Modern Biology
Stephen C. Wright
Curriculum Map for Modern Biology
Stephen C. Wright, Instructor
1st Quarter
Unit Name - Introduction to Biology
Objectives
Students will know the following;
 What the word biology means and the meaning of different selected sciences, both
physical and biological.
 A brief history of biology from primitive man to the present day, with some important
contributions from specific scientists. (11B – Stage I – 1)
 The steps involved in the scientific method. (11A Stage H and I)
 The characteristics of life that all living things have. (12A – Stage I & J – 1)
 The physical conditions necessary for life. (12A – Stage I & J – 1)
 The 10 life actions that all living things have. (12A – Stage I & J – 1)
 The different kind of Heterotrophs. (12A – Stage I – 4)
 The difference between sexual and asexual reproduction (12A – Stage I – 4).
 The difference between biogenesis and abiogenesis and how abiogenesis was
disproved. (11B – Stage I – 1)
 How life is classified into groups and what Binomial Nomenclature is. (12A – Stage I – 4)
 The five kingdoms of classification and at least one example of each kingdom. (12A –
Stage I – 4)
 The difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. (12A – Stage I – 4)
 Safety procedures in order to conduct a laboratory. (13A – Stage I – 1)
Students will be able to;
 Prepare a leaf collection using the instructions provided. (12A – Stage I – 4)
 Identify about 80 different kinds of trees by sight. (12A – Stage I – 4)
 Identify the different parts of a microscope. (11A – Stage H – 3, 12A Stage I - 2)
 Calculate the magnification of a microscope. (11A – Stage H – 3, 12A Stage I - 2)
 Focus a microscope and prepare a wet mount slide. (11A – Stage H – 3, 12A Stage I - 2)
 Identify an organism using a key. (12A – Stage I – 4)
 Construct a key that will identify another group of organism. (11B – Stage I – 2)
Lesson Plan Overview
Day 1
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Day 2
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Day 3
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Day 4
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Assign seats and pass out books.
Go over class and lab rules.
Begin lecture notes on how to prepare a leaf collection.
Finish lecture on leaf collections.
Lecture on objectives one and two.
Assign vocabulary as homework.
Collect vocabulary for a grade.
Lecture on objectives three through eight
Assign homework # 1.
Check homework #1 and take a grade.
Lecture on objectives nine through twelve.
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Day 6
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Day 7
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Day 8
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Day 9
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Day 10
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Stephen C. Wright
Assign homework # 2.
Check homework # 2 and take a grade.
Assign homework # 3.
Begin the exercise on classification of animals.
Check homework # 3 and take a grade.
Finish classification exercise.
Lecture on microscopes.
Assign microscope homework.
Check microscope homework and take a grade.
Begin microscope lab.
Finish microscope lab.
Review for test.
Test on chapter
Assign vocabulary from basic chemistry chapter.
State Performance Descriptors
11A - Students who meet the standard know and apply the concepts, principles, and processes
of scientific inquiry. (Stage H)
1. Formulate issue-specific hypothesis, generating inquiry questions for an issue
investigational premise, or differentiating qualitative and quantitative data and their
applicability, or using conceptual/mathematical/ physical models, or previewing associated
research.
2. Design scientific issue investigation which addresses proposed hypothesis(es), proposing
applicable survey instruments, or selecting associated research, analysis, and
communication components.
3. Conduct issue investigation, using technologies for data collection and assimilation, or
following established formats for random sampling, or following all procedural and safety
precautions, materials and equipment handling directions.
4. Interpret and represent analysis of results, evaluating data sets to explore explanations of
unexpected responses and data concurrence, or evaluating survey validity and reliability,
or analyzing research and data for supporting or refuting the hypothesis.
11B - Students who meet the standard know and apply the concepts, principles, and processes of
technological design. (Stage I)
1. Identify an historic engineering feat, innovation or model, researching historic dilemmas
which necessitated new scientific or engineering solutions, or brainstorming the kinds of
barriers or circumstances that existed, or identifying the simulation materials and
procedural sequence which can simulate historic conditions, or determining success
criteria, design constraints, and testing logistics encountered.
