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Hanford Joint Union High School

DISTRICT CURRICULUM GUIDE

I. COURSE NAME: Advanced Placement Biology

Grade Level: Junior/Senior

Prerequisite: Geometry, Biology; and Chemistry
Duration: One year (2 Semesters)
Date: January, 2008
Textbook: Biology, 5th Edition, 1999 Benjamin and Cummings

II. COURSE DESCRIPTION

The AP Biology course is designed to be the equivalent of a college introductory

biology course. AP biology is a second year course and differs from regular and
honors Biology with respect to the textbook used, the range and depth of topics
covered, the kind of laboratory work done, and the time and effort required by
the students. It aims to provide students with the conceptual framework, factual
knowledge, and analytical skills necessary to deal critically with the rapidly
changing science of biology. (Adapted from the 2001/2002 Acorn Book)

III. CENTRAL INTELLECTUAL PURPOSE

Communications

Reading: Lab procedures and textbook content Science

journal articles Writing: Lab reports and
research papers Prewriting activities
(clustering, listing, grouping, etc.) Essay
questions

11th & 12th Grade English/Language Arts Writing Standards Essential to Advanced
Placement Biology
. W 1.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the elements of discourse (e.g., purpose, speaker,
audience, form) when completing
narrative, expository, persuasive, or descriptive writing assignments.
W 1.3 Structure ideas and arguments in a sustained, persuasive, and sophisticated way and
. support them with precise and
relevant examples.
. W 1.5 Use specific language in natural, fresh, vivid ways to establish a specific tone.
W 1.6 Develop presentations by using clear research questions and creative and critical
. research strategies (e.g. Field
studies, oral histories, interviews, experiments, electronic sources).
. W 1.7 Use systematic strategies to organize and record information.
. W 1.8 Integrate databases, graphics, and spreadsheets into word-processed documents.
W 1.9 Revise text to highlight the individual voice, improve sentence variety and style, and
. enhance subtlety of meaning
and tone in ways that are consistent with the purpose, audience, and genre.
. W/0 1.1 Demonstrate control of grammar, diction, and paragraph and sentence structure and
an understanding of English
 usage.
• W 2.3 Write expository compositions, including analytical essays and research reports. (9/10
standard)
Marshal evidence in support of a thesis and related claims, including information on all
a. relevant perspectives.
Make distinctions between the relative value and significance of specific data, facts, and
c. ideas.

Speaking: Verbal presentations

Class discussions

Critical Thinking/Problem Solving

Use the scientific method as a problem-solving
tool Inferring function from observation of
structure

Research
Utilization of various sources of information from library and
computer network Application of specific research skills through
interaction with the library media specialist

Technology
Application of biotechnology as a learning tool (gel electrophoresis,
bacterial transformation, spectrophotometer analysis, etc.) Use of
library/media center and computer labs Use of EKG and other
computer-based research tools Application of technology to research
process

Ethics
Knowledge of and adherence to school/classroom rules, with
particular emphasis on honesty policy, respect for self and others
Emphasis on personal responsibility for attentiveness, constructive
use of class time, diligence in daily assigned work and projects

IV. CONTENT/TIMELINE/ PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

Refer to Biology Life Science Content Standards for California
Public Schools Grades 9-12 (California Department of Education,
1998) and Advanced Placement Course Description, Biology, (2000-
2001).

Although academic freedom is supported and encouraged, essential

elements presented must be covered. Teachers are encouraged to
supplement the required elements with additional selections provided in
the text or ancillary materials.

The following is a listing of tentative course topics with the approximate

percentage of the course coverage time for each topic. Standards are listed
once where they would first appear in the curriculum; AP Biology is a thematic
course requiring the integration of information from several topics.
 NOTE
Each semester includes a science activity/assignment that addresses and
assesses Focus Standards from English language Arts (ELA) and
Mathematics. These activities will be identified by this text box.

