Course
Syllabus
Ms. Johnson
SY 2004-2005
COURSE TITLE: BIOLOGY
TEACHER: CHARLENE JOHNSON
ROOM: B2.12
E-MAIL: charlene_johnson@eu.odedea.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Biology is designed to provide students with an
integrated approach to the study of living organisms, in addition to science as
inquiry, science & technology, science & social perspectives, and the
history & nature of science. The course integrates unifying science
concepts and processes of systems, order & organization, evidence, models
& explanation, change, consistency & equilibrium; and form &
function.
Scientific
inquiry and understanding about inquiry are emphasized through practical
implications and meaningful applications. Based on the philosophy that
scientific knowledge is best acquired through inquiry, the course uses a
variety of techniques to introduce, stimulate, explore, and reinforce major
scientific concepts, theories, principles, and skills. Instructional activities
are staged in appropriate settings. They include laboratories, classrooms,
forms of technology, and field studies. Teaching strategies include
investigations, demonstrations, discussions, and hands-on/minds-on experiences.
COURSE
GOALS/OBJECTIVES/STANDARDS:
Strand:
S1 Scientific The student extends their understanding of scientific inquiry and their ability to
Inquiry conduct scientific investigations; that is, the student:
Standards: S1a: constructs questions that initiate and guide scientific investigations.
S1b: designs and conducts scientific investigations using established procedures that are safe, humane, and ethical.
S1c: uses technology and mathematics to systematically gather, record, analyze, explain, and interpret data.
S1d: formulates and revises scientific conclusions, explanations and models (physical, conceptual, mathematical) based on scientific knowledge, logic, and evidence.
S1e: recognizes, analyzes and evaluates alternative explanations and models.
S1f: evaluates and defends scientific arguments, acknowledging references and contributions of others.
S1g: communicates the scientific inquiry process using appropriate scientific language and mathematics.
Strand:
S2 History and The student demonstrates understanding of science as a human endeavor,
Nature of Science examining the nature of scientific knowledge and historical perspectives; that is, the student:
Standards: S2a: describes how the work of scientists is influenced by their ethical standards and by societal, cultural, and personal beliefs, and how scientists use the habits of mind (such as: reasoning, insight, creativity, intellectual honesty, tolerance for ambiguity and openness to new ideas) in their work.
S2b: compares and contrasts the difference between science and other ways of knowing through use of empirical standards, logical arguments, and skepticism.
S2c: assesses the work of scientists showing that all scientific ideas depend on experimental and observational confirmation and are subject to change as new evidence becomes available.
S2d: describes the contributions of diverse cultures to scientific knowledge and the changes to scientific thinking that evolve over time, building upon earlier knowledge.
Strand:
S3 Science in The student demonstrates an understanding of the impact each individual,
Personal and community, and human enterprise has on natural conditions and resources from
Social Perspectives local, national, and global perspectives; that is, the student:
Standards: S3a: employs the tenets of personal and community health, safety and resource conservation.
S3b: identifies, accesses and uses data to construct explanations about the characteristics, rates, and sources of changes in populations, natural resources, and environmental quality.
S3c: assesses potential danger and risk of natural and human-induced hazards.
S3d: analyzes the relationships among technological, social, political, and economic changes and the impact on humans and the environment.
Strand:
S4 Science and The student demonstrates abilities of technological design and understandings
Technology about science, engineering and technology; that is, the student:
Standards: S4a: uses technology to perform scientific investigations to secure valid and reliable results.
S4b: identifies and/or constructs a problem or need in relation to technological designs; proposes new designs and chooses between alternative solutions.
S4c: constructs understandings about the fields of science and engineering, the interrelationships between science and technology, and explains their contribution to society.
S4d: analyzes innovations in science and technology with respect to alternatives, risks, costs and benefits to society and the environment.
Strand:
S5 Biology The student demonstrates a conceptual understanding of the organization of life on Earth; that is, the student:
Standards: S5a: describes, analyzes and compares structure, function, and organization of various cells.