2. Construct innovation model, sketching progressive schematics of the design, or collecting
appropriate materials, supplies, and safety equipment, or completing assembly of
innovation or model.
12A - Students who meet the standard know and apply concepts that explain how living things
function, adapt, and change. (Stage I)
Modern Biology
Stephen C. Wright
1. Apply scientific inquiries or technological designs to analyze the cellular organelles and
functions, using different microscopic techniques, explaining functional processes
chemically and structurally (e.g., osmotic, active and facilitated transport, enzyme action
and protein/lipid/carbohydrate metabolism).
2. Apply scientific inquiries or technological designs to analyze the cellular organelles and
functions, using different microscopic techniques, or explaining functional processes
chemically and structurally (e.g., osmotic, active and facilitated transport, enzyme action
and protein/lipid/carbohydrate metabolism).
4. Apply scientific inquiries or technological designs to compare taxonomic criteria among
organisms, examining unicellular, colonial, and multi-cellular organisms for common and
differing characteristics.
12A - Students who meet the standard know and apply concepts that explain how living things
function, adapt, and change. (Stage J)
1. Apply scientific inquiries or technological designs to explain biochemical reactions,
diagramming metabolic, hormonal, regulatory, feedback or transport molecular models in
and between organ systems, explaining homeostasis, or tracing the balance of cellular
ATP.
13A - Students who meet the standard know and apply accepted practices of science. (Stage I)
1. Apply appropriate principles of safety, following established procedures to maintain both
personal & environmental safety when handling & disposing of chemicals, estimating
risks/benefits to alternative procedures, mapping classroom laboratory facilities for safe
egress & distances/times to access safety treatment features, manipulating, reading and
troubleshooting scientific equipment safely, communicating school science storage and
disposal policies for classroom investigations, demonstrating safety practices and
emergency procedures pertaining to laboratory and field work, researching community
disposal procedures (e.g., mercury thermometers or lead batteries), or participating in
household waste and hazardous waste pickup programs in Illinois.
2. Apply scientific habits of mind to curricular investigations in life, environmental, physical,
earth, and space sciences, identifying instances of how scientific reasoning, insight,
creativity, skill, intellectual honesty, tolerance of ambiguity, skepticism, persistence,
openness to new ideas, and sheer luck have been integral to discoveries, identifying
specific studies which demonstrate how scientific conclusions are open to modification as
new data are collected, or researching classroom and real-world standards for peer
review.
Unit Name – Basic Chemistry
Objectives
Students will know the following;
 What matter is and what it is composed of. (12C – Stage H – 3)
 What an atom is and the three main parts it is composed of. (12C – Stage H – 3)
 What an element is and how many occur naturally. (12C – Stage H – 3)
 The difference between an ion and an isotope. (12C – Stage H – 3)
 What compounds and molecules are. (12C – Stage I – 4)
 What a chemical symbol and chemical formula are. (12C – Stage H – 3)
 What the subscript number and coefficient numbers of a chemical formula mean. (12C –
Stage H – 3)
Modern Biology
Stephen C. Wright

What a mixture is, be able to describe the three different kinds of mixture, and give an
example of each. (12C – Stage I – 4)
 The four different types of organic compounds. (12C – Stage I – 4)
 The components that comprise carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. (12C –
Stage I – 4)
Students will be able to;
 Use a periodic table to figure the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons an atom
has. (12C – Stage H – 3)
 Draw a model of different kinds of atoms. (12C – Stage H – 3)
 List the common elements found in the body. (12C – Stage H – 3)
 Explain the difference between an acid and a base. ( 12A – Stage I – 1)
 Use a pH scale to measure acids and bases. (11A – Stage I – 3 & 4)
 Test unknown samples of carbohydrates to determine if they are monosaccharides,
disaccharides, or polysaccharide. (11A – Stage I – 3 & 4)
 Determine is an unknown substances contains a fat or protein when tested. (11A –
Stage I – 3 & 4)
 Tell the difference between a monosaccharides, disaccharide, and polysaccharide, and
give an example of each one. (12C – Stage I – 4)
Lesson Plan Overview
Day 1
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Day 2
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Day 3
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Day 4
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Day 5
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Day 6
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Day 7
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Day 8
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Day 9
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Collect vocabulary
Go over test in class
Lecture on objectives one, two, and three
Show students how to do a Bohr model of an atom.