FIRST SEMESTER

SDAIE Instructional Strategies

•Modeling, visuals and graphic organizers: drawings of cell process,

equipment
• Metacognition and Authentic Assessment: Anticipatory Charts (KWL),
Rubrics, compare & contrast (graphic organizer)
• Guided Interaction: Lab work (osmosis lab, photosynthesis lab, pH lab,
organic compound lab), jigsaw activity
• Explicit Instruction: PowerPoint with animation and pictures, showing steps
of transcription and translation
Vocabulary & Language Development: root word identification, image paired with
vocabulary word

Explicit Instruction: power points with figures, diagrams and animations, use of
question-answer relationships with the text

I. Molecules and Cells (25%) (9 weeks)

A. Chemistry of Life (7%) (2.5 weeks)
1 Water
1 2. Organic Molecules in Organisms
2 a. standard 1h – most macromolecules (polysaccharides, nucleic acids, proteins,
lipids) in cells and organisms are synthesized from a small collection of simple precursors
3 b. standard 4f – why proteins having different amino acid sequences typically have
different shapes and chemical properties
2 Free energy changes
1 4. Enzymes
2 a. standard 1b – enzymes are proteins and catalyze biochemical reactions without
altering the reaction equilibrium. The activity of enzymes depends on the temperature, ionic
conditions and pH of the surroundings
3 Lab: Enzyme Catalysts (4 hours)

B. Cells (10%) (3.5 weeks)

1. Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
a. standard 1c – how prokaryotic cells, eukaryotic cells (including those from
plants and animals), and viruses differ in complexity and general structure
2. Membranes
a. standard1a – cells are enclosed within semi-permeable membranes that
regulate their interaction with their surrounding
1 Lab: Diffusion and Osmosis (4 hours)
0 4. Subcellular organization
1 a. standard 1e – the role of the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus in
secretion of proteinsstandard1j – how eukaryotic cells are given shape and internal organization
by a cytoskeleton and/or cell wall
2 Cell cycle and its regulation

C. Cellular Energetics (8%) (3 weeks)

1. Coupled reactions
a. standard 1i – how chemiosmotic gradients in the mitochondria and chloroplast
store energy for ATP production
2. Fermentation and cellular respiration
a. standard 1g – the role of the mitochondria in making stored chemical bond energy
available to cells by completing the breakdown of glucose to carbon dioxide
1 Lab: Cell Respiration (4 hours)
0 4. Photosynthesis
1 a. standard 1f – usable energy is captured from sunlight by chloroplasts, and stored
via the synthesis of sugar from carbon dioxide
2 Lab: Plant Pigments andPhotosynthesis (4 hours)

II. Evolution and Heredity (25%) (9 weeks)

A. Heredity (8%) (3 weeks)
1. Meiosis and Gametogenesis
1 a. standard 2a – meiosis is an early step in sexual reproduction in which the pairs of
chromosomes separate and segregate randomly during cell division to produce gametes
containing one chromosome of each type
2 b. standard 2b – only certain cells in a multicellular organism undergo meiosis
3 c. standard 2c – how random chromosome segregation explains the probability that a
particular allele will be in a gamete
4 d. standard 2d – new combinations of alleles may be generated in a zygote through
fusion of male and female gametes (fertilization)
5 e. standard 2e – why approximately half of an individual’s DNA sequence comes from
each parent
6 f. standard 3b – the genetic basis for Mendel’s laws of segregation and independent
assortment

1 Lab Mitosis and Meiosis (4 hours)

1 3. Eukaryotic chromosomes
2 a. standard 2f – the role of chromosomes in determining an individual’s sex.
3 b. standard 3d – how to use data on frequency of recombination at meiosis to
estimate genetic distances between loci, and to interpret genetic maps of chromosomes
4 4. Inheritance patterns
5 a. standard 2g -how to predict possible combinations of alleles in a zygote from the
genetic makeup of the parents
6 b. standard 3a – how to predict the probable outcome of phenotypes in a genetic
cross from the genotypes of the parents and mode of inheritance (autosomal or X-linked,
dominant or recessive)
7 c. standard 3c – how to predict the probable mode of inheritance from a pedigree
diagram showing phenotypes
8 d. standard 4d – specialization of cells in multicellular organisms is usually due to
different patterns of gene expression rather than to differences of the genes themselves
9 e. standard 7b – why alleles that are lethal in a homozygous individual may be carried
in a heterozygote, and thus maintained in a gene pool
2 Lab: Genetics of Organisms (4 hours)