• All living organisms are made of cells. Cells are composed of a small number of chemical elements mainly carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, and sulfur. Carbon atoms can easily bond to several other carbon atoms in chains and rings to form the large complex molecules of life.
• Every cell is covered by a selectively permeable membrane that controls what can enter and leave the cell. In all but quite primitive cells, a complex network of proteins provides organization and shape and, for animal cells, movement.
• Within every cell are specialized parts for the containment of hereditary material, energy transfer, protein building, waste disposal, information feedback, and even movement. In addition, most cells both individually and in groups in multicellular organisms perform some specialized function that others do not.
• Communication between cells is required to coordinate their diverse activities. Some cells secrete substances that spread only to nearby cells. Others secrete hormones, special molecules that are carried in the bloodstream to widely distributed cells that have specific receptor sites to which they attach. Along nerve cells, electrical impulses carry information much more rapidly than is possible by diffusion or blood flow.
S5b: communicates an understanding of the biochemistry of life including organic compounds, enzymes, cellular respiration and photosynthesis.
• Chemical bonds between atoms of carbon-containing (organic) molecules can be used to assemble larger macromolecules with biological activity (including proteins, DNA, carbohydrates, and lipids).
• The work of the cell is carried out by the many different types of molecules it assembles, mostly proteins. Protein molecules are long, usually folded chains made from 20 different kinds of amino-acid molecules. The function of each protein molecule depends on its specific sequence of amino acids and the shape the chain takes is a consequence of attractions between the chain’s parts.
• Complex interactions among the different kinds of molecules in the cell cause distinct cycles of activities, such as growth and division. Cell behavior can also be affected by molecules from other parts of the organism or even other organisms.
• Cell functions are regulated. Regulation occurs both through changes in the activity of the functions performed by proteins and through the selective expression of individual genes. This regulation allows cells to respond to their environment and to control and coordinate cell products, growth and division.
• For the body to use food for energy and building materials, the food must be broken down through a series of biochemical processes into molecules that are absorbed and transported to cells.
• In some animals and humans to release energy from food, oxygen must be supplied to cells, and carbon dioxide removed. Lungs take in oxygen for the combustion of food and eliminate the carbon dioxide produced. The exchange of the two gases takes place in the alveoli of the lungs. However, metabolic processes can change when there is limited oxygen or hostile environments.
• The processes of photosynthesis and respiration in plants transfer energy from the Sun to living systems (e.g., chloroplasts in plant cells use energy from sunlight to combine molecules of carbon dioxide and water into complex, energy rich organic compounds, and release oxygen into the environment).
S5c: describes the behavior of organisms and hypothesizes the relationship to nervous and endocrine systems and various external stimuli.
• Characteristics can be observed at molecular, cellular, and whole-organism levels—in structure, chemistry, or behavior. These characteristics strongly influence what capabilities an organism will have and how it will react.
• Multicellular organisms have nervous systems that help an organism adjust to changes in both its internal and external environments. Nervous systems are formed from specialized cells that carry impulses rapidly through their long cell extensions called axons. The nerve cells communicate with each other by secreting specific excitatory and inhibitory molecules. In sense organs, specialized cells detect light, sound, and specific chemicals that enable organisms to monitor what is going on in their environment.
• The nervous system works by electrochemical signal transport from one nerve to the next. The hormonal system exerts its influences through chemicals that circulate in the blood. These two systems also affect each other by coordinating body functions.
• Organisms have behavioral responses to internal changes and to external stimuli. Responses to external stimuli can result from interactions with the organism’s own species and others, as well as environmental changes. These responses either can be innate or learned.
• Drugs, structural injuries, and chemical imbalances may mimic and/or block the molecules involved in transmitting nerve or hormone signals and therefore disturb normal operations of the brain and body.
S5d: elaborates on the principles of genetics and explains the role of DNA, genes, chromosomes, and mutation in reproduction and heredity.
