question Type
Number of Questions
Part A: Multiple Choice
63
Part B: Grid-In
6
Timing
90 minutes
Section II
Question Type
Number of Questions
Timing
Long Free Response
2
Short Free Response
6
80 minutes + 10-minute
reading period
Due to the increased emphasis on quantitative skills and application of mathematical
methods in the questions on both sections, student will be allowed to use simple fourfunction calculators (with square root) on the entire exam. On a 5 point scale, a score of 3
or better is passing. All students are expected to take the AP exam.
Grading Policies: Grades are calculated on a point system. Your grade will be calculated
from homework, tests, quizzes, projects, labs, science in the news extra credit.
Homework is worth 5-20 points depending on length. You will be able to track your
grade by dividing the number of points received by the number of available points. You
will maintain a grade sheet in the front of your book. This will help you monitor
assignments, due dates, points received, and points available. The portal is also useful.
Final Grade is calculated as follows:
40% quarter 1+ 40% Quarter 2+ 20%Semester 1 Exam=Semester 1 grade
40% quarter 2+ 40% Quarter 4+ 20%Semester 2 Exam=Semester 2 grade
50% Semester 1 grade + 50% Semester 2 grade =Final Grade
Test/Homework Make- Up Policy: : For each day student is absent, he or she has one
day to make up assignments .For tests and quizzes, students who miss one day have one
day to make up a test or quiz. Students who miss two or more days have one full testing
cycle to make up quizzes and tests. Students should discuss any conflicts with Mrs.
Tunick immediately upon return.
If you miss class due to early dismissal for a sporting event or other school activity
and you are in school that day, the assignment is due that day as expected! Please
see me in room 307 sometime before you leave the building. I do not count the
absence as an excused absence. You do not receive an additional day.
Absences: The policy outlined in the student handbook regarding tardiness and
absences will be strictly followed. Four incidents of tardiness equal one unexcused
absence. Four or more unexcused absences or five or more excused absences may
result in no credit for that quarter.
EXTRA CREDIT: Students may earn up to 10 extra credit points per quarter for
presenting 10 science in the news items. These may come from the newspaper, the web,
magazines, etc. Student must prepare a summary and report to the class their findings.
Student may be asked questions by peers or instructor. Only one article per day/ per
student with a maximum of 10 per quarter is allowed. The points will be added to the
total points received at the end of the quarter.
Course Policies:
 Students are expected to read the required chapters and keep detailed notes.
 No late work will be accepted
 Discussion is required.
 This class requires dedication and an immense amount of independent study time.
You will get out of this class only what you are willing to contribute!
HOMEWORK: Homework will be posted on my webpage. Go to the BI homepage and
click on academics, faculty, and then Tunick.
Contact Information: email: tunickr@bishopireton.org or rosetunes@aol.com
Phone: 703-212-5140 ext. 8123
Office: rm 307
Teacher Availability: I am available for help M-F 7:15- 8:00am
and M, T, W, R at 3:15. Please let me know if you will be coming in as situations may
arise making me unavailable.
Classroom Materials:
Textbook- Campbell and Reese Biology 9th ed.
2”-3” 3- Ring binder with dividers: class notes, worksheets, tests, and quizzes
Lab notebook-composition notebook
Composition Notebook (for reading notes)
Loose leaf paper
Colored pencils, highlighter
Pen, pencil
Calculator -4 function
Course Outline
Unit 1: First Week and Introduction ( 5 classes)
Big ideas: 1, 2
Connected to enduring understandings:
1.A Change in the genetic makeup of a population over time is evolution.
2.A Growth, reproduction and maintenance of the organization of living
systems require free energy and matter.
Chapters:
1. Introduction: Themes in the Study of Life
2. The Chemical Context of Life
3. Water and the Fitness of the Environment
Unit 1 Overview of Lecture and Discussion Topics:
1. Darwin and the Theory of Natural Selection
2. Inquiry as a way to learn science
3. Structure of Atoms
4. Emergent Properties of Water
5. Design an Experiment- students walk through the experimental design process
Unit 2: Biochemistry and Introduction to the Cell (10 Classes)
Big ideas: 1, 2, 3, 4
Connected to enduring understandings:
1.D The origin of living systems is explained by natural processes.
