Honors Biology II and AP Biology Syllabus
2015-2016
Course Overview
Advanced Placement Biology is part of a nationwide program based on the belief that many students are
ready for college work while still in high school, and their abilities should be recognized, encouraged and
rewarded. As a college level course, the amount of material covered as well as the complexity of the topics
will be high. It is the responsibility of the student to come to class each day understanding the previous
day's material. An ongoing unstated assignment, therefore, is to learn the material as it is presented.
Students must be certain that they are willing to accept this challenge and be committed to keep up with
the work.
AP Biology is structured around four Big ideas described in the Curriculum Framework, which encompass the
core scientific principles, theories, and processes governing living organisms and biological systems. At least
one of the Big ideas will be incorporated in every lesson throughout the course. [CR2]
The four Big ideas are:
Big idea 1: The process of evolution drives the diversity and unity of life.
Big idea 2: Biological systems utilize free energy and molecular building blocks to grow, to
reproduce and to maintain dynamic homeostasis.
Big idea 3: Living systems store, retrieve, transmit and respond to information essential to life
processes.
Big idea 4: Biological systems interact, and these systems and their interactions possess
complex properties.
Class discussions may be based on animations from various sources (textbook, CDs, Internet, etc.) to help the
students visualize what they have read. Quizzes are interspersed throughout the unit and inform how
instruction may need to be adjusted to improve student learning. Lectures may be provided online in some
cases and units may be “flipped” so that more class time can be devoted to laboratory and discussion.
The two main goals of AP Biology are to help students develop a conceptual framework for modern biology
and to help students gain an appreciation of science as a process. The ongoing information explosion in
biology makes these goals even more challenging. Students are encouraged to focus on understanding
important relationships, processes, mechanisms, and potential extensions and applications of concepts.
The course provides opportunities to connect scientific knowledge to major social issues to help students
become scientifically literate citizens. [ CR 5 ]
Technology is used extensively throughout the course, and students are required to participate in
asynchronous discussions, development of an online portfolio, and develop other educational artifacts such as
concept maps or webpages that illustrate their understanding of topics. [ CR 8 ]
Hands-on labs will constitute at least 25% of instructional time [ CR 7 ]. Students will have the opportunity to
complete at least two lab experiences in each of the four big ideas. [CR 6 ] Many of these labs are inquiry
based, and emphasize collaboration, development of hypotheses, data collection, analysis and presentation.
Students will maintain a laboratory notebook that documents their investigations throughout the year. This
notebook will be digitally formatted and stored online. In addition to the lab notebook, a final reflective essay
will be required. [ CR 8 ]
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Course Materials:
3 ring binder or composition notebook
Lab Notebook
# 2 pencils
Calculator
Colored pencils
Student Evaluation(per semester):
6 weeks Grade
TestsLabsClasswork/Quizzes-
60%
20%
20%
Final Grade
1st 6 weeks2nd 6 weeks3rd 6 weeksFinal Exam-
25%
25%
25%
25%
Teacher Contact Information:
Michael Walter (Room 112)
walterm@pitt.k12.nc.us
321-3640(JH Rose #)
AP Biology Course Requirements {CR}
CR1 Students and teachers use a recently published (within the last 10 years) college-level biology textbook.
CR2 The course is structured around the enduring understandings within the big ideas as described in the
AP® Biology Curriculum Framework.
CR3a-d Students connect the enduring understandings of each Big Idea to at least one other big idea.
CR4a-dThe course provides students with opportunities outside of the laboratory investigations to meet the
learning objectives within each Big Idea.
CR5 The course provides students with opportunities to connect their biological and scientific knowledge to
major social issues (e.g., concerns, technological advances, innovations) to help them become scientifically
literate citizens.
CR6 The student-directed laboratory investigations used throughout the course allow students to apply the
seven science practices defined in the AP Biology Curriculum Framework and include at least two lab
experiences in each of the four big ideas.