• The many body cells in an individual can be very different from one another, even though they are all descended from a single stem cell and thus have essentially identical genetic instructions. Different genetic instructions are used in different types of cells, influenced by the cell’s environment and past history.
• The genetic information encoded in DNA molecules provides instructions for assembling protein molecules. The individual units that make up the genetic code are virtually the same for all life forms. Before a cell divides, the instructions are duplicated so that each of the two new cells gets all the necessary information to perform life processes.
• The information passed from parents to offspring is coded in DNA molecules through a series of units called genes.
• Genes are segments of DNA molecules. Inserting, deleting, or substituting DNA segments can alter genes. An altered gene may be passed on to every cell that develops from it. The resulting features may help, harm, or have little or no effect on the offspring’s success in its environment.
• The sorting and recombination of genes in sexual reproduction results in a great variety of possible gene combinations in the offspring of any two parents.
• Changes in DNA (mutations) occur spontaneously at low rates. Some of these changes make no difference to the organism, whereas others can change cells and organisms. Only mutations in germ cells can create the variation that changes an organism’s offspring.
S5e: relates theories of biological evolution to geologic time and addresses speciation, biodiversity, natural selection, and biological classification.
• Heritable characteristics influence what capabilities an organism will have and how it will react, and therefore influence how likely it is to survive and reproduce.
• Offspring of advantaged individuals, in turn, are more likely than others to survive and reproduce in that environment. The proportion of individuals that have advantageous characteristics will increase.
• New heritable characteristics can result from new combinations of existing genes or from mutations of genes in reproductive cells.
• Natural selection leads to organisms that are well suited for survival in particular environments. When an environment changes, the survival value of some inherited characteristics may change.
• Natural selection and its long-term consequences provide a scientific explanation for the fossil record of ancient life forms, as well as for the molecular similarities observed among the diverse species of living organisms.
• Biological changes over time appear to be like the growth of a bush: Some branches survive from the beginning with little or no change, many die out altogether, and others branch repeatedly, sometimes giving rise to more complex organisms. Thus, the theory of evolution builds on what already exists, so the more variety there is, the more there can be in the future. However, long-term progress is not necessarily in some set direction.
• The basic idea of biological evolution is that the Earth’s present-day species developed from earlier, distinctly different species.
S5f: examines ecology as interrelationships of biotic and abiotic factors and explains the transfer of matter and energy within ecosystems.
• The interrelationships and interdependencies of organisms and environments establish a variety of ecosystems.
• Understanding any one part of an ecosystem requires knowledge of how the parts interact with each other.
• The amount of life any environment can support is limited by the available energy, water, oxygen, and minerals, and by the ability of ecosystems to recycle the residue of dead organic materials.
• Human activities can deliberately or inadvertently change the equilibrium in ecosystems. An ecosystem in equilibrium may return to the same state of equilibrium if the disturbances it experiences are small. However, large disturbances may also cause a shift in the equilibrium so that ecosystems eventually settle into a different new state of equilibrium.
• In the long run, however, ecosystems always change when climate changes or when one or more new species appear as a result of migration or local evolution. Like many complex systems, ecosystems tend to have cyclic fluctuations around a state of rough equilibrium.
• The complexity and organization of organisms accommodate the need for obtaining, transforming, transporting, releasing, and eliminating the matter and energy used to sustain the organism. Plants alter the Earth’s atmosphere by removing carbon dioxide from it, using the carbon to make sugars and releasing oxygen.
• As matter and energy flows through different levels of organization of living systems – cells, tissues, organs, organisms, communities – and between living systems and the physical environment, chemical elements are recombined in different ways. Each recombination results in storage and dissipation of energy into the environment as heat. Matter and energy are conserved in each change.
SCOPE & SEQUENCE:
C.
Cell
Growth and Division
A.
Introduction
to Genetics
B.
Genes
and Chromosomes
C.
Human
Heredity
D.
Nucleic
Acids and Protein Synthesis
A.
Classification
B.
Protista
C.
Monera
E.