2.A Growth, reproduction and maintenance of the organization of living
systems require free energy and matter.
2.B Growth, reproduction and dynamic homeostasis require that cells create
and maintain internal environments that are different from their external
environments.
3.A Heritable information provides for continuity of life.
4.A Interactions within biological systems lead to complex properties.
4.B Competition and cooperation are important aspects of biological systems.
4.C Naturally occurring diversity among and between components within
biological systems affects interactions with the environment.
Chapters:
4. Carbon and the Molecular Diversity of Life
5. The Structure and Function of Large Biological Molecules
6. A Tour of the Cell
7. Membrane Structure and Function
Unit 2 Overview of Lecture and Discussion topics:
1. The impact of carbon as the “backbone of life”
2. How monomers build polymers, including the roles of nucleic acids
3. Examples of organelles that are membrane bound to compartmentalize their
functions
4. Membrane structure and function
Unit 3: Cellular Energy and Related Processes (17 Classes)
Big ideas: 1, 2, 4
Connected to enduring understandings:
1.A Change in the genetic makeup of a population over time is evolution.
1.D The origin of living systems is explained by natural processes.
2.B Growth, reproduction and maintenance of the organization of living
systems require free energy and matter.
4.A Interactions within biological systems lead to complex properties.
4.B Competition and cooperation are important biological systems.
Chapters:
8. An Introduction to Metabolism
9. Cellular Respiration
10. Photosynthesis
Unit 3 Overview of Lecture and Discussion Topics:
1. Metabolic pathways
2. Laws of Energy Transformation
3. How ATP powers cellular work
4. Enzyme structure and function
5. Harvesting chemical energy: glycolysis, citric acid cycle, oxidative
phosphorylation
6. Light reactions and the Calvin cycle
7. Evolution of alternative mechanism of carbon fixation
Big Idea #2 Labs
Investigation 4: Osmosis and Diffusion Lab
Investigation 5: Plant pigment and photosynthesis Lab
Investigation 6: Respiration Lab
Big Idea #4 Labs
Investigation 13: Enzyme Activity
Unit 4: Cell Communication and the Cell Cycle (12 Classes)
Big ideas: 1, 2, 3
Connected to enduring understandings:
2.E Many biological processes involved in growth, reproduction and dynamic
homeostasis include temporal regulation and coordination
3.A Heritable information provides for continuity of life
3.B Expression of genetic information involves cellular and molecular
mechanisms.
3.D Cells communicate by generating, transmitting and receiving chemical
signals.
Chapters:
11. Cell Communication
12. The Cell Cycle
Unit 4 Overview of Lecture and Discussion Topics:
1. Evolution of cell signaling
2. Reception, transduction, response
3. Apoptosis
4. How mitosis produces genetically identical daughter cells
5. Evolution of Mitosis
6. How the eukaryotic cell cycle is regulated by a molecular control system
7. Origin of cell communication
Big Ideas Lab #3
Investigation 7: Cell Division; Mitosis
Carolina Biological: Cell Communication Kit for AP* Biology
Unit 5: Genetic Basis of Life (12 Classes)
Big ideas: 1, 3, 4
Connected to enduring understandings:
1.A Change in the genetic makeup of a population over time is evolution.
3.A Heritable information provides for continuity of life.
3.C The processing of genetic information is imperfect and is a source of
genetic variation.
4.C Naturally occurring diversity among and between components within
biological systems affects interactions with the environment.
Chapters:
13. Meiosis and Sexual Life Cycles
14. Mendel and the Gene Idea
15. The Chromosomal Basis of Inheritance
Unit 5 Overview of Lecture and Discussion Topics:
1. Genes are passed from parents to offspring by the inheritance of
chromosomes
2. How meiosis reduces the number of chromosomes (diploid to haploid)
3. Evolutionary significance of genetic variation that results from sexual life cycles
4. Concepts of Mendelian genetics (laws of probability, inheritance patterns)
5. Genes are located along chromosomes (concepts of gene linkage, mapping
distance between genes, causes of genetic disorders) [CR5]
Big Ideas Lab #3
Investigation 7: Cell Division; Meiosis
Unit 6: Gene Activity and Biotechnology (20 Classes)
Big ideas: 1, 2, 3, 4
Connected to enduring understandings:
1.A Change in the genetic makeup of a population over time is evolution
2.C Organisms use feedback mechanisms to regulate growth and
reproduction, and to maintain dynamic homeostasis.
