BIOLOGY I   

Textbook: Biology
Grade Level: 10-12
ISBN#: 0135544035
Length of Course: Year
Publisher: Prentice-Hall
Credit: 1
Prerequisite: General Science or Permission of instructor

                                                                                                                                                                                        

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The study of biology is concerned with the study of life and living things.  After an introduction to general biological principles, our focus will be on ecology.  This allows us to take advantage of the fall weather for outdoor activities.  As the year progresses we will mover our examination to the laboratory.  As the weather improves in the spring we will complete the course with a study of plants.  The first semester we will focus on biological principles, ecology, and the study of wildlife and natural resource issues.  The second semester we will investigate cellular biology, genetics, change and diversity on our planet, and the unit covering botany.

 

Biology students will apply scientific knowledge and skills for a variety of purposes.

·        Select and use appropriate tools and technology to perform tests, collect data, analyze relationships, and display data

·        Identify and communicate sources of unavoidable experimental error

·        Research is used based on popular and scientific literature

·        Hypotheses are formulated based on observations

·        Formulates a testable hypotheses

·        Conclusions are formed based on recorded quantitative and qualitative data

·        Variables are defined and investigations are designed to test hypotheses

·        Graphing and arithmetic calculations are used as tools in data analysis

·        Impacts of sources of error inherent in experimental design are identified and discussed

·        Validity of data is determined

·        Alternative explanations and models are recognized and analyzed

·        Formulate explanations by using logic and evidence

·        Recognize the usefulness and limitations of models and theories as scientific representations of reality

·        Employs strict adherence to safety procedures in conducting scientific investigations

 

Alaska Content Standards

 

Standard A.  A student should understand scientific facts, concepts, 

                    principles, and theories.

Standard B.  A student should possess and understand the skills of

                    scientific inquiry.

Standard C.  A student should understand the nature and history of

                    science.

Standard D.  A student should be apply scientific knowledge and skills

                    to make reasoned decisions about the use of science and

                    scientific innovations.

 

 

Alaska Science Performance Standards

 

A 1.  Students develop, create and use models to demonstrate their understanding of the nature of particles and interactions on the molecular, atomic, and subatomic levels, and how these explain the physical and chemical properties of matter.

A 2.  Students describe and explain a common chemical reaction including atomic chemical bonding, and reaction rates.

A 3.  Students use secondary research to develop models that explain the origin and continued development of the solar system, galaxy, and the universe.

A 4.  Students explain tides, weather, seasons, and phases of the moon including the appropriate concepts of gravity, the Coriolus effect, role of the atmosphere, and Earth’s rotation and revolution.

A 5.  Students explain how gravity and electromagnetic forces operate according to simple principles and how they can be used in applications such as mineral resource prospecting, satellites, space travel and affect natural phenomena such as the aurora.

A 6.  Students explain common examples of linear and rotational motion using Newton’s Laws of Motion.

A 7.  Students explain short-term and long-term transformations of the earth’s surface, including those caused by living things and human intervention.

A 8a.  Students explain how the absorption or emission of energy is related to physical, chemical, and nuclear reactions and explains how these reactions can be quantitatively accounted for in terms of changes in arrangements of neutrons, protons, electrons, atoms or molecules.

A 8b.  Students measure energy transfers that take place around them and use the data to examine The Law of Conservation of Energy.

A 8c.  Students explain entropy and its affect on energy availability.

A 9.  Students describe the relationship between energy and matter in a biological system.

A 10.  Students identify structure-function relationships at the subcellular, cellular, tissue, organ, and organism levels of organization.

A 11.  Students build a model to show how the structure of DNA affects the structure of proteins, cells, and ultimately phenotypic characteristics of the organism.

A 12.  Students describe how diversity and genetic variability influence a species survival rate under changing environmental conditions.

A 13.  Students use the theory of natural selection to explain changes in life forms over time.

A 14a.  Students classify living organisms based on inter- and intra-community relationships, and describe how organisms and groups of organisms affect the environment.

A 14b.  Students describe plant and animal population interactions within various communities and biomes.

A 14c.  Students describe the health of a local ecosystem using the parameters of population size, species diversity, and productivity.

A 15.  Students recommend a management strategy to solve a local environmental problem related to resource utilization such as fish and game, building permits, mineral rights, and land use policies.

A 16.  Students describe how studying radioactive decay, nuclear fission, and fusion can provide evidence confirming the Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy.

B 1.  Students collect, analyze, and interpret qualitative and quantitative data, develop models, and suggest further experimentation to investigate and explain everyday phenomena in their world.

B 2.  Students conduct primary scientific research and use sophisticated instrumentation technology to design, modify, and conduct a series of experiments related to a multifaceted problem in the natural or designed world.

B 3.  Students conduct research and media searches that highlight multiple forms of inquiry and multiple solutions to complex problems.

B 4.  Students work in collaborative groups to collect and analyze their experimental results.  They conduct media searches and use the information to support their experimental design.

B 5.  Students discuss the validity of assertions made in primary and secondary scientific sources by analyzing and critiquing the data used as evidence to support those assertions.

