Advanced Placement Biology 2010 – 2011
Lansing Catholic High School
Mrs. Wendy Johnson
wjohnson@lansingcatholic.org
Course Description
AP courses are college level courses offered to high achieving high school students. The course content for AP classes is not determined by the individual teachers, but is set by the College Board to reflect the topics covered in typical introductory college courses. AP courses thus demand a lot more time and effort than regular high school courses, although they payoff comes in the possibility of earning college credit and the preparation for college courses you will receive. The following is an excerpt from the AP Biology introduction from the College Board:
The AP Biology course is designed to be the equivalent of a two-semester college introductory biology course usually taken by biology majors during their first year. The course in biology differs significantly from the usual first high school course in biology with respect to the kind of textbook used, the range and depth of topics covered, the type of laboratory work done by students, and the time and effort required of students. The textbooks used for AP Biology should be those used by college biology majors. The kinds of labs done by AP students must be the equivalent of those done by college students. The AP Biology course is designed to be taken by students after the successful completion of a first year course in high school biology and one in high school chemistry as well. It aims to provide students with the conceptual framework, factual knowledge, and analytical skills necessary to deal critically with the changing science of biology.
Studies indicate that students who take an AP class in high school are better prepared for college. They experience greater academic success and are more likely to earn a college degree. AP Biology will not only provide students an opportunity to learn the factual information normally covered in a college-level biology course, but will also help students develop the critical thinking and study skills necessary for success in any course at the college level.
The pace that new material is introduced will be much greater than you are accustomed to, and will require a significant amount of time spent outside of class reading and studying. You are expected to be responsible for your own learning, which means staying organized, keeping up with reading and assignments, studying, asking questions, and getting help when you need it.
Course Goals
1. Develop critical thinking and problem solving skills.
2. Gain an appreciation of science as a process.
3. Develop an understanding of biological concepts and recognition of the unifying themes of the discipline.
4. Apply biological knowledge to social and environmental concerns.
5. Become an independent learner that is well prepared for college coursework (and possibly earn
college credit based on the AP Exam score).
Curriculum
The AP Biology Development Committee conducts college curriculum surveys of introductory biology courses for biology majors and develops the AP Biology Examination so that it is representative of the topics covered by the survey group. Accordingly, goals have been set for percentage coverage of three general areas:
Molecules and Cells = 25% Heredity and Evolution = 25% Organisms and Populations = 50%
The Lansing Catholic High School Science Department teaches science as “an approach based on the analysis of evidence used to explore and propose explanations for occurrences in the physical world.” It is important to understand that although content knowledge is essential, science is not a set of facts to be memorized. Accordingly, the College Board states “primary emphasis in an AP Biology course should be on developing an understanding of concepts rather than on memorizing terms and technical details.” The AP Biology Exam will emphasize the major themes of biology and place less weight on specific facts. The information will be broken into chapters and units, but you will need to constantly be working to integrate each new piece of information into the larger framework of biology. The College Board has identified eight major themes that are helpful for understanding the connections between the different topics.
Major Themes of Biology
1. Science as a process
2. Evolution
3. Energy transfer
4. Continuity and Change
5. Relationship of Structure to Function
6. Regulation
7. Interdependence in Nature
8. Science, Technology, and Society
Laboratory
The laboratory experience in AP Biology will reinforce the concepts covered in class as well as help you to develop important science process skills such as detailed observation, accurate recording, experimental design, manual manipulation, data interpretation, statistical analysis, and operation of technical equipment. Approximately 25% of our classroom time will be devoted to laboratory work. We will be doing each of the 12 labs recommended by the College Board. Most of them will be traditional lab experiments performed in class, although a few of them may be completed as computer simulations or teacher demonstrations. The AP Exam will include questions that reflect the topics and objectives of the 12 recommended biology labs. You will write a lab report for each lab that will be graded and your understanding of the labs will also be assessed on unit tests. Additional lab activities will be used in class or may be offered outside of class time. In order to accommodate the laboratory work all AP Biology students will be required to meet at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Policies
Attendance is extremely important in AP Biology. New material will be presented each day, and some labs are impossible to make up on your own. Absences will significantly affect your ability to be successful in AP Biology and should be avoided whenever possible. It is the student’s responsibility to make all arrangements to compensate for absences by getting notes from a classmate, discussing make-up work with the teacher, and keeping up with material and exam preparation as stated in the course schedule.
All assignments are due on the date specified by the teacher. If you are absent on a day that a lab report or other long-term assignment (when the due date was announced at least one week in advance) is due it is your responsibility to get the assignment to the teacher on the due date by sending it with another student or emailing it to Mrs. Johnson. If you are absent on a test day you will take the test on the day you return to school. If you miss class but are at school for any part of the day you are expected to see Mrs. Johnson that day to discuss make up work. If you miss class on a test day but are at school for any part of day you are required to make up the test during a free period or after school or it will become a zero.
Late work will incur a 20% penalty for each day it is late. An assignment is considered late if it is not turned in when specified by the teacher (usually the beginning of the hour). You will not be permitted to go to the library to print out work when it is being collected by the teacher. Therefore, an assignment turned in 1-24 hours late will receive a maximum of 80%, 24-48 hours a maximum of 60%, 48-72 hours late a maximum of 40%, and 72-96 hours late a maximum of 20% credit.