2.E Many biological processes involved in growth, reproduction and dynamic
homeostasis include temporal regulation and coordination.
3.A Heritable information provides for continuity of life.
3.B Expression of genetic information involves cellular and molecular
mechanisms.
3.C The processing of genetic information is imperfect and is a source of genetic
variation.
4.A Interactions within biological systems lead to complex properties.
Chapters:
16. The Molecular Basis of Inheritance
17. From Gene to Protein
18. Regulation of Gene Expression
19. Viruses
20. Biotechnology
21. Genomes and their Evolution
Unit 6 Overview of Lecture and Discussion Topics:
1. DNA is the genetic material (historical experiments, DNA structure and function,
DNA replication)
2. Flow of genetic information (genetic code, role of other polymers,
transcription, translation)
3. Mutations
4. Gene expression (operon systems in prokaryotes, eukaryotic gene
expression)
5. Virus structure and activity
6. Restriction enzymes, plasmids, transformation
7. DNA technology (how gel electrophoresis works and applications of this
technology)
8. M&M Chi Square Lab- Students use a bag of M&Ms and data from the Mars
Company to determine if the number of each colored M&M is within the acceptable
range for their individual bag.
Big Ideas Lab #3
Investigation 8: Biotechnology: Bacterial Transformation
DNA Goes to the Races (Carolina)
Semester 1 Exam- Chapter 1-17 and Laboratories covered
(Semester exam taken before winter break-Actual end of Semester 1 is after winter
break)
SECOND SEMESTER
Unit 7: Evolution and Phylogeny (20 Classes)
Big ideas: 1, 3, 4
Connected to enduring understandings:
1.A
1.B
1.C
1.D
3.A
3.C
Change in the genetic makeup of a population over time is evolution.
Organisms are linked by lines of descent from common ancestry.
Life continues to evolve within a changing environment.
The origin of living systems is explained by natural processes.
Heritable information provides for continuity of life.
The processing of genetic information is imperfect and is a source of genetic
variation.
4.C Naturally occurring diversity among and between components within biological
systems affects interactions with the environment.
Chapters:
22. Descent with Modification: A Darwinian View of Life
23. The Evolution of Populations
24. The Origin of Species
25. The History of Life on Earth
26. Phylogeny and the Tree of Life
27. Bacteria and Archae
Unit 7 Overview of Lecture and Discussion Topics:
1. How natural selection serves as a mechanism for evolution
2. Scientific evidence supporting evolution
3. Hardy-Weinberg concept
4. How allele frequencies can be altered in a population
5. Concepts of speciation
6. Origin of Life; Fossil Records
7. Events in the “history of life” (origin of single-celled and multicellular
organisms; mass extinctions; adaptive radiations)
Big Ideas Lab #1
Carolina Biological: Origin of Life Kit for AP* Biology
Investigation 1: Artificial Selection
Carolina Biological: Population Genetics and Evolution Kit for AP* Biology
Investigation 3 Comparing DNA Sequences to Understand Evolutionary
Relationships with BLAST
Unit 8 Diversity in the Biological World: Organism Form and Function
(22 Classes)
Big ideas: 1, 2, 3, 4
Connected to enduring understandings:
1.A Change in the genetic makeup of a population over time is evolution.
1.B Organisms are linked by lines of descent from common ancestry.
2.A Growth, reproduction and maintenance of the organization of living
systems require free energy and matter.
2.C Organisms use feedback mechanisms to regulate growth and
reproduction, and to maintain dynamic homeostasis.
2.D Growth and dynamic homeostasis of a biological system are influenced by
changes in the system’s environment.
