Course Outline – AP Biology 2017 Course Outline

Syllabus – AP Biology Syllabus 2018

Assessment –

• Student-Directed Study (using Curriculum) – 20%
• Exams – 20%
• Quizzes and Assignments – 20%
• Journal and Reflections – 15%
• Labs (Including Manual and Data) – 25%

Expectations
This course is a POST SECONDARY-level blended course. There will be a brief introduction on day one that goes over what to expect in this course. As such this class has POST SECONDARY-level expectations for behaviour, attendance, participation and effort.

Recommended Resources for Day 1, September 5th, 2017 @ 8:45am in room 306.

• One 1-2” and one 3” binders just for AP Biology
  OR
• Laptop (or have a school one provided as often as possible).
• Smart Phone
• Dividers with tabs for your binder (approximately six).
• 3×5 index cards for vocabulary (like study cards)
• 2 or more different colored high lighters
• Coloured pencils (I have extras)
• Sticky notes of various sizes and/or colors
• 2 composition notebooks
  • one for labs
  • one for your reflection journal (if you refuse to do a blog post).
• Student Planner or Calendar (or use a Smart Phone)
• RECOMMENDED – Expo markers & a white board. Have a great summer and come back prepared to learn!

 

Introductory Assignment

Part 1

Send me an email with the following information so I can get to know you!

petlak.logan@prairiesouth.ca

Email Outline

Subject Line: AP Biology 17-18, Your Name

Body: Your full name (& nickname that you go by if you have one) & stuff about you!

• What do you like to do (hobbies, sports, music, interests, etc.)?
• Was there anything that you liked or disliked about your earlier biology class (health or environmental science)?
• What are you most anxious about in AP Biology?
• Why are you taking AP Biology? What do you hope to accomplish/gain?

There is no right or wrong answer…be honest so that I can figure out the best way to help you next year! BUT a word of advice: I am your teacher, not your friend. We will be posting things online, so display some digital citizenship and be aware of who you portray to the world online (because it’s there forever) and who you are to me – be a professional. Remember to use proper salutations, closing, phrasing, etc.

 

Part 2 – Blogging

Address one of the following Big Ideas of AP Biology – look into them if you know nothing about them at all, if you get on a roll with one and just do it on one, that is acceptable:
1) The process of evolution drives the diversity and unity of life. *I would recommend this one*

2) Biological systems utilize free energy and molecular building blocks to grow, to reproduce, and to maintain dynamic homeostasis.

3) Living systems store, retrieve, transmit, and respond to information essential to life processes.

4) Biological systems interact, and these systems and their interactions possess complex properties.

Guiding questions:
What does it mean to you, what does it remind you of?
What do you know about the topic?
Ask questions that you may want to learn related to it.
Why is it important?
Cool facts/articles that relate to it

Complete this in one of the formats below: 

a) Email me an approximately 1.5 page, typed, size 12, double-spaced, APA format write-up
or
b) Begin a blog at WordPress.com (I can guide you on this if needed, but you should learn as we will use it). Length required is approximately 500 words (give or take 100 words). It should have a referenced picture and an embedded and relevant video. Then send me the link to your blog. Go to our blog information page to view the rubric!

Part 3

Experimental Inquiry

In this part of your summer assignment you will research the components of a GOOD research experiment and design an experiment based around a provided inquiry question.  Let’s get started…

The following is a list of components that must be included in a GOOD research experiment. For each one on the list below you must research what it entails and write a small (1 paragraph) summary.

1. Hypothesis
2. Independent Variable
3. Dependent Variable
4. Control vs Experimental Groups
5. Constants
6. Ways to improve VALIDITY and RELIABILITY
7. Data Collection

Now that you know about the important aspects of a GOOD experiment you need to design a hypothetical experiment and generate predicted data on the inquiry question listed

below. The components that you researched in Part A MUST be included in your experiment.  PLEASE NOTE: YOU DO NOT NEED TO RUN THIS EXPERIMENT.  JUST DESIGN AND GENERATE HYPOTHETICAL DATA.

Inquiry Question: Do cats prefer wet food to dry food?