Assign atom drawings as homework.
Go over atom drawings in class on the chalkboard.
Assign quiz for day three.
Lecture on objectives three through six.
Assign problem solving worksheet.
Take quiz
Check problem solving worksheet
Lecture on objectives seven through nine.
Assign chapter checkup worksheet, and skills worksheet
Check the chapter checkup worksheet and skills worksheet in class.
Do pH lab.
Start Carbohydrate lab
Finish Carbohydrate lab
Start Fat and Protein lab
Finish Fat and Protein lab
Review for test
Test on Chapter
Assign vocabulary on cell unit
State Performance Descriptors
Modern Biology
Stephen C. Wright
11A - Students who meet the standard know and apply the concepts, principles, and processes
of scientific inquiry. (Stage I)
3. Conduct inquiry investigation, using technologies for observing and measuring directly,
indirectly, or remotely, completing multiple, statistically-valid trials, or accurately and
precisely recording all data.
4. Interpret and represent analysis of results to produce findings that support or refute
inquiry hypothesis, evaluating data sets to explore explanations of outliers or sources of
error and trends, or applying statistical methods to compare mode, mean, percent error
and frequency functions.
11B - Students who meet the standard know and apply the concepts, principles, and processes of
technological design. (Stage H)
1. Collect and record data accurately, using consistent metric measuring and recording
techniques with necessary precision, or recording data accurately in appropriate format,
or graphing data appropriately according to the tested variables.
2. Represent results of analysis to produce findings, comparing data sets according to the
design criteria, or evaluating multiple prototype solutions to the overall design success
criteria, or proposing explanations for sources of error in the data set with regards to
product design flaws, or model limitations.
12A - Students who meet the standard know and apply concepts that explain how living things
function, adapt, and change. (Stage I)
1. Apply scientific inquiries or technological designs to explain metabolic processes within
cells and between organisms and their environment, explaining gas exchange, food
processing, transport, excretion, locomotion, body regulation, and nervous control,
investigating enzyme actions in various reactions, or describing the applications of the
polar nature of water and the pH index in biochemical reactions.
12C - Students who meet the standard know and apply concepts that describe properties of
matter and energy and the interactions between them. (Stage H)
3. Apply scientific inquiries or technological designs to examine the chemical and physical
characteristics of matter, constructing and discussing models and charts that explain
these properties, or investigating the relationships among atoms, molecules, elements,
and compounds, or classifying objects and mixtures based on these properties, or
explaining the organization of elements in the Periodic Table, or investigating the
properties of gases at varying temperatures and pressures.
12C - Students who meet the standard know and apply concepts that describe properties of
matter and energy and the interactions between them. (Stage I)
4. Apply scientific inquiries or technological designs to explain how physical and chemical
structures of matter affect its properties, relating bonding types and shapes of molecules
to organic and inorganic compounds, or examining the colligative properties of solutes on
the properties of solutions/mixtures.
13A - Students who meet the standard know and apply accepted practices of science. (Stage H)
1. Apply appropriate principles of safety within and beyond the science classroom,
communicating and following clear instructions, or mapping classrooms for safe egress
Modern Biology
Stephen C. Wright
and distances/times to access safety treatment features, or demonstrating safety
practices and emergency procedures pertaining to laboratory and field work, or
explaining the basis of safety practices and procedures.