B 6.  Students examine laboratory and community safety procedures, identify how an individual affects the safety of the group, and practice safe behavior in the classroom and laboratory.

C 1.  Students can differentiate between facts, observations, concepts, principles, laws, and theories, as used in science publications.

C 2.  Students evaluate the validity of experimental findings.

C 3.  Students describe how human society, culture, history, and environment have influenced the development of scientific thinking.

C 4.  Students investigate societal (non-scientific) beliefs of multiple communities cultures regarding a phenomenon.

C 5.  Students use personal and group experiences as well as media searches to synthesize data derived from multiple perspectives to study a multifaceted problem related to state, regional, or global concerns and post their results for review.

C 6.  Students describe how current research is changing accepted scientific theories.

C 7.  Students identify the research, contributions, discoveries, and collaborative efforts currently underway to solve a scientific, industrial, mechanical, agricultural, or medical problem.

C 8.  Students analyze the evidence used to support current or historic scientific understanding of an issue as well as the evidence used to support ideas contrary to current scientific understanding.

D 1.  Students investigate a regional or global issue; identify and evaluate the current solutions.

D 2.  Students research a current problem and conduct a cost and benefit analysis associated with both the problem and potential solutions.

D 3.  Students conduct independent research investigations about a community issue and propose a solution based on their original data.

D 4.  Students evaluate scientific and societal impacts of developing technologies.

D 5.  Students propose a scientifically or technologically based change to public policy at the local, state, or national level and share their proposal with the audience of those affected by the issue as well as those involved in policy-making decisions.

D 6.  Students work collaboratively to design a solution to a problem, develop an evaluation tool to measure the effectiveness of their solution, and make revisions to the original solution based on the information collected.

 

 

COURSE CONTENT

 

Biological Principles

·        Explain what the goal of science is

·        Explain what a hypothesis is and describe how scientists test hypotheses

·        Explain how a scientific theory develops

·        Describe some characteristics of living things

·        Explain how life can be studied at different levels

·        Identify the three subatomic particles found in atoms

·        Explain how all of the isotopes of an element are similar and how they are different

·        Explain what chemical compounds are

·        Describe the two main types of chemical bonds

·        Explain why water molecules are polar

·        Differentiate between solutions and suspensions

·        Explain what acidic solutions and basic solutions are

·        Describe the function of each group of organic compounds

·        Explain how chemical reactions affect chemical bonds in compounds

·        Describe how energy changes affect how easily a chemical reaction will occur

·        Explain why enzymes are important to living things

Cell Biology

·        Explain what the cell theory is

·        Name the basic cell structures

·        Describe prokaryotes and eukaryotes

·        Describe the main function of the cell wall

·        Describe the function of the cell nucleus

·        Identify the main roles of the cytoskeleton

·        Describe the functions of major cell organelles

·        Identify the main functions of the cell membrane

·        Describe what happens during diffusion

·        Explain the process of osmosis, facilitated diffusion, and active transport

·        Describe cell specialization

·        Identify the organization levels in multicellular organisms

·        Explain where plants get the energy they need to produce food

·        Describe the role of ATP in cellular activities

·        Explain what the experiments of van Helmont, Priestley, and Ingehousz reveal about how plants grow

·        State the overall equation for photosynthesis

·        Describe the role of light and chlorophyll in photosynthesis

·        Describe the structure and function of a chloroplast

·        Describe what happens in the light-dependent reactions

·        Explain what the Calvin cycle is

·        Identify factors that affect the rate at which photosynthesis occurs

·        Explain what cellular respiration is

·        Describe what happens during the process of glycolysis

·        Name the two main types of fermentation

·        Describe what happens during the Krebs cycle

·        Explain how high-energy electrons are used by the electron transport chain

·        Identify three pathways the body uses to release energy during exercise

·        Compare photosynthesis and respiration

·        Explain the problems that growth causes for cells

·        Describe how cell division solves the problems of cell growth

·        Name the main events of the cell cycle

·        Describe what happens during the four phases of mitosis

·        Identify a factor that can stop cells from growing

·        Describe how the cell cycle is regulated

·        Explain how cancer cells are different from other cells

Genetics/Heredity

·        Explain the problems that growth causes for cells

·        Describe how cell division solves the problems of cell growth

·        Name the main events of the cell cycle

·        Describe what happens during the four phases of mitosis

·        Identify a factor that can stop cells from growing

·        Describe how the cell cycle is regulated

·        Explain how cancer cells are different from other cells

·        Describe how Mendel studied inheritance in peas

·        Summarize Mendel’s conclusion about inheritance

·        Explain the principle of dominance

·        Describe what happens during segregation

·        Explain how genetics use the principles of probability

·        Describe how genetics use Punnett squares

·        Explain the principle of independent assortment

·        Describe the other inheritance patterns that exist aside from simple dominance

