September 2000
Essential
Questions
1.
2.
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3.
Content
1. Classroom procedures
2. Scientific Method
3. Laboratory Skills & write-ups
Skills
How can you best succeed in our class?
How do you use the scientific method in everyday life?
What are the major steps of the scientific method?
What are the major steps of a lab write-up?
1. SQ3R
1. Calculate raw scores & averages
1. List the rules of the class
2. Recite the steps of the scientific method
2. Observe an object using the 5 senses
2. Identify experimental group/control group/variable in an experiment
2/3. Demonstrate use of Scientific Method and Lab write-ups with actual labs
3. Recite the steps of a lab write-up
Assessment
1/2/3. Quizzes
1/2/3. Tests
2/3. Worksheets – Frog/Lab Skills
2/3. Lab – Blank Thermometer
Lab – I’m Clueless
Lab – Deadly Picnic
Lab – Typewriter personalities
Standards
1,2,3,4,5,6,7 & 8
October 2000
Essential
Questions
Content
Skills
Assessment
Standards
1.
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2.
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3.
3.
1.
Why do scientists use metric?
How do you use metric?
How do you use a microscope?
How can you figure out the size of microscopic organisms?
What’s in a name?
Why do we classify (living) things?
Metric system
a. basic conversions
b. using metric with lab equipment
2. Microscope
a. parts & rules
b. how to use
c. field diameter
3. Classification
a. Taxonomy (7 categories, i.e. Kingdom, phylum…)
b. Binomial nomenclature
c. Classifying light and stars (details done in November)
1. Identify the metric “scales”
1. Demonstrate proper use of metric ruler, triple beam balance, graduated cylinder, thermometer
1. Convert in metric
2. Identify all parts of a microscope
2. Draw accurate microscope viewings
2. Calculate size of objects under microscope
2. Demonstrate proper use of microscope
3. Describe ways classification is used in everyday life and science
3. Explain how binomial nomenclature is used to name living things
3. List the seven major classification groups for living things
3. Describe briefly how light and stars are classified
1/2/3. Quizzes
1/2/3. Tests
1. Worksheets – Metric conversions / Lab measuring devices / Graphing packet
2. Worksheet – Using the microscope
3. Worksheets – Latin name / Classification chart / Fun with Fictitious Animals
1. Lab – Measuring Metric
2. Lab – Introduction to the microscope
3. Lab – Classification exercise of common household items
1,3,4,6,7
November 2000
Essential
Questions
Content
Skills
Assessment
Standards
1.
2.
2.
3.
3.
(Classification cont.) See October
How is a star born?
Are all stars the same?
How did Early Earth form? What was it like?
How does a scientific theory differ from a scientific law?
1. See October
2. Stellar Evolution
a. Theory vs. Law
b. Evolution of a star
c. Classification of stars
3. Early Earth
a. Big Bang Theory
b. Characteristics of Early Earth
c. Theory vs. Law
1. See October
2. Describe the main sequence of a star forming
2. List various methods of classifications of stars
2. Analyze spectrums of various elements & stars
2. Plot various stars properly on a H-R diagram (Hertzsprung-Russell)
2/3. Compare and contrast scientific theory & law
3. Debate the Big Bang Theory
3. Create a picture of Early Earth
1/2/3. Quizzes
1/2/3. Tests
2. Worksheet – Spectrum analysis
2. Lab – Star light, star bright
1,2,3,4,7,8
December 2000
Essential
Questions
Content
Skills
Assessment
Standards
1.
1.
1.
2.
2.
What makes something living?
What do you need to live?
What may have been the first living thing?
What is the importance of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins to living organisms?
Are you really what you eat?
1. What is living
a. characteristics of life
b. needs of living things
c. abiogenesis / biogenesis
2. Chemistry
a. atoms & periodic table
b. biochemistry
c. reading nutritional labels
1.
1.
1.
1.
2.
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2.
2.
List the characteristics and needs of living things
Identify what the first living thing may have been
Identify various theories of abiogenesis vs. biogenesis
List the experiments of Redi, Pasteur & Spellanzani
Demonstrate a basic understanding of atomic structure and periodic table
Identify carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins by their chemical composition
Compare and contrast carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins
Compare various nutritional labels.
1. Worksheets – Redi / Characteristics & Needs / Crossword
2. Worksheets – Elements / Chemical Formulas / Atomic Structure
2. Lab – Reading nutritional labels
Lab – Molecular model building
1,2,5,8
January 2001
Essential
Questions
Content
1. How can a cell do the same life requirements an entire organism does?
1. What are the parts of a cell and what functions are they responsible for?
1. Are all cells alike?
1. The Cell
a. parts of the cell
b. life functions
c. plant vs. animal
1.
1.
1.
1.
Identify the parts of an animal and a plant cell
Compare and contrast animal and plant cells
Determine which cell organelle carries on which life function
Describe the five levels of organization of living things
1.
1.
1.
1.
1.
Quizzes
Tests
Worksheet – Cell packet / Can you identify…
Lab – Typical cells
Build a 3D Model of a cell
Skills
Assessment
Standards
1,2,5,8
February 2001
Essential
Questions
Content
1.
1.
1.
2.
2.
How do cells get the materials it needs?
How does a sponge work?
Why shouldn’t you drink salt water when shipwrecked?
How does a cell reproduce?
What are the similarities and differences between mitosis & meiosis?
1. Diffusion, Osmosis, and Active Transport
2. Mitosis & Meiosis
a. similarities & differences
b. plant vs. animal
1.
1.
2.
2.
Compare and contrast diffusion, osmosis, and active transport
Predict how diffusion and osmosis will effect an egg
Identify the various stages of mitosis both verbally, visually, and written
Compare and contrast mitosis and meiosis
Skills
Assessment
1/2. Quizzes
1/2. Tests
1. Activity -Shipwrecked
1. Lab – Raw Egg Mystery
2. Worksheet – Mitosis
2. Coloring activity – Mitosis
2. Packet – Mitosis
2. Lab – Mitosis in an onion root tip
Standards
1,2,5
March 2001
Essential
Questions
Content
1. Why are you the way you are?
1. How can white sheep have a black lamb?
1. Explain “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”
1. Heredity (Genetics)
a. dominant vs. recessive
b. incomplete dominance
c. Punnett square
1. Identify the six basic principles of genetics
1. Relate the law of probability to the study of genetics
1. Calculate probability of outcomes of certain crosses
Skills
Assessment
Standards
1.
1.
1.
1.
Quizzes
Tests
Packet – What color is the pod? Is there a black sheep in the family? Should this dog be called Spot?…
Lab – Dominant vs. Recessive traits in the class
1,2,3,4,6
April 2001
Essential
Questions
Content
Skills
Assessment
Standards
1.
1.
2.
3.
3.
How do producers, consumers, and decomposers interact?
How are food chains & food webs related?
Do organisms evolve?
Why is adaptation not the same as evolving?
How do organisms adapt ( to their environment and needs)?
1. Ecology
a. definition of terms: producer, consumer…
b. food chains & food webs
c. energy pyramid
2. Evolution
a. Theories: Larmarck & Darwin
3. Adaptations
a. symbiosis
1. Define producer, consumer, decomposers, autotrophs, heterotrophs, niche…
1. Discuss the interactions among producers, consumers, and decomposers
1. Describe how energy flows within an ecosystem
2. Compare and contrast Larmarck and Darwin’s theories of evolution
3. Discuss how interactions effect evolution and adaptations
1/2/3. Quizzes
1/2/3. Tests
1. Worksheets – Energy pyramid
3. Activity – Will you survive?
1,4,6,7
May 2001
Essential
Questions
Content
Skills
Assessment
Standards
1. How do plants make their own food?
1. How is sunlight the “ultimate power” for the earth?
1/2. How is respiration the opposite of photosynthesis?
1/2. Why are the mitochondria considered to be the opposite of the chloroplasts?
2. How does respiration enable us to use the energy in food?
3. What are the different parts of a chemical equation?
1. Photosynthesis
a. balanced chemical equation
b. variances on photosynthesis, such as chemosynthesis
2. Respiration
a. aerobic
b. anaerobic
3. Parts of a chemical equation
1. Describe the process of photosynthesis
1. Identify the substances plants require to perform photosynthesis
2. Describe the process of aerobic and anaerobic respiration
2. Identify the substances organisms require to perform respiration
1/2. Compare and contrast the general equations for respiration and photosynthesis
3. Identify the various parts of a chemical equation
1/2/3. Quizzes
1/2/3. Tests
1/2. Packet – Food for living things
1,3,4,6,7
June 2001
Essential
Questions
Content
Skills
Assessment
Standards
1.
1.
2.
2.
2.
3.
1.
What are the characteristics of the 5 different kingdoms?
How do the organisms in the different kingdoms perform the various life processes?
What is the difference between a vertebrate and an invertebrate?
What are some basic characteristics of various invertebrates and vertebrates?
What does it take to live on land?
How do our bodies carry out the basic life functions?
5 Kingdoms (Monera, Protists, Fungi, Plants, Animals)
a. Characteristics
b. increased complexity & development from one kingdom to the next
2. Invertebrates vs. Vertebrates
a. increased complexity
b. moving onto land (needs)
3. Human body
a. 8 basic systems (digestion, circulation, respiration, excretion, nervous, reproduction, muscle & skeletal)
1. Describe the general characteristics of each of the five kingdoms
1. Relate biological classification to evolution
2. Compare invertebrates and vertebrates
2. Describe some basic characteristics of invertebrates (sponges, cnidarians, worms, mollusks, arthropods, and echinoderms)
2. Describe some basic characteristics of vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals)
2. Compare warmblooded and coldblooded vertebrates
2. Describe the adaptations needs to allow reptiles to live on land
3. Describe the 8 basic systems in the human body
3. List the various organs involved with each of the basic systems of the human body
1/2/3. Quizzes
1/2/3. Tests
1. Worksheets – 5 Kingdoms
2. Packet – Simple to complex invertebrates
2. Packet – Vertebrates
3. Packet – Human body systems
3. Lab – Various quick lab activities on different systems (i.e. heart rates…)
1,4