2. Apply scientific habits of mind to curricular investigations in life, environmental, physical,
earth, and space sciences, evaluating evidence, or inferring statements based on data, or
questioning sources of information, or explaining necessity of manipulating only one
variable at a time, or retrieving mathematical data accurately for scientific analysis.
Unit Name - Cell
Objectives
Students will know the following;
 What the cell theory is. (12A – Stage I – 2)
 The scientists who made important discoveries about the cell.
 The difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. (12A – Stage I – 2)
 The common parts of a cell and be able to give their function. (12A – Stage I – 2)
 The difference between a chemical and physical change. (12C – Stage H – 3)
 The difference between a semipermeable, permeable, and impermeable membrane.
(12A – Stage I – 2)
 The three things that affect the rate of diffusion. (12A – Stage I – 2)
 The difference between an isotonic, hypotonic and hypertonic solution. (12A – Stage
I – 2)
Students will be able to;
 Identify the common parts of the cell by labeling different drawings and illustrations.
(12A – Stage I – 2)
 Be able to tell how plant and animal cells are different. (12A – Stage I – 2)
 List and define the different methods of cellular transportation. (12A – Stage I – 2)
 Examine the different structures of a cell. (11A – Stage I – 3 & 4, 12A – Stage I – 2)
 Make a model of a cell with dialysis tubing. (11A – Stage I – 3 & 4, 12A – Stage I – 2)
 Find out if iodine solution will pass through dialysis tubing. (11A – Stage I – 3 & 4,
12A – Stage I – 2)
 State how dialysis tubing might be like a cell membrane. (11A – Stage I – 3 & 4, 12A
– Stage I – 2)
Lesson Plan Overview
Day 1
 Collect vocabulary
 Go over test in class
 Lecture on objectives one through five. Have students fill out handout on structures of the
cell as the lecture goes on.
 Assign Vocab. Review and cell drawing as homework.
Day 2
 Check homework on vocab. review and take a grade.
 Lecture on objectives six through eight.
 Assign chapter checkup as homework.
 Assign students to bring a pencil for class on days three through five.
 Assign Test for day seven.
 Assign quiz on cell parts.
Day 3
 Take quiz
 Do Cell lab.
Day 4
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Stephen C. Wright
Finish Cell lab
Do Cell Permeability lab
Check homework
Review for test
Test on Chapter
Assign vocabulary on cellular chemistry unit
State Performance Descriptors
11A - Students who meet the standard know and apply the concepts, principles, and processes
of scientific inquiry. (Stage I)
3. Conduct inquiry investigation, using technologies for observing and measuring directly,
indirectly, or remotely, completing multiple, statistically-valid trials, or accurately and
precisely recording all data.
4. Interpret and represent analysis of results to produce findings that support or refute
inquiry hypothesis, evaluating data sets to explore explanations of outliers or sources of
error and trends, or applying statistical methods to compare mode, mean, percent error
and frequency functions.
11B - Students who meet the standard know and apply the concepts, principles, and processes
of technological design. (Stage H)
5. Report the process and results of a design investigation, selecting graphs and charts that
effectively report the design data, or making oral and/or written presentations, or proposing
logical explanations of success or errors, or generating additional design modifications
which can be tested later.
12A - Students who meet the standard know and apply concepts that explain how living things
function, adapt, and change. (Stage I)
2. Apply scientific inquiries or technological designs to analyze the cellular organelles and
functions, using different microscopic techniques, or explaining functional processes
chemically and structurally (e.g., osmotic, active and facilitated transport, enzyme action
and protein/lipid/carbohydrate metabolism).