Assignments
You are expected to read and study each chapter before we cover it in class. On the days that we are not working in the lab we will be discussing the chapters as a class. I will highlight important information, explain figures and diagrams, help you to relate the topics to the eight major themes, and answer student questions. Therefore, being prepared ahead of time will greatly maximize your learning in the classroom. Studying the material ahead of time entails thoroughly reading the chapter, making sure you know all of the bolded vocabulary terms (remember to relate new terms to the list of root words you memorized over the summer), and taking notes in your own words. For each paragraph or section of the textbook you should identify the key points and write a one or two sentence summary in your own words. Also write down key terms and summarize important pictures and diagrams. Make note of questions that you have about the material so that you will remember to ask them in class if I don’t specifically address them in lecture. I will occasionally collect or do a quick check of your notes for points to make sure that you are keeping up. The time and effort that you spend reading the chapters, summarizing the key points, studying the terms and diagrams, and writing down your questions will be the major determining factor in your success in AP Biology. You will not do well in this class or on the AP Exam if you expect the teacher to tell you everything you need to know in class and don’t spend a significant amount of time working through the material on your own. Successful students generally spend 8-10 hours outside of class time reading and studying for AP Biology.
You will write a lab report after every lab experiment. These are formal documents that must be typed, free of spelling and grammatical errors, and written in third person. Lab reports are due one week after completion of the experiment (exact due dates for each lab will be announced in class). You will be given specific instructions in class for how to prepare the lab reports, but in general each report will include the following sections:
1. Title – be concise but as specific as possible
2. Introduction – the objectives (from the lab instructions) and your hypothesis for the lab (may be a null hypothesis or an if… then… statement)
3. Procedure – a summary of each assay or technique used explaining what type of data was collected and how. Be sure to state the controls and variables as well as the number of replications. I am not looking for a detailed experimental procedure, but rather a summary of how you collected your data.
4. Results – present raw data in a table. Clearly label all tables, graphs, and units.
5. Conclusion – the most important part of the lab report! Make sure you reference the data in your conclusion. You may have to do some research to fully explain your data. Discuss potential sources of error. The last sentence or two of your lab report should relate your data and conclusion back to your original hypothesis (did your experiment support or refute your hypothesis or is it inconclusive and explain why). Do not use the word “prove.”
Grading
A total points system will be used to calculate grades. The majority of your grade will be determined by unit exams (100 points each) and lab reports (25 points each). Grades from quizzes, homework, tests, essays, notebook checks, and projects will also be included. Many assignments will not be collected or graded by the teacher but are essential for preparing you to do well on the other assessments and the national AP Biology Exam. There will be a participation grade each quarter. You will lose points from this category for being late, unexcused absences, coming unprepared to class, failing to clean up your lab station, or not participating in class.
There will be a cumulative exam both first and second semesters. The first semester exam will be given during the normal exam period. The final cumulative exam covering the entire year will be the national AP Biology exam on May 9th. If you choose not to take the national exam you will take a similar exam in class that will count as your second semester exam score. A practice exam will be given on April 29th after Work-a-thon; you are strongly encouraged to attend. You will use your practice exam to help guide your preparation for the real thing.
Resources
You are required to obtain a copy of the textbook for your use in this course. You should bring it with you to class each day. Included with your textbook is a CD-ROM that includes hundreds of animations and interactive activities to help you to better understand the material. There is also a website that correlates with your textbook that will be very helpful in guiding your studying. As with many college textbooks there is a workbook available to purchase separately (Study Guide and Workbook an Interactive Approach for Biology: The Unity and Diversity of Life 10th edition by Cecie Starr (ISBN: 0534397506). Some students may find the workbook helpful for guiding their study, but it will not be required. I highly encourage you to seek out web resources to help you learn the AP Biology material. There are many excellent websites with practice problems, animations, lectures, simulations, and study guides.
You are required to have a 1 ½ inch three ring binder to keep all of your handouts, notes, and lab reports in throughout the year. Your binder should be brought to class each day. There will be occasional notebook checks to make sure that you are keeping everything an organizing it in a binder. Not only will a complete and organized binder be an invaluable study tool, it is occasionally requested by colleges in order to determine whether credit will be awarded. It is in your best interest to keep everything.
Textbook:
Biology: The Unity and Diversity of Life 10th edition by Cecie Starr and Ralph Taggart (ISBN: 0-534-38800-0). You must have the 10th edition of the textbook.
Textbook website: www.brookscole.com/cgiwadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&product_isbn_issn=0534388000
Required review book:
You are required to purchase an AP Biology test prep book. This will serve as your study guide for unit tests as well as review for the national AP exam. There are many different books available so you may want to compare reviews online or talk to AP Biology students from last year before you choose. The list below includes some of the choices, but there are probably others. The Barron’s and Cliff Notes books were the favorites last year.
Barron’s AP Biology with CD-Rom (978-0764140518)
Cliff’s AP biology (Wiley ISBN: 978-0-470-09764-9)
Fast Track to a 5 (Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning ISBN: 978-0-538-49504-2)
Five Steps to a 5 AP Biology(McGraw Hill ISBN: 978-0071623247)
Spark Notes AP Biology (Spark Publishing ISBN: 9781411409279)
Amsco’s AP Biology (Amsco Publications 9781567659054)
Required lab notebook:
A lab notebook made up of duplicating sets of graph paper is required. The cost is $11 and should be paid to Mrs. Johnson the first week of school so that we can get them ordered.
Information about Advanced Placement courses:
www.collegeboard.com