Sponges,
Cnidarians and Unsegmented Worms
F.
Mollusca
and Annelida
G.
Arthropoda
H.
Echinoderms
and Invertebrate Chordates
I.
Fishes
and Amphibians
J.
Reptiles
and Birds
K.
Mammals
L.
Human
Anatomy and Physiology
COURSE GRADING/ASSESSMENT:
Quarter
grades are determined by:
1. Unit
Exams
-- 50%
2. Course work consisting of labs and various homework -- 50%
assignments.
I
will use the AFNORTH grading scale
published in the Student Handbook.
The final semester grade is calculated using 80% of the average of the
two-quarter grades, plus 20% of the semester exam grade.
CONTINUOUS
SCHOOL PROGRESS:
AFNORTH International Middle/High School’s CSP goal is, “All students will improve their written communication skills across the curriculum.” The 6+1 Trait is the model selected to improve school-wide writing in all subject areas. The 6+1 Trait writing framework is a way to learn and use a common language to refer to characteristics of writing as well as establish a common vision of what “strong” writing looks like. Students will use the 6+1 Trait model to identify areas of strength and weakness as they continue to strive towards continued writing improvement in lab reports, scientific journals and assessment.
CLASSROOM
EXPECTATIONS/CONSEQUENCES:
1. Do give your best effort. Take responsibility for your own learning.
2.
Do
take notes and ask questions at the appropriate time.
3.
Do
ask permission before touching any chemicals and lab equipment.
4.
Don’t
bring food or drink into the classroom.
5.
Do
respect another person by listening while they talk.
6.
Don’t
leave class without permission.
7.
Do
ask permission to get out of your seat in large group settings such as
lecture/discussions.
8.
Do
bring your materials to class and get them ready before class begins.
9.
Do
conduct yourself as a scientist and help others as much as possible during
labs.
10. Do remain seated until
signaled by the instructor to leave.
11. Do your own work, cheating
will not be tolerated.
12. Do all required assignments
and turn them in on time.
13. Do use the restroom during
passing time.
14. Do have a great, safe year!
If
a student chooses not to follow my classroom expectations, I will talk to the
student individually first. If the
action is not corrected, I will contact the parent. Following this, administrative action may be necessary.
TEXTBOOKS: Biology,
Johnson, Holt Publishers
SUPPLIES
(REQUIRED/RECOMMENDED)
1.
Large
3 – ring binder with dividers
2.
Loose
leaf paper
3.
Calculator
4.
Colored
pencils
HOMEWORK POLICY:
Homework is generally given daily and is expected to be completed in order to adequately learn the material as well as prepare for examinations. Homework must be completed on regular paper and must be done in pen (lab write-ups may be completed in pencil) to be acceptable. If sentences are not complete, no credit will be given. Assignments/labs are due at the beginning of class. All assignments must have your name and the assignment at the top of the first page. Late work will receive a penalty of 10% off for each school day that it is late.
MAKE-UP WORK POLICY:
1.
Exams
– If announced prior to your absence, exams will be made up upon your return
during seminar. Any missed test must be
made up during the next seminar period.
2.
Homework
– Student handbook
3.
Labs will be made up during seminar.
Please consider that many experiments need extensive preparation time,
so please notify the instructor in advance of which lab you will be making up. If you were absent for an entire lab period
(85 minutes) you will need to request a permission slip prior to seminar
(preferably the day before) releasing you from SSR, so that the entire lab can
be completed during seminar.
LAB WRITE-UP PROCEDURE:
I.
NAME
II.
DATE
III.
PERIOD
IV.
TITLE
V.
PURPOSE
VI.
MATERIALS
VII.
RESULTS
-- In this section, you will describe the results you have obtained and the
observations that you have made. Any
questions should be answered, charts should be drawn, drawings made, data
compiled, computations, etc.
VIII.
CONCLUSIONS -- Write a minimum five-sentence conclusion,
indicating what you have learned and any questions left unanswered or generated
by this lab.