COURSE: BIOLOGY
Established Goals:
Goal 11: Inquiry and Design
Understand the process of scientific inquiry and
technological design to investigate questions, conduct experiments and solve
problems.
Goal 12: Concepts and Principles
Understand the fundamental concepts, principles and
interconnections of the life, physical and earth/space sciences.
Goal 13: Science, Technology and Society
Understand the relationships among science, technology and
society in historical and contemporary contexts.
Department Program Goal:
The science curriculum is designed to facilitate the
transformation of all students into life-long problem solvers. Through
experimentation, inquiry, critical thinking, and teamwork, all students are
provided with the experiences necessary to become responsible decision-makers in
this increasingly technological world.
School District: Concepts (Know) and Skills (Do)
- Demonstrate the use of inquiry to answer and formulate
questions
- Understand the nature of science and inquiry
- Improve observation, analysis, and questioning skills
- Use of all the processes of science necessary to
conduct investigations
- Proper use of a microscope
- Creating analogous relationships between cells and
real-life situations ( i.e. comparing cellular functions to those of a city)
- Relate the Cell Theory, cell structure, cell function,
and cellular processes to specific cells and organelles
- Compare and contrast aerobic and anaerobic respiration
- Compare and contrast photosynthesis and respiration
- Explain the significance of these processes
- Describe the factors which affect the rates of
photosynthesis and respiration
- Successfully show the process of protein synthesis and
DNa replication
- Proper structure of DNA molecule
- Explain what happens in the cell during interphase,
prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase, and cytokinesis
- Describe how meiosis differs from mitosis
- Explain the number of chromosomes in a cell for each
phase of mitosis
- Use a microscope to identify cells in each phase of
mitosis
- Identify diagrams of the phases of the c ell cycle
- Illustrate a cell in each phase of mitosis and meiosis
- Analyze data which illustrates genes that are passed
from one generation to the next
- Successfully utilize Punnett squares, pedigrees, and
karyotypes to predict patterns of inheritance
- Understand the connections between biology and
technology
- Weigh the pros and cons of biotech practices such as
the Human Genome Project and cloning
- Perform gel electrophoresis with sample DNA
- Analyze DNA fingerprints for paternity tests, crime
scenes, etc
- The Earth’s history can be explained through observing
the geologic time scale and the evidence it provides
- The theory of natural selection states that only those
organisms that possess the adaptations that are most suitable to the
environment in which they live will survive, reproduce, and pass on their
genetic information to the next generation
- Evolution occurs though the process of natural
selection and there is scientific evidence for this process
- There is variation among members of the same species
- Drawing conclusions based on observations, inferences,
and data
- Make inferences about observations and use deductive
reasoning to answer questions and make conclusions based on evidence
- Create testable hypotheses
- Identify organisms with a shared common ancestor
- Differentiate between shared common ancestry and
direct descendants
- Explain continuity and diversity of species using the
theory of natural selection
- Use collaborative groups to share ideas and develop
knowledge
- Apply the understandings to the learning activities
- Ability to asses an ecosystem in terms of the flow of
energy, relationships within the ecosystem, biotic and abiotic factors, and
the interconnectedness of biotic and abiotic factors
Enduring Understandings:
Goal 1: Use inquiry, reasoning, and critical thinking skills to asses
and analyze biological phenomena.
·
Inquiry
·
Critical Thinking
·
Reasoning
·
Decision-making
·
Problem-solving
Goal 2: Understand and apply the
scientific process skills to answer questions and
Solve problems within a biological context.
·
Inquiry
·
Critical Thinking
·
Reasoning
·
Decision-making
·
Problem-solving
Goal 3: Use
collaborative groups to conduct scientific investigations, share
ideas, and present research findings.
·
Team work
·
Decision-making
·
Problem-solving
·
Inquiry
Goal 4: Identify,
understand, and appreciate the diversity, continuity, and relationships among
living things.
·
Inquiry
·
Reasoning
·
Experimentation
·
Decision-making
·
Problem-solving
Goal 5: Assess and
analyze the intra- and interconnectedness of biological kingdoms
·
Inquiry
·
Reasoning
·
Experimentation
·
Decision-making
·
Problem-solving
Goal 6: Provide
opportunities for students to utilize educational institutions, programs, and
technology
·
Decision-making
·
Problem-solving
·
Critical thinking
·
Inquiry
·
Technology
·
Team work
Essential Questions:
- What is science?
- How does one “do” science?
- How is science and everyday experience?
- Why is observation important in doing science?
- What process do scientists go through to answer a
question or solve a problem?
- What is the difference between making an observation
and making an inference?
- What does it mean to be living?
- How are cells organized and put together?
- How are cells different:
- What do cells require in order to carry on the life
processes?
- What would be the result if either photosynthesis or
cellular respiration did not happen?
- Why are both processes necessary to maintain life on
earth?
- What are the important substances that are required
for and produced by these processes?
- How do living things store information?
- What is DNA and why is it so important?
- How does the information from DNA get transferred into
proteins?
- What are the steps to DNA replication?
- What happens during protein synthesis?
- What is the purpose of protein synthesis?
- What is a mutation and what are the possible effects
of a mutation?
- Why do cells divide?
- How can one learn about the steps of cell division?
- How does a cell prepare to divide?
- Why do gametes have half the chromosomes of body
cells?
- How are different patterns of inheritance explained?
- Why is DNA so important?
- How are sex-linked traits different from other traits?
- What is the difference and significance of dominant
and recessive traits?
- How is genetic information transferred from one
generation to the n ext?
- How is continuity maintained while diversity is
enabled among living things?
- What is a pedigree?
- How do human acquire genetic disorders?
- What are some controversies surrounding biothechnology?
- How do you perform gel electrophoresis to make a DNA
Fingerprint?
- What is the main idea behind cloning and why do some
people disagree with it?
- What are the benefits of the Human Genome Project?
- How and why do living things change over time?
- How does genetics and heredity affect evolution?
- Why are the ideas of Charles Darwin so important to
understand evolution?
- How dos natural selection drive evolution?
- What is the scientific evidence of evolution?
- Why are there differences among members of a species,
population, and community?
- What roles do mutations and the environment play in
natural selection?
- What are biotic and abiotic factors?
- How do these factors affect populations?
- What is the difference between a population, a
community, and an ecosystem?
- What are the relationships that exists between members
of a population? A community? An ecosystem?
- What are the connections between biotic and abiotic
factors?
- What is a biome and what constitutes the makeup of the
biomes?
- What is a food chain? A food web?
Assessments
- Tests
- Quizzes
- Projects
- Labs
- Homework
Connected/Related Co-curricular Support, Activities &
Experiences
- Speakers
- Field Trips
- Bio-pond Website
- Web (internet) activities
- Bio-pond Investigations