B. Molecular Genetics (9%) (3.5 weeks)

 1. RNA and DNA structure and function
1 a. standard 1d – the Central Dogma of molecular biology outlines the flow of
information from transcription of RNA in the nucleus to translation of proteins on ribosomes in the
cytoplasm
2 b. standard 5a – the general structures and functions of DNA, RNA, and protein
3 c. standard 5b – how to apply base-pairing rules to explain precise copying of DNA
during semi-conservative replication, and transcription of information from DNA into mRNA

2. Gene regulation
1 a. standard 4a – the general pathway by which ribosomes synthesize proteins, using
tRNAs to translate genetic information in mRNA
2 b. standard 4b – how to apply the genetic coding rules to predict the sequence of
amino acids from a sequence of codons in RNA
3 c. standard 4e – proteins can differ from one another in the number and sequence of
amino acids

3. Mutation
1 a. standard 4c – how mutations in the DNA sequence of a gene may or may not affect
the expression of the gene, or the sequence of amino acids in an encoded protein
2 b. standard 7c – new mutations are constantly being generated in a gene pool

1 Viral structure and replication

1 5. Nucleic acid technology and applications
2 a. standard 5c – how genetic engineering (biotechnology) is used to produce novel
biomedical and agricultural products
3 b. standard 5d – how basic DNA technology (restriction digestion by endonucleases,
gel electrophoresis, ligation, and transformation) is used to construct recombinant DNA
molecules
4 c. standard 5e – how exogenous DNA can be inserted into bacterial cells in order to
alter their genetic makeup and support expression of new protein products
2 Lab: Molecular Biology - Gel Electrophoresis and Bacterial
Transformation (6hours)

C. Evolutionary Biology (8%) (2.5 weeks)

1 Early evolution of life
1 2. Evidence for evolution
2 a. standard 6g – how to distinguish between the accommodation of an individual
organism to its environment and the gradual adaptation of a lineage of organisms through
genetic change
3 b. standard 8e – how to analyze fossil evidence with regard to biological diversity,
episodic speciation, and mass extinction
2 Mechanisms of evolution
3 Lab: Population Genetics and Evolution (2 hours)

standard 7a – why natural selection acts on the phenotype rather than

a.
the genotype of an
organism
standard 7c – new mutations are constantly being generated in a gene
b.
pool.
standard 7d – variation within a species increases the likelihood that at
c. least some members of
a species will survive under changed environmental conditions
standard 7e – the conditions for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in a
d.
population, and why these
conditions are not met in nature
standard 7f – how to solve the Hardy-Weinberg equation to determine the
e. predicted frequency
 of genotypes in a population, given the frequency of phenotypes
standard 8a – how natural selection determines the differential survival of
f.
groups of organisms
standard 8b – a great diversity of species increases the chance that at
g. least some organisms
survive large changes in the environment
standard 8c – the effects of genetic drift on the diversity of organisms in a
h.
population
i. standard 8d – reproductive or geographic isolation affects speciation
standard 8g – how several independent molecular clocks, calibrated
j. against each other and
using evidence from the fossil record, can help to estimate how long ago
various groups of
organisms diverged evolutionarily from each other

Activity: Students will view video and read articles purporting different
theoriesabout the origin of life and write an essay defending one
theory.

Key ELA Standard:

← R2.4 Synthesize content by paraphrasing and connecting ideas
← WI.7 Use systematic strategies to organize and record information.
← W2.4 Write a persuasive essay.
•

Assessment: HJUHS writing rubric for persuasive essay

Activity: Students will calculate whether or not a population is

maintainingHardy-Weinberg equilibrium using the correct equations

Key Math Standard:

• Hardy Weinberg equation p+q=1, p2+2pq+q2=1

Assessment: Correct calculation of allele, genotypic, and phenotypic

frequencies from given data.

