AP Biology Syllabus
AP Biology Student Syllabus
Spring 2007 Exam Date – Monday, May 14th AM
A.
Biology:
The Unity & Diversity of Life
9th ed., Starr & Taggart
B.
AP Lab Manual
– 2001 Ed.
*Student
purchased ($18) and yours to keep.
Several
other photocopied labs from the Starr & Taggart lab manual will be added to
supplement some topics.
C.
An Interactive
Concepts in Biology CD, from your text back cover is available if you ask
early. Not all used copies of
the text have a CD still attached.
D.
AP Biology
Examination Prep. Manual
4th Ed. I have 16 of
these manuals that you can use on a
take-home basis with a rotating “study buddy”. Your Final Exam will be
to complete one of these tests (open resource) over 2 nights, anytime during the
week of May 7th
E.
Student, at
school access to my personal subscription to Science News; a weekly
review of current science research reported in a “briefs” format.
This will be valuable in indexing current info applicable to our study
topics for class sharing. I also have the magazine hard copies if you prefer.
Go to: http://www.sciencenews.org
User name: Steve Bush Password:
APBIO
F. There are available on
line, several AP Bio sample exams that you can preview free at
collegeboard.com/ap
G. On the WCHS
homepage, go to Library, click on Academic Help, then Science and click on
the phschool link to the Biology Place/Lab Bench for taking
your on-line pre-lab quizzes.
You can either e-mail your score to me at school prior to scheduled lab
days, or print it.
They are a small part of each individual lab grade. Also find a link here
to Science News
and
Scientific American which you may need for finding research info on
class-sharing
(Club) days.
I
commend you for having chosen to enroll in this
particular Advanced Placement course. As
students, each of you brings a different combination of goal motivation, career
aspiration, varied course
transcripts and unique talents that can make our
class experience successful and memorable. Although
you represent only my 6th year of AP challenge, I have 30 years of
biology and science teaching experience and a respectable amount of real-world
application knowledge that I hope to share with you. You, on the other hand,
probably have computer & technology skills that I am slow to acquire and I
will be learning some things from you as well. Teaching AP Biology and the
quality students it attracts, has tremendously re-invigorated my career. With 14
of you willing to accept this challenge, I will be working very hard to make
your learning experience worthwhile and the small class size will benefit us
both.
As
for you, you are probably better prepared for this science challenge than you
realize. The Integrated Science
curriculum taught by Mr. French, Mr. Graves, Mrs. Rouse, Mrs. Adams, Mrs. Terry and
I, has provided you a broader perspective, with
an Earth Science emphasis for context. Science knowledge is naturally integrated
and few schools in
My
goals in teaching this AP Biology course are:
§
to ensure that
we “cover” the exam essentials by May 11th: a real challenge in a block
schedule.
§
to give you
practice and feedback in the skills needed to do well on this exam.
§
to ensure that
you see and understand the “connectedness” of this information.
§
to engage you
in the “doing” of Biology with enhanced lab experiences.
§
to demonstrate
that an understanding of evolution is a logical outcome of your advanced study
and understanding of biology. I emphasize that this understanding is not
intended to undermine your religious beliefs.
§
to provide
extra opportunities for learning and relating text knowledge to application
knowledge through field trips.
§
Use the weekly
assignment sheets I provide each Monday to structure your preparation for the
week. Come to class ready to ask and answer questions.
§
In general,
you will have the entire week to complete any assignments given. All such work
is due to me no later than on Friday and it will be returned on Monday.
§
I will accept
late work for a 10% penalty per day until
the graded work is returned to students. At that point, it will not be
accepted.
§
Take pride in your
work. If it’s complete & original, you
will be learning, I’ll be impressed and you will score well. Borrowing other
student's work causes me to frown and take action! Plagiarism and cheating will
not be tolerated.
§
Always use
your own collected data from lab. Process is slightly more important to me than
product. If you do your pre-lab
preparation and pay attention to detail, most experiments will produce
satisfactory results. If you have
erroneous or suspect results, you may re-do the lab if materials and time
permit. If you choose to stick with
questionable data, offer some troubleshooting analysis and explanation along
with the data and conclusions.
§
Work cooperatively
with your assigned lab partner/s, drawn from name sticks.
§
If you are
absent for more than 1 day, contact me by e-mail for class updates or request
that assignment sheets be prepared for you by the office staff for pick-up.
If you know in advance of field trips and such that will cause you to
miss class, please keep me informed before the fact.