Unit Name – Cellular Chemistry
Objectives
Students will know the following;
 What the word metabolism means. (12A – Stage H – 1, 12A – Stage I – 1)
 The difference between a catabolic reaction and an anabolic reaction. (12A – Stage
H – 1, 12A – Stage I – 1)
 The difference between an endergonic and exergonic reaction. (12A – Stage H – 1,
12A – Stage I – 1)
 Three factors that affect enzyme action. (12A – Stage H – 1 & 2)
 The difference between aerobic and anaerobic respiration. (12A – Stage H – 1)
 The three main parts of cell respiration – glycolysis, krebs cycle, and electron
Modern Biology
Stephen C. Wright
transport chain, and be able to describe what happens in each. (12A – Stage H – 1)
Students will be able to;
 Explain how enzyme work by using two different models – lock and key model and
induced fit model. (12A – Stage H – 1 & 2)
 Use iodine test for the presence of starch. (12A – Stage H – 1)
 Use Benedict’s solution to test for the presence of glucose. (12A – Stage H – 1)
 Look for evidence of enzyme action by testing a starch solution to which salivary
amylase (an enzyme) has been added. (12A – Stage H – 1 & 2)
 Demonstrate the activity of an enzyme in living tissues. (12A – Stage H – 1 & 2)
 Learn how changes in temperature and pH affect the activity of catalase. (12A –
Stage H – 1 & 2, 11A – Stage H – 1-5)
 Experimentally test for the presence of catalase in living tissues. (12A – Stage H – 1
& 2, 11A – Stage H – 1-5)
 Analyze three factors affecting enzyme action. (12A – Stage H – 1 & 2, 11A – Stage
H – 1-5)
Lesson Plan Overview
Day 1
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Day 2
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Day 3
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Day 4
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Day 5
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Day 6
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Day 7
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Day 8
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Go over test in class
Collect vocabulary
Lecture on objectives one through three and all notes on enzymes.
Assign HW # 1
Check homework #1
Lecture on Cell Respiration.
Assign HW # 2
Check HW #2
Finish notes of Krebs Cycle and Electron Transport Chain.
Assign HW #3
Do Amylase Lab
Start Catalase Lab
Finish Catalase Lab
Check HW #3
Review for Test
Test on Chapter
Assign vocabulary on DNA/RNA
State Performance Descriptors
11A - Students who meet the standard know and apply the concepts, principles, and processes
of scientific inquiry. (Stage H)
1. Formulate issue-specific hypothesis, generating inquiry questions for an issue
investigational premise, or differentiating qualitative and quantitative data and their
applicability, or using conceptual/mathematical/ physical models, or previewing associated
research.
2. Design scientific issue investigation which addresses proposed hypothesis(es), proposing
applicable survey instruments, or selecting associated research, analysis, and
communication components.
3. Conduct issue investigation, using technologies for data collection and assimilation, or
Modern Biology
Stephen C. Wright
following established formats for random sampling, or following all procedural and safety
precautions, materials and equipment handling directions.
4. Interpret and represent analysis of results, evaluating data sets to explore explanations of
unexpected responses and data concurrence, or evaluating survey validity and reliability,
or analyzing research and data for supporting or refuting the hypothesis.
5. Report the process and results of a design investigation, selecting graphs and charts that
effectively report the design data, or making oral and/or written presentations, or proposing
logical explanations of success or errors, or generating additional design modifications
which can be tested later.
12A - Students who meet the standard know and apply concepts that explain how living things
function, adapt, and change. (Stage H)
1. Apply scientific inquiries or technological designs to explain the chemical nature of
biological processes, describing photosynthesis in terms of basic requirements and
products, correlating respiration, or diagramming the nitrogen, water, oxygen, and carbon
cycles with reference to ecosystem-to-molecular levels.
2. Apply scientific inquiries or technological designs to analyze the cellular organelles and
functions, using different microscopic techniques, or explaining functional processes
chemically and structurally (e.g., osmotic, active and facilitated transport, enzyme action
and protein/lipid/carbohydrate metabolism).
12A - Students who meet the standard know and apply concepts that explain how living things
function, adapt, and change. (Stage I)
1. Apply scientific inquiries or technological designs to explain metabolic processes within
cells and between organisms and their environment, explaining gas exchange, food
processing, transport, excretion, locomotion, body regulation, and nervous control,
investigating enzyme actions in various reactions, or describing the applications of the
polar nature of water and the pH index in biochemical reactions.