SECOND SEMESTER

SDAIE Instructional Strategies

• Modeling, visuals and graphic organizers: drawings of plant and animal

structures
• Metacognition and Authentic Assessment: Anticipatory Charts (KWL),
Rubrics, compare & contrast (graphic organizer)
• Guided Interaction: Lab work (osmosis lab, photosynthesis lab, pH lab,
organic compound lab), jigsaw activity
• Explicit Instruction: PowerPoint with animation and pictures, showing steps
of transcription and translation
Vocabulary & Language Development: root word identification, image paired with
vocabulary word

Explicit Instruction: power points with figures, diagrams and animations, use of
question-answer relationships with the text
Webbing/mapping: animal and plant processes, evolutionary relationships

III. Organisms and Populations (50%) (18 weeks)

A. Diversity of Organisms (8%) (3 weeks)
1. Evolutionary patterns
a. standard 8f – how to use comparative embryology, DNA or protein sequence
comparisons, and other independent sources to create a branching diagram
(cladogram) that shows probable evolutionary relationships
2. Survey of the diversity of life
a. standard 10d – there are important differences between bacteria and viruses,
with respect to their requirements for growth and replication, the primary
defense of the body against them, and effective treatment of infections they
cause
1 Phylogenetic classification
2 Evolutionary relationships

B. Structure and Function of Plants and Animals (32%) (11.5 weeks)

1 Reproduction, growth, and development
1 2. Structural, physiological, and behavioral adaptations
2 a. standard 9a – how the complementary activity of major body systems provides
cells with oxygen and nutrients, and removes toxic waste products such as carbon dioxide
3 b. standard 9b – how the nervous system mediates communication between different
parts of the body and interactions with the environment
4 c. standard 9c – how feedback loops in the nervous and endocrine systems regulate
conditions within the body
5 d. standard 9d – the functions of the nervous system, and the role of neurons in
transmitting electrochemical impulses
6 e. standard 9e – the roles of sensory neurons, interneurons, and motor neurons in
sensation, thought, and response
7 f. standard 9f – the individual functions and sites of secretion of digestive enzymes
(amylases, proteases, nucleases, lipases), stomach acid, and bile salts
8 g. standard 9g – the homeostatic role of the kidneys in the removal of nitrogenous
wastes, and of the liver in blood detoxification and glucose balance.
9 h. standard 9h – the cellular and molecular basis of muscle contraction, including the
roles of actin, myosin, Ca , and ATP
+2

10 i. standard 9i – how hormones (including digestive, reproductive, osmoregulatory)

provide internal feedback mechanisms for homeostasis at the cellular level and in whole
organisms
11 j. standard 10a – the role of the skin in providing nonspecific defenses against
infection
12 k. standard 10b – the role of antibodies in the body’s response to infection
13 l. standard 10c – how vaccination protects an individual from infectious diseases
14 m. standard 10e – why an individual with a compromised immune system (for
example, a person with AIDS) may be unable to fight off and survive infections of microorganisms
that are usually benign
15 n. standard 10f – the roles of phagocytes, B-lymphocytes, and T-lymphocytes in the
immune system
2 Lab: Plant Transpiration (4 hours)
3 Lab: Physiology of Blood Circulation (4 hours)
4 Response to the environment
 C. Ecology (10%) (3.5 weeks)
1. Population dynamics
a. standard 6c – how fluctuations in population size in an ecosystem are
determined by the relative rates of birth, immigration, emigration, and death
2. Communities and ecosystems
1 a. standard 6a – biodiversity is the sum total of different kinds of organisms, and is
affected by alterations of habitats
2 b. standard 6b – how to analyze changes in an ecosystem resulting from changes in
climate, human activity, introduction of non-native species, or changes in population size.
3 c. standard 6d – how water, carbon, and nitrogen cycle between abiotic resources
and organic matter in the ecosystem and how oxygen cycles via photosynthesis and respiration
4 d. standard 6e – a vital part of an ecosystem is the stability of its producers and
decomposers
5 e. standard 6f – at each link in a food web, some energy is stored in newly made
structures but much is dissipated into the environment as heat and this can be represented in a
food pyramid

