GLEN RIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Curriculum Guide
Course Title: Biology
Honors
Subject: Biology
Grade Level: 9,
10
Department/School: Science/Glen
Ridge High School
Duration: Full
year
Number of Credits: 6
Prerequisite: Teacher
Recommendation
Elective or Required: Elective
Author: Mary Jane Roethlin
Date Submitted: Summer 2004
Course Description
Biology is the study of living things, their structure, life
processes and interactions with their environment. In this course basic patterns of life forms
and functions are examined individually, and the interrelationship between all
life forms is addressed from both ecological and evolutionary
perspectives. The laboratory component
of the course gives students experience in the methods and instruments of
modern biology. The Honors Biology
course will cover the structure, function and relatedness of living things at a
faster pace and in greater detail than the College Prep course.
GLEN RIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
SCIENCE
The
Our students will use the scientific method to understand and respond to questions about science, technology, and societal and world problems. Students will be challenged and encouraged to take risks and to develop critical thinking skills as they apply to real-world experiences.
Science
STANDARD 5.1 (SCIENTIFIC
PROCESSES) ALL STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP
PROBLEM-SOLVING, DECISION-MAKING AND INQUIRY SKILLS, REFLECTED BY FORMULATING
USABLE QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES, PLANNING EXPERIMENTS, CONDUCTING SYSTEMATIC
OBSERVATIONS, INTERPRETING AND ANALYZING DATA, DRAWING CONCLUSIONS, AND
COMMUNICATING RESULTS.
STANDARD 5.2 (SCIENCE AND
SOCIETY) ALL STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP AN
UNDERSTANDING OF HOW PEOPLE OF VARIOUS CULTURES HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, AND HOW MAJOR DISCOVERIES AND EVENTS
HAVE ADVANCED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.
STANDARD 5.3 (MATHEMATICAL
APPLICATIONS) ALL STUDENTS WILL
INTEGRATE MATHEMATICS AS A TOOL FOR PROBLEM-SOLVING IN SCIENCE, AND AS A MEANS
OF EXPRESSING AND/OR MODELING SCIENTIFIC THEORIES.
STANDARD 5.4 (NATURE AND
PROCESS OF TECHNOLOGY) ALL STUDENTS WILL
UNDERSTAND THE INTERRELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOP A
CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURE AND PROCESS OF TECHNOLOGY.
STANDARD 5.5 (CHARACTERISTICS
OF LIFE) ALL STUDENTS WILL GAIN AN
UNDERSTANDING OF THE STRUCTURE, CHARACTERISTICS, AND BASIC NEEDS OF ORGANISMS
AND WILL INVESTIGATE THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE.
STANDARD 5.6 (CHEMISTRY) ALL STUDENTS WILL GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE
STRUCTURE AND BEHAVIOR OF MATTER.
STANDARD 5.7 (PHYSICS) ALL STUDENTS WILL GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF
NATURAL LAWS AS THEY APPLY TO MOTION, FORCES, AND ENERGY TRANSFORMATIONS.
STANDARD 5.8 (EARTH SCIENCE) ALL STUDENTS WILL GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE
STRUCTURE, DYNAMICS, AND GEOPHYSICAL SYSTEMS OF THE EARTH.
STANDARD 5.9 (ASTRONOMY and
SPACE SCIENCE) ALL STUDENTS WILL GAIN AN
UNDERSTANDING OF THE ORIGIN, EVOLUTION, AND STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE.
STANDARD 5.10 (ENVIRONMENTAL
STUDIES) ALL STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP AN
UNDERSTANDING OF THE ENVIRONMENT AS A SYSTEM OF INTERDEPENDENT COMPONENTS
AFFECTED BY HUMAN ACTIVITY AND NATURAL PHENOMENA.
Curriculum Description
UNIT 1 - THE SCIENCE
OF LIFE
Standards 5.1, 5.3, 5.4, 5.6
Objectives:
Each student will be able to:
1. Define
biology and distinguish its branches and themes.
2. Describe
the steps in the Scientific Method and use the steps to solve a laboratory
problem.
3. Name
the common types of microscopes and cite the advantages and disadvantages of
each.
4. Identify
the parts of the compound light microscope and demonstrate their proper care and
use.
5. Identify
and apply laboratory safety rules.
6. Identify
and use correctly the basic units of metric measurement.
7. Describe
instruments and technologies used by biologists.
8. List
and describe the characteristics of living things.
Activities:
-
Design an experiment to determine how
temperature affects a living thing.
-
Use the Scientific Method to determine whether
two substances are the same or different.
-
Practice making metric measurements using
laboratory equipment and determine the accuracy and precision of the
measurements.
-
Use a compound light microscope. Observe its properties and use it to
determine the absolute size of an object from its microscopic image.
-
Examine the characteristics of living things.
Duration of time:
Approx. 2 Weeks
UNIT 2 - ECOLOGY
Standards 5.1, 5.2,
5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6
Objectives:
Each student will be able to:
1. Define
ecology, biosphere and ecosystem.
2. Describe
the process of ecological succession.
3. Explain
how biomes are classified.
4. Describe
the characteristics of each land biome.
5. Describe
the three aquatic biomes and list abiotic factors that affect them.
6. Explain
how energy flows through an ecosystem.
7. Discuss
how water, nitrogen, carbon and oxygen are recycled in the environment.
8. Construct
a food chain and a food web and discuss the trophic relationships which they
describe.
9. Relate
population growth to a population's carrying capacity.
10. Interpret
logistic growth curves.
11. Distinguish
between density dependent and density independent limiting factors.
12. Compare
parasitism, commensalism and mutualism and cite examples of each.
13. Discuss the
interrelationships between ecosystems.
14. Discuss
trends in human population growth and the effects on planet Earth.
15. Relate
modern lifestyles to the Earth's environmental problems.
16. Describe
some of the harmful effects of air pollution on the biosphere.
17. List ways
in which the Earth's waters are polluted.
18. Explain the
importance of tropical rain forests to the health of the biosphere.
19. List
reasons for the protection of endangered species.
20. Identify ways
to protect the