Unit Name – DNA and RNA
Objectives
Students will know the following;
 The importance of chromosomes. (12A – Stage I – 3)
 The name of the structure of DNA and also the two scientists who discovered it. (12A
– Stage I – 3)
Students will be able to;
 Describe the parts that compose a DNA molecule and explain how a DNA molecule
is put together. (12A – Stage I – 3)
 Describe the replication of DNA. (12A – Stage I – 3)
 Describe the transcription of DNA molecule into a near double molecule of mRNA.
(12A – Stage I – 3)
 Describe the translation of mRNA into a protein chain. (12A – Stage I – 3)
 Build a model of a DNA molecule. (12A – Stage I – 3)
 Extract DNA from wheat germ. (11A – Stage I – 3 & 4)
Lesson Plan Overview
Day 1
 Go over test in class
 Collect vocabulary
 Lecture on DNA Objectives.
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Stephen C. Wright
Assign HW # 1 and #2
Build DNA model.
Check HW # 1 and # 2
Lecture on DNA replication and RNA transcription.
Assign HW # 3.
Go over HW # 3
Lecture on Protein Synthesis.
Assign HW # 4
DNA Extraction Lab
Go over HW # 4
Review for Test.
Test on Chapter
Assign vocabulary on Cell Division.
State Performance Descriptors
11A - Students who meet the standard know and apply the concepts, principles, and processes
of scientific inquiry. (Stage I)
3.
4.
Collect and record data accurately, using consistent metric measuring and recording
techniques with necessary precision, or recording data accurately in appropriate format,
or graphing data appropriately according to the tested variables.
Represent results of analysis to produce findings, comparing data sets according to the
design criteria, or evaluating multiple prototype solutions to the overall design success
criteria, or proposing explanations for sources of error in the data set with regards to
product design flaws, or model limitations.
12A - Students who meet the standard know and apply concepts that explain how living things
function, adapt, and change. (Stage I)
3. Apply scientific inquiries or technological designs to explain the molecular nature of the
genetic code, explaining the function, chemical reactions, and schematic diagrams of the
molecular components of DNA, RNA and simple proteins, exploring the processes of
recombinant DNA research, describing the role of chromosomes in the normal and
aberrant display of hereditary traits, mutations and disease.
Modern Biology
Stephen C. Wright
Second Quarter
Unit Name – Cell Division
Objectives
Students will know the following;
 The difference between meiosis and mitosis.
 The difference between haploid and diploid.
 The two kinds of meiosis (spermatogenesis and oogenesis).
 What gametes are and be able to give two examples.
Students will be able to;
 Describe what events happen in each phase of mitosis.
 Draw a picture of each phase of mitosis.
 Describe what goes on during the process of oogenesis and spermatogenesis.
 Recognize the different phases of mitosis under a microscope.
 Find the different phases of mitosis using an allium root tip slide or a whitefish
blastula slide.
Lesson Plan Overview
Day 1
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Day 2
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Day 3
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Day 4
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Day 5
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Day 6
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Day 7
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Go over test in class
Collect vocabulary
Lecture on Mitosis
Watch video clip of actual cells in mitosis
Assign HW on mitosis
Check homework on mitosis.
Assign second mitosis homework.
Start lab on Onion Root Tip Slides and Whitefish Blastula
Check 2nd mitosis homework.
Finish lab.
Start notes on meiosis.
Give examples of haploid and diploid on the chalk board.
Go over notes on oogenesis and draw diagrams of it.
Assign homework on meiosis and oogenesis.
Check HW on meiosis and oogenesis.
Lecture on spermatogenesis and draw diagrams of it.
Assign HW on spermatogenesis.
Check HW on spermatogenesis.
Review for Test
Test on Chapter
Assign vocabulary on Basic Genetics.
State Performance Descriptors