§
You will have
a quiz each Monday that will address the reading, activities and lab work
covered since the previous Monday quiz. On
Friday's, we will discuss areas of emphasis for your study.
§
I am available
if you need help or a work location every day after school until at least 4:30
and before school from 6:30 - 8:00 AM
§
Be polite,
respectful, prepared and participating each day. Time on task matters!
Your
grade will be calculated on STI using these category weight percentages:
Lab Manual/Added Labs - 27%
Individual Written - 18%
Project (2) - 10%
*Final Exam - 10%
*
A take-home pre-AP exam for practice. It
may be corrected for additional points.
Expect
1 quiz grade per week through May 7th...
These will occur on Mondays after pertinent graded work is returned and
discussed. Most questions will be
multiple-choice so scantron can be
utilized, but each quiz will additionally have 1, or a choice of 1 free response
questions.
The
Lab category will be your data, graphs and analysis questions from the 12 labs
in the manual, plus some added labs that we will do.
The
Individual Written grades will be the regularly assigned end of chapter
questions, Earth & Sky "bellringers" and occasionally something to
research and share with class.
Your Project category will contain 2 grades:
1. A post-AP exam for fun unit on either Stream morphology, Soil Communities or Insects.
2.
A data analysis portfolio piece for 1 of your AP labs.
I’ll recommend several to choose from. *If
you are a Senior whose portfolio is already complete, you may do a
Biology-related movie review on the last few days of class.
I
would hope that all of you will earn A’s, which equate to
excellent work, but realistically, there will be a wider grade distribution.
B’s are the result of good work,
and C’s are average and so on. I do not use curves to create artificial grade
distributions. On the other hand, I do allow you to earn extra credit in various
ways.
In
the previous 2 AP classes of 39 students in 2006, 22 students earned A’s and
B’s, and 12 got C’s. There were
also 3 D’s and 2 F’s, which certainly did not please me.
In my 5 previous classes, I have found a strong positive correlation
between the grade that students earn in my AP class and the score they earned on
the AP exam. This outcome is both predictable and should be reassuring to
students who are working hard.
1.
Will this
class be harder than ___you
__fill___the__blank______?
·
I don’t
know. “Hardness” is too relative
to assess.
2.
How much
homework will I have?
·
Just enough to
tell me if you’ve read and understand the material.
3.
Do you grade
homework or just check it?
·
Everything you
turn in will be graded for completeness & correctness.
4.
Let’s assume
we have a snow day…..or maybe several. What
should I be doing?
·
Take some time
to enjoy the snow then review your weekly assignment sheet and read or work
ahead as if I were out for sickness. For AP purposes, a snow day is a lost day.
5.
Hey, speaking
of sickness, I understand that you virtually never miss school. True?
·
True……knock
on wood!
6.
If we (the
class) miss a Monday scheduled quiz, when would we re-take it?
·
Our first day
back.
7.
So I probably
need to wear my book as permanent apparel this spring?
·
Correct
8.
Will we get to
take any field trips?
·
Oh yes. I am
the reigning “King” of field trips at WCHS. Most are after-school, free,
optional & well-worth your participation.
9.
Do you allow
students to earn extra credit?
·
Yes, within
limits of course. Field trips are
but one way to do this.
10.
Will I be
expected to do anything class related over spring break?
·
Yes. Read 2
assigned chapters and do a brief biology “show n tell” for the benefit of
the class when you return.
11.
After the AP
exam, what will we be doing? Do we
have a final? Please say No!
·
Fun &
different Biology stuff and viewing a few good movies. Yes!
Your final will be an actual AP practice test that you take at home, over 2
nights, open book, about 5 days prior to the real test.
You will be allowed to make your own corrections after it is scored to
earn back 1/2 credit on each question missed.
If you are not satisfied with this grade, you may take another shortened,
closed book version of the AP practice test on the scheduled final exam day.
The higher of the 2 scores will be your Final Exam entry.
12.
And finally,
because I can't have just 11 questions: Not that I believe in Astrology or
anything, but what is "your sign"? Oh, and I'm sure all Biology people
have some favorite, native, North American animals? Do you care to divulge
yours?
·
Virgo. The
Rufous-sided Towhee, darters of any type, Kingfishers, Beavers, Tree frogs and
the Small-mouth Bass.
I
am particularly intrigued with the Phylum Tardigrada - "water bears"
and love to collect the Class Insecta (the largest Class of organisms by virtue
of numbers of species).
And
there you have it………………………….