Biology course outline

Hello Students, 

You will find useful information on the following pages. 

August 16,2019

 Dear Parent or Guardian,

 It is with great pleasure that I extend my warm welcome to you and your child to the Biology course this year. This subject is very demanding as well as interesting also. I hope to work with you throughout to make this year very successful.  This will inspire and bring excitement in your life too. I urge you to please get involved and share the responsibility to motivate and encourage your child to read every night before the class to understand and learn about the subject matter well. Giving a few minutes every day to your child will definitely be helpful. I hope that you and your child find the subject interesting and can use some of the knowledge in your everyday life. There will be Biology End-of-course Exam , which will count 30% of the grade. Please visit the school website for more information about the course curriculum, and my expectations.

My goal is to make this subject interesting as well as academically challenging  and to have  thorough knowledge with full understanding of the subject matter  . I will prepare the students from the beginning with sample tests. There will be two to three labs per grading period. The student will work like a scientist to conduct the experiment with a thorough understanding of the topic, development of critical thinking skills, applying mathematics to tackle scientific problems. Students will be asked to do research projects. There will be complete discussion of the topic in the class. Your child will read and complete the assignments at home. With the help of online activities like Gizmos , floridastudents.org , Amoeba sisters videos as well as lab activity in the classroom, there will be reinforcement and application of the subject matter.

 I would appreciate your help throughout the year and am thankful to you for your support in reaching our goals for the year. I am looking forward to meeting you and your child.

 Sincerely,

 

 Anita Agrawal

 

 Course Outline  to be done for EOC exam 

BIOLOGY I HONORS                                                                                                                                                                                                                    COURSE CODE: 200032001

1st Nine Weeks

  1. Introduction to Biology/Nature of Life**
    1. What is Biology
    2. Science in the real world

 

ECOLOGY (How do interactions among organisms impact the changing environment?)

  1. Ecosystems (17.5)
    1. Review of community Interactions**
    2. Distribution of life in aquatic systems (17.2)
    3. Succession and changes (17.4)
    4. Predict impact from catastrophic events: Climate change, Human activity, Invasive species (17.8)
  2. Populations in an ecosystem (17.5)
    1. Population dynamics and graphs
    2. Carrying capacity
    3. Limiting Factors
  3. Energy Flow (17.9)
    1. Food Chains and  Food Webs
    2. Trophic levels and energy reduction
    3. Biogeochemical Cycles: water, carbon, and nitrogen (E.7.1, 18.12)
  4. Human Impact on Environment (17.20)
    1. Costs and benefits of renewable and non-renewable resources (17.11)
    2. Sustainability and environmental policy (17.11)

 

EVOLUTION (How do scientists think life began and continues to change on Earth?)

  1. Origins of Life (15.8)
    1. Law vs. theories in science
    2. Contribution of scientists (Pasteur, Oparin, Miller and Urey, Margulis, Fox)
    3. Endosymbiotic theory (conceptual)
    4. Role of amino acids and proteins (18.1)
  2. Theory of Evolution (15.1)
    1. Evidence for the theory of evolution
    2. Trends in human evolution: brain size, jaws, tools (15.10, 14.26)
    3. Brain structures (14.26)
  3. Mechanisms of Evolution (15.13)
    1. Darwin’s Natural Selection
    2. Introduction to other Mechanisms (15.14, 15.15)

2nd Nine Weeks

CLASSIFICATION (Why do scientists classify living things the way they do?)

  1. Taxonomy (15.6)
    1. Hierarchical classification based on evolutionary relationships (15.4)
    2. Domains and Kingdoms (15.6)
    3. Reasons for changes in how organisms are classified. (15.5)
  2. What defines a plant (14.7)
    1. Overview of Plants: Organs, tissues, evolution (14.7)
    2. Physiological Processes of Plants (Growth, Reproduction, Transpiration, Photosynthesis, Cellular respiration) (14.7)
    3. Properties of Water (18.12)
  3. Cell energy: Photosynthesis (18.9)
    1. General equation of Photosynthesis (18.7)
    2. Where it occurs(14.7)
    3. Non plant examples of photosynthetic organisms (15.6)
    4. Role of carbohydrates as a source of energy (18.1)
  4. Cell energy: Cellular Respiration (18.9)
    1. General Equation for Cellular Respiration(18.8, 18.9)
    2. ADP/ATP cycle(18.10)
    3. Aerobic vs. Anaerobic respiration (18.8)
    4. Krebs cycle and Electron Transport Chain (Aerobic Respiration)**

 

HUMAN BODY (How are human body systems different?)