·        Explain how Mendel’s principles apply to organisms

·        Contrast the chromosome number of body cells and gametes

·        Summarize the events of metosis

·        Contrast meiosis and mitosis

·        Identify the structures that actually assort independently

·        Explain how gene maps are produced

·        Summarize the relationship between genes and DNA

·        Describe the overall structure of the DNA molecule

·        Summarize the events of DNA replication

·        Relate the DNA molecule to chromosome structure

·        Tell how RNA differs from DNA

·        Name the three main types of RNA

·        Describe transcription and the editing of RNA

·        Identify the genetic code

·        Summarize translation

·        Explain the relationship between genes and proteins

·        Contrast gene mutations and chromosomal mutations

·        Describe a typical gene

·        Describe how lac genes are turned off and on

·        Explain how most eukaryotic genes are controlled

·        Relate gene regulation to development

·        Explain the purpose of selective breeding

·        Describe two techniques used in selective breeding

·        Tell why breeders try to induce mutations

·        Explain how scientist manipulate DNA

·        Summarize what happens during transformation

·        Explain how you can tell if a transformation experiment has been successful

·        Describe the usefulness of some transgenic organisms to humans

·        Summarize the main steps in cloning

·        Identify the types of human chromosomes in a karyotype

·        Explain how sex is determined

·        Explain how pedigrees are used to study human traits

·        Describe examples of the inheritance of human traits

·        Explain how small changes in DNA cause genetic disorders

·        Identify characteristics of human chromosomes

·        Describe some sex-linked disorders and explain why they are common in males than in females

·        Explain the process of X-chromosome inactivation

·        Summarize nondisjunction and the problems it causes

·        Summarize methods of human DNA analysis

·        State the goal of the  Human Genome Project

·        Describe how researchers are attempting to cure genetic diorders

Ecology

·        Identify the levels of organization that ecologists study

·        Describe the methods used to study ecology

·        Identify the source of energy for life processes

·        Trace the flow of energy through living systems

·        Evaluate the efficiency of energy transfer among organisms in an ecosystem

·        Describe how matter cycles among the living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem

·        Explain why nutrients are important in living systems

·        Describe how the availability of nutrients affects the productivity of ecosystems

·        Identify the causes of climate

·        Explain how Earth’s temperature range is maintained

·        Identify Earth’s three main climate zones

·        Explain how biotic/abiotic factors influence an ecosystem

·        Identify interactions that occur within communities

·        Describe how ecosystems recover from a distrubance

·        Explain what microclimates are

·        Identify the characteristics of major land biomes

·        Identify the factors that govern aquatic ecosystems

·        Identify the two types of freshwater ecosystems

·        Describe the characteristics of the marine zone

·        List the characteristics used to describe a population

·        Identify the factors that affect population size

·        Differentiate between exponential and logistic growth

·        Identify factors that limit population growth

·        Differentiate between density-dependent and density-interdependent limiting factors

·        Describe how the size of the human population has changed over time

·        Explain why population growth rates differ in countries throughout the world

·        Describe human activities that can affect the biosphere

·        Explain how environmental resources are classified

·        Describe how human activities affect the land, air, and water resources

·        Identify the characteristics of sustainable use

·        Define biodiversity and explain its value

·        Identify current threats to biodiversity

·        Describe the goal of conservation biology

·        Describe two types of global change that of concern to biologists

 

 

Evolution and Natural Selection

·        Describe the pattern Darwin observed among organisms of the Galapagos Islands

·        State how Hutton and Lyell described geological change

·        Identify how Lamarck thought species evolve

·        Describe Malthus’s theory of population growth

·        List events leading to Darwin’s publication of On the Origin of Species

·        Describe how natural variation is used in artificial selection

·        Explain how natural selection is related to species’ fitness

·        Identify evidence Darwin used to present his case for evolution

·        State Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection

·        Explain what a gene pool is

·        Identify the main sources of inheritable variation in a population

·        State what determines how a phenotype is expressed

·        Explain how natural selection affects single-gene and polygenic traits

·        Describe genetic drift

·        List the five conditions needed to maintain genetic equilibrium

·        Identify the condition necessary for a new species to evolve

·        Describe the process of specification in Galapagos finches

·        Describe the fossil record

·        State the information that relative dating and radioactive dating provide about fossils

·        Describe how conditions on early Earth were different from conditions today

·        Explain what Miller and Urey’s experiments showed

·        State the hypotheses that have been proposed for how life first arose on Earth

·        Identify some of the main evolutionary steps in the early evolution of life

·        Describe the key forms of life in the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras

·        Identify important patterns of macroevolution

·        Explain how living things are organized for study

·        Describe binomial nomenclature

·        Explain Linneau’s system of classification

·        Explain how evolutionary relationships are important in classification

·        Identify the principle behind cladistic analysis

·        Explain how we can compare very dissimilar organisms

·        Name the six kingdoms of life as they are now identified

·        Describe the three-domain system of classification

 

 

 

World to Work

·        Explore occupational opportunities in medical research and biotechnology

·        Identify and discuss the role of technologies in careers related to genetics

·        Interview workers in related careers

·        Research educational requirements for related jobs