2.E Many biological processes involved in growth, reproduction and dynamic
homeostasis include temporal regulation and coordination.
3.E Transmission of information results in changes within and between
biological systems.
4.A Interactions within biological systems lead to complex properties.
4.B Competition and cooperation are important aspects of biological systems.
Chapters:
40. Basic Principles of Animal Form and Function
43. The Immune System
48. Neurons, Synapses, and Signaling
49.2 The Vertebrate Brain
(Chapters 28-49 will be utilized to provide students with resources for the
enduring understandings in this unit)
Unit 8 Overview of Lecture and Discussion Topics: This section covers a broad
survey of the diversity of life; specific topics will connect big ideas and enduring
understandings.
1. Evolutionary trends (endosymbiosis, adaptations that allowed plants to move
from water to land, reproductive adaptations of angiosperms, environmental
roles of fungi, animal body plans, progressively complex derived characters in
animal groups)
2. Unique features of the angiosperm life cycles
3. Signal transduction pathways (plant and animal hormones)
4. Photoperiodism in plants
5. Feedback control loops in animals
6. Thermoregulation in animals
7. Energy allocation and use in animals
8. Examples of functioning units in mammal systems (alveoli in lungs, villi of small
intestines, nephrons in kidneys)
9. Structure and function in immune systems
10. Structure and function in nervous systems (neurons, resting potential, action
potential, synapses)
11. Structure and function of the human brain
Unit 9: Ecology (18 Classes)
Big ideas: 1, 2, 3, 4
Connected to enduring understandings:
1.A Change in the genetic makeup of a population over time is evolution.
1.C Life continues to evolve within a changing environment.
2.A Growth, reproduction and maintenance of the organization of living
systems require free energy and matter.
2.C Organisms use feedback mechanisms to regulate growth, reproduction and
dynamic homeostasis.
2.D Growth and dynamic homeostasis of a biological system are influenced by
changes in the system’s environment.
2.E Many biological processes involved in growth, reproduction and dynamic
homeostasis include temporal regulation and coordination.
3.E Transmission of information results in changes within and between
biological systems.
4.A Interactions within biological systems lead to complex properties.
4.B Competition and cooperation are important aspects of biological systems.
4.C Naturally occurring diversity among and between components within
biological systems affects interactions with the environment.
Chapters:
51. Animal Behavior
52.2. Interactions between organisms and the environment limit the distribution of
species.
53. Population Ecology
54. Community Ecology
55. Ecosystems
56. Conservation Biology and Global Change
Unit 9 Overview of Lecture and Discussion Topics:
1. Aspects of animal behavior
2. Aspects of biomes
3. Models describing population growth
4. Regulation of population growth
5. Community interactions
6. Species diversity and composition
7. Community biodiversity
8. Energy flow and chemical cycling in ecosystems
9. Primary productivity
10. Energy transfer between trophic levels
11. Human activities that threaten biodiversity
Big Idea #4 Labs
Investigation 10: Energy Dynamics
Investigation 12 : Fruit Fly Behavior
Projects:
1st Quarter- Book Reflection
2nd Quarter- Minority Scientist
3rd Quarter- Ecology Packet
4th Quarter –Endangered Species Presentation
*Time frame is an approximation. Revisions may be made do to time fluctuations
Remember we are completing this course in less than the standard 36 weeks. We have
about 31 weeks counting breaks and holidays.
We’re not done yet………
We will have plenty to keep us busy after the AP exam. Possibilities:
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Lorenzo’s Oil-students watch and answer questions
NIH Epidemic Disease activity
NIH DNA Chip activity
HIH Human Genetic Diversity
The Half Ton Man DVD- Discovery Health Channel program of a man who
weighs 1000 pounds and his fight for life.
Jurassic Park-FUN! Students are asked to watch and listen for any scientific terms
that we have learned throughout the year.
Animal Adaptations DVD- Discovery Channel program about animal adaptations
and natural selection.
Discovery Channel- Planet Earth series
Semester 2 Exam Chapters 18-56 and Laboratories covered. All students will take the
final exam during the senior exam testing period.