CR7 Students are provided the opportunity to engage in investigative laboratory work integrated throughout the
course for a minimum of 25 percent of instructional time.
CR8 The course provides opportunities for students to develop and record evidence of their verbal, written and
graphic communication skills through laboratory reports, summaries of literature or scientific investigations, and
oral, written, or graphic presentations.
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Science Practices {SP}
1. The student can use representations and models to communicate scientific phenomena and solve
scientific problems.
2. The student can use mathematics appropriately.
3. The student can engage in scientific questioning to extend thinking or to guide investigations within
the context of the AP course.
4. The student can plan and implement data collection strategies appropriate to a particular scientific
question.
5. The student can perform data analysis and evaluation of evidence.
6. The student can work with scientific explanations and theories.
7. The student is able to connect and relate knowledge across various scales, concepts and
representations in and across domains.
*Students are required to keep a lab notebook, and/ or write short summaries of observations [CR8]
COURSE SCHEDULE
Unit 1: The Nature of Science and the Chemistry of Life [ CR 2 ]
Readings: Chapter 1-5
~ 3 weeks
Overview of Lecture and Discussion Topics:
1. Scientific method and experimental design
2. Explain what is meant by scientific theory
3. Practice with data collection, analysis, and presentation
4. Address problems in research, such as confirmation bias
5. Emphasis on evidence collecting, why evolution is considered a unifying theory
6. Identify basic elements of living organisms
7. Distinguish between inorganic and organic compounds
8. Describe water’s unique properties
9. Describe the structure of organic compounds
10. Understand the pH scale, redox reactions, and hydrolysis/condensation
11. Apply the laws of thermodynamics to biological systems
12. Explain how life maintains a high degree of organization
13. Investigate enzyme structure and function
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Unit 2: Cellular Processes [CR2] ~ 4 weeks
Readings: Chapter 6-12
Overview of Lecture and Discussion Topics:
1. Review basic cellular components, construct models comparing differences between prokaryote, eukaryote,
animal, and plant cells
2. Explain the concept of selectively permeable as it applies to the cell membrane, distinguish between active
and passive transport
3. Define homeostasis and illustrate how transport is used to maintain an internal environment
4. Understand the process by which the cell theory was developed
5. Understand the Endosymbiosis theory and its connection to evolution [ CR3A ] and [ CR3B]
6. Understand the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in maintaining homeostasis
7. Mitosis and Meiosis, and the Cell Cycle
Unit 3: Genetics [CR 2] ~ 5 weeks
Readings: Chapters 13-21
Overview of Lecture and Discussion Topics:
1. What is cancer?
2. Mendelian genetics (Law of Segregation, Independent Assortment, Dominance)
3. Mathematical predictions (punnett squares) and Chi Square Analysis
4. Chromosomal Patterns of Inheritance (sex linkage)
5. Human Genetic Disorders
6. DNA is the genetic material (historical experiments, DNA structure and function, DNA replication)
7. Flow of genetic information (genetic code, role of other polymers, transcription, translation)
8. Mutations
9. Gene expression (operon systems in prokaryotes, eukaryotic gene expression)
10. Restriction enzymes, plasmids, transformation
11. DNA technology (how gel electrophoresis works and applications of this technology) [CR5]
12. Biotechnology: stem cells, synthetic biology, genetically modified foods [CR5]
Unit 4-5: Evolution and Phylogeny [CR2] ~ 6 weeks
Readings: Chapter 22-27
Overview of Lecture and Discussion Topics:
1. How natural selection serves as a mechanism for evolution
2. Scientific evidence supporting evolution
3. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
4. Origin of Life; Fossil Records, Concepts of speciation
5. Current events in evolution, resistance to antibiotics, pesticides, artificial selection
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Unit 6-7: Organism Form and Function [CR 2] ~ 7 weeks
Readings: Chapters 38-40, 43, 45, 47, 48
Overview of Lecture and Discussion Topics:
1. Plant structure, growth, and transport
2. Plant responses to stimuli
3. Feedback control loops in animals
4. Thermoregulation in animals
5. Energy allocation and use in animals
6. Examples of functioning units in mammal systems (alveoli in lungs, nephrons in kidneys)
7. Structure and function in body systems (nervous, digestive, skeletal, urinary)
8. Comparative anatomy (mammals, amphibians, humans)
9. Advances in medicine [CR4C] & [CR5]
Unit 8: Ecology [CR 2 ] ~ 6 weeks
Readings: Chapters 50-55
Overview of Lecture and Discussion Topics:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Populations and Communities
Population growth models
Biodiversity and Sustainability
Biomes and Ecosystems
Energy flow and chemical cycling
Primary productivity
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Academic Honesty:
Every student is expected to complete her or his own work. During tests and quizzes, any type of suspicious
behavior may result in a student automatically failing the test or quiz. Glancing at another person’s paper, talking,
exposed notes, etc. may disqualify a student from the test whether or not any assistance was gained. Copying
homework, double marking answers on tests, discussing specific test questions between periods and plagiarizing
material are all considered cheating. Students that choose to violate this policy will receive a zero for that
test or assignment, and may be referred to the administration for punishment under the Pitt County Schools
academic honesty policy, and a referral will be written and added to the students cumulative file. Repeated
offenses may result in a student failing the class. In short, do your own work, keep your eyes on your paper, and
there will be no problems. You are here to learn! Engaging in cheating subverts the purpose of education/learning.
Violations of Academic Honesty
CHEATING: Using unauthorized notes or other study aids during an examination; using unauthorized technology during
an examination; improper storage of prohibited notes, course materials and study aids during an exam such that they are
accessible or possible to view; looking at other students' work during an exam or in an assignment where collaboration is
not allowed; attempting to communicate with other students in order to get help during an exam or in an assignment
where collaboration is not allowed; obtaining an examination prior to its administration; altering graded work and
submitting it for regrading; allowing another person to do one's work and submitting it as one's own; submitting work done
in one class for credit in another without the instructor's permission; obstructing or interfering with another student's
academic work; undertaking any activity intended to obtain an unfair advantage over other students.
PLAGIARISM: The use, whether deliberate or unintentional, of an idea, phrase, or other materials from a source without
proper acknowledgment of that source in a work for which the student claims authorship; the misrepresentation of sources
used in a work for which the student claims authorship; the improper use of course materials in a work for which the
student claims authorship; the use of papers purchased online and turned in as one's own work; submitting written work,
such as laboratory reports, computer programs, or papers, which have been copied from the work of other students, with
or without their knowledge and consent. The risk of plagiarism can be avoided in written work by clearly indicating, either
in footnotes or in the paper itself, the source of any major or unique idea or wording that you did not arrive at on your own.
Sources must be given regardless of whether the material is quoted directly or paraphrased.
Turning in assignments/ Late work / Make-up work
When you come to class check the daily agenda for assignments and due dates. Any labs, homework, projects, etc.
are due when the tardy bell rings. Sometimes, I may ask you to keep your assignments at your seat, and I will come
around to check/stamp it. Otherwise, if your homework is not in when the tardy bell rings it is late, and 20% will
be deducted from the assignment. Late work is accepted, but it is penalized 20% per day late(weekends
included). If the graded homework has been handed back or we go over the homework answers then the
assignment receives no credit. Make up work including in-class assignments, labs, and tests may be made up
given the student has an excused absence. All make-up classwork should be completed within a week of the
excused absence. Work missed as a result of unexcused absences cannot be made up and the student will
TESTS must be made up the next day if it's a single day
absence or within 3 days if it's a multi-day absence. ALL MAKE-UP TESTS WILL BE A
DIFFERENT VERSION THAN THE ORIGINAL TEST!!
receive no credit for the assignment(s).
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