CP Biology Syllabus

Instructor & Contact Information:

Shara Bellamy

615.822.2375 x 5544

shara.bellamy@jp2hs.org

http://jp2hs.org/teachers/shara-bellamy/

Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday: 12:10 -12:40

Tuesday and Friday 11:40 12:10

Additional times available by appointment

Course Description:

Biology is the study of living organisms! In this college preparatory course, student will explore basic life processes. Since students now understand the basic rules and concepts of physics and chemistry we will apply them to cellular, organismal and ecological studies. Furthermore, we will study and discuss historic scientific contributions and current topics that affect our daily lives and our environment.

The course will include lab activities, readings from multiple sources, and independent exploration of biological topics. Students be expected to learn both the content of the subject, and valuable reasoning and thinking skills that will not only be retained, but also be valuable tools for all facets of life. The skills and understandings developed in this course will prepare students to succeed in general-level college biology courses, and also to participate in discussions and make informed decisions about current issues concerning the environment, the role humans play in it, and sustaining our world.

I turned my mind to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the sum of things.

- Ecclesiastes 7:25a, NRSVCE

Course Outline:

Semester One

Length of Unit of Study

Unit One: Defining living and non-living organisms

What is life?

1 week

Unit Two: Water, biological molecules, and movement of molecules across cells

What is water and how does it interact with living organisms? What other molecules are important for life and how are they utilized?

5 weeks

Unit Three: Cell form and function

What is the function of a cell and how does it depend on the form of a cell?

4 weeks

Unit Four: Protein production and enzymes

How do cells exhibit their variation?

4 weeks

Unit Five: Genetics

How are traits passed to future generations? How can variations occur?

4 weeks

Application: A Molecular Crime

1 week

Semester Two

Length of Unit of Study

Unit Six: Photosynthesis and Cellular respiration with energy transfers in the ecosystem

How is energy used and transferred by living organisms within their environment and inside the cells?

5 weeks

Unit Seven: Ecology

What determines an organisms niche in the environment?

2 weeks

Unit Eight: Classification

Can we classify organisms by traits alone?

4 weeks

Unit Nine: Evolution

Does diversity change over time? Is it better to be a specialist or a jack-of-all- trades in the environment?

5 weeks

Application: Frog dissection

1 week

Assessment Types and Forms for Biology

Type

Description

Assessment Form

Approx Weight

Homework

Daily work designed to help students explore and review concepts while also improving their quantitative problem-solving skills.

Reading Guides. Short answer questions to assist students in reading for comprehension rather than completion.

Applications. Students analyze data to determine the effect of a variable in and experiment or to evaluate a group of organisms. These may also require students to deploy a conceptual model.

Creative assignments. The students may develop brochures related to diseases, analogies, mind maps, flow charts, drawings, and others.

Readings. The students will be asked to read and evaluate a current event or article related to the topic of study.

20%

Quizzes

Short Assessments to help students reflect on their progress

Developing Vocabulary Quizzes. Students are quizzed on prefix, suffix, and roots common to biology. They will match a definition to a word containing the prefix, suffix, or root.

Concept Check Quiz. These quizzes are related to the reading or the concepts covered in lab or class discussions.

10%

Labs

Explorations of concepts.

All labs have an in-class component where students will gather data (qualitative and quantitative) together.

Analysis of the data (both numerical and written) is done at home by the individual.

30%

Unit Tests

Multiple-Choice, Short Answer, FRQ, Lab Practicum

The ability to use knowledge about the content to answer multiple-choice style objective questions is one of the important skills that must be developed in order to be successful in later courses and in test (SAT, ACT) assessments.

Occasionally, tests will include other types of short answer questions: fill-in-the-blank or matching. These will constitute a small percentage of the unit grade

FRQ: Free Response Question is a word problem or question that will require analytical and quantitative reasoning to solve.

Occasionally, tests will include a lab component where students will have to perform a task or evaluate a situation that was presented during the unit; this will be a very small percentage of the unit grade.

40%

Exams

Mid-Term Exam

Final Exam

Approximately 60% of the exam will consist of multiple-choice and true-false questions.

Approximately 40% of the exam will consist of free-response questions (numerical) and short answer (conceptual).

In its own category, the exams count 20% of the semester grade each term

Grading:

Your grade is a direct and objective reflection of the work you put into this class as well as your comprehension of the material. Please see the assessment chart for specifics on weighting in the categories.

Semester grades are an average of the 2 quarters and the exam. Each semester exam is comprehensive for that semester. Please save all returned work in your binder.

Grading Codes used in Veracross to indicate progress with regard to individual assignments:

Description

Abbreviation

Notes

Pending

Pending

Assignment has not been graded or the deadline has not arrived

Complete

-

Completed assignment

Not Turned In

NTI

Student was present but did not turn in the assignment. Late penalties apply.

Missing Assignment

M

Student was absent. Student can receive full credit for the assignment when returning to school.

Incomplete

Inc

Student failed to finish or hand in an acceptable quality of work on a major assessment.

Not Required to Complete

NREQ

Student is not required to complete the assignment

Modeling Assignment Grading:

Original Thoughts are those you complete on your own for homework. They should be completed in black ink. They will be graded for thoroughness of completion unless otherwise stated in class.

They will be graded on a 20 point scale as follows:

Description

Symbol

Numerical

Veracross

All thoroughly answered

+

20

Complete

All attempted

18

Complete

Most attempted

-

16

Complete

Not all attempted or none attempted

I

14-0

Incomplete or

Not Turned In

Late Work Policy:

In the event that you miss an assignment (for a reason besides excused absence) your grade will begin grading as follows:

Number of meetings late

Homework

Labs, Research Assignments, Tests

1

70%

90%

2

50%

85%

3

Not accepted

80% (continuing to lose 5% each day until CRS)

Further information on the consequences of not turning in major assignments will be communicated by the school. If the student fails to attend, or satisfactorily participate in, their assigned CRS, they will earn a 0 on the assignment.

In Case of an Absence:

It is your responsibility to make up all assignments and assessments when you miss class.

When returning from an absence, the student is responsible for checking with the instructor immediately regarding work missed. It is the students responsibility to copy notes from a classmate, obtain handouts, hand in assignments, and arrange to make-up missed labs, quizzes or tests. The late work policy will take effect if assignments are submitted after the absent time allowance.

All quizzes and tests must be made up within 1 week from the date of missed school, unless special arrangements have been made within that time period with the teacher.

If a student will be missing school due to a planned absence, they should see the instructor before being absent to make arrangements for make-up work. All work missed while absent is due the day that the student returns to school, unless otherwise specified by the teacher.

Supplies needed for the year:

3 ring binder with notebook paper. Notes and work must be stored in binder by unit and will be checked periodically.

8 dividers

Loose lined notebook paper, printer paper,andgraph paper

Dry erase markers

Black or blueandred pens No other colors may be used on homework. Illegible work will not be accepted. Black or blue will be used for original thoughts. Red will be used for modification of thoughts.

Pencil

Calculator

Access to the textbook, Concepts of Biology

It is available to read or downloaded online at no cost

A print version can be purchased as well if that is the students preference, but is not necessary for the class

To access the book, go to: https://openstaxcollege.org/textbooks/concepts-of-biology/get