1 Lab: Dissolved Oxygen (4 hours)

2 Global issues

V. STUDENT ASSESSMENT
1 . Teacher/ publisher-generated activities, projects, writing, quizzes,
tests and final exams
2 . Lab practicals and laboratory reports
3 . The use of rubrics to grade writing and/ or projects, by both teacher
and student peers

VI. INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES AND MATERIALS / SOFTWARE

The designated textbooks, materials, and technologies meet
the state standards for this content area.
1 . Primary Text: Campbell, Reece, Mitchell. (1999). Biology, Fifth
Edition. Benjamin/Cummings
2 . Associated text support materials
3 . Cliff’s Notes, AP Biology
4 . Internet
5 . Flexcam/microscopes
6 . CBL based experiments
7 . A.D.A.M. software

VII. TEACHING ACTIVITIES/STRATEGIES TO IMPLEMENT CONTENT

STANDARDS

Lab Work
1 . Teacher models the lab before conducting the experiment. (auditory, visual)
2 . Teacher gives verbal and written directions (auditory, visual)
3 . Students complete the lab experiment correctly (kinesthetic, tactual, gustatory and
olfactory as instructed)
4 . Students analyze data and report lab results in proper format. (visual, tactual)
5 . Students derive a unique experimental approach to solving a given hypothesis (tactual,
kinesthetic)

Class Work
1 . Participatory lecture to facilitate content development. (kinesthetic, auditory,
visual, olfactory, tactual)
2 . Diagram structures and sequence biological/physiological events (tactual, visual)
3 . Problem-solving and critical thinking pertaining to ethical dilemmas (auditory)
4 . Reading and writing as a means to communicate understanding of content. (visual,
tactual)
5 . Bring in speakers to show career/real-world connections (auditory, visual, tactual)
6 . Cooperative group work (auditory, visual, tactual, kinesthetic)

Independent/Group Work
1 . Students construct models (tactual, kinesthetic, visual)
2 . Students diagram biological/physiological events (visual)
3 . Students do independent research and presentations (auditory, visual)

OTHER ACTIVITIES (USING GARDNER’S SEVEN LEVELS OF INTELLIGENCE)

LINGUISTIC
1 . Students interact in “jeopardy” games of key concepts and vocabulary
2 . Students will compose essays and complete creative writing assignments
3 . The teacher asks leading questions to generate a discussion

LOGICAL
1 . Students sequence events in the cell cycle, DNA replication, protein synthesis
2 . Design a controlled experiments relating to the twelve required lab exercises
3 . Students construct models of organ systems
4 . Students sequence physiological events each system uses to maintain homeostasis
5 . Students analyze pedigrees to determine patterns of inheritance

SPATIAL
1 . Students construct a model of the cell and its organelles
2 . Diagram various organ systems and show relationships of structures
3 . Students will understand depth of focus on a microscope and know each of the
parts of the microscope.
4 . Students will make drawings of lab observations
5 . Students will construct maps and flow charts of biological/physiological processes

MUSICAL
. Students write and sing a rap song or use acronyms to learn concepts relating to each
system

BODILY/KINESTHETIC
1 . Students will act out respiration, photosynthesis, muscle contraction, phagocytosis,
and other biological/physiological processes
2 . Students will serve as experimental subjects for labs involving reflexes, blood
pressure, and respiration

INTERPERSONAL
1 . Students will participate in collaborative research projects
2 . Students will performed lab experiments in cooperative groups
3 . Students will simulate biological/physiological processes

INTRAPERSONAL
1 . Students seek individual help during lunch or after school
2 . Students will keep journals/learning logs for each unit