  1. Circulatory System (14.36)
    1. Factors affecting blood pressure, blood volume, blood flow and viscosity
  2. Immune System (14.52)
    1. Specific and non-specific responses
    2. Significance of factors: genetic, environmental, and pathogenic
    3. Use of antibiotics and vaccines
    4. Antibiotic resistance

REPRODUCTION (How do organisms grow and reproduce?)

  1. Human Reproductive system (16.13)
    1. Basic Anatomy and Physiology: male and female
    2. Human Development – Fertilization to Birth (all stages)
    3. External Membranes

 

3rd Nine Weeks

  1. Review of Cells (14.1, 14.3)
    1. Cell theory and discovery (14.1)
    2. Compare/contrast cell types(14.3)(prokaryote, eukaryotic, plant, animal)
    3. Organelles and membrane: roles and functions
    4. Role of lipids in cell membrane (18.1)
    5. Role of membrane: Highly selective barrier (14.2)
  2. Comparing Cell Processes: Mitosis (16.17)
    1. Cell Cycle (16.14)
    2. Process of Mitosis (16.14)
    3. Mistakes in Mitosis (16.8)
    4. Asexual vs. sexual effect on genetic variation
  3. Comparing Cell Processes: Meiosis (16.17)
    1. Process: creating gametes and independent assortment (16.16)
    2. Crossing over and non-disjunction(16.16)
    3. Genetic variation resulting from meiosis (16.15)
    4. Comparison of Mitosis and Meiosis (16.17)

 

GENETICS (How do inherited traits lead to variations?)

  1. Review Heredity - Mendelian (16.1)
    1. Law of segregation and independent assortment (16.1)
    2. Other patterns of inheritance: co-dominance, incomplete dominance, polygenic, sex-linked, multiple alleles (16.2)
    3. Punnett Squares: Mono-,Dihybrid (16.1)
    4. Predict and analyze pedigrees
    5. Genetic Drift/Gene flow (15.14)
  1. Biotechnology (16.10)
    1. Predicting impact on society, individual, and environment (16.10)
    2. Medical and ethical issues(16.10)
    3. DNA Technology and recombinant DNA (16.12)

 

MOLECULAR GENETICS (How does your genetic code determine an organism’s physical appearance?)

  1. DNA and Replication  (16.3)
    1. Experiments and History**
    2. Universal code for all organisms (16.9)
    3. Review of structure of DNA and chromosomes  and location in cell**
    4. Role of Nucleic acids (18.1)
    5. DNA Replication in prophase (16.3, 16.17)
    6. Types of mutations and effects (16.4)
  2. RNA and Protein Synthesis (16.3)
    1. RNA synthesis: Transcription (16.5)
    2. Protein synthesis: Translation (16.5)
    3. Types of mutations: harmful, beneficial, variation, neutral (16.4)

 

4th Nine Weeks

BIOCHEMISTRY (What are the basic building blocks)

  1. Review of macromolecules (18.1)
    1. Types (carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids)
    2. Structure and function
  2. Role of Proteins in the Body: Enzymes (18.11)
    1. As a catalyst to reduce activation energy
    2. Factors affecting enzyme function: pH, temperature, concentration
  • XXV. BIOLOGY EOC AA BENCHMARKS CRUNCH TIME (3 weeks)

 

FACTORS THAT AFFECT HUMAN HEALTH

  1. Pathogens: Prokaryotes, Viruses, Protists, and Fungi**
  2. Review of Animal Kingdom
  3. Genetic Diseases and Human Genetics**

 

**Denotes content necessary for in depth understanding of the content matter but will not be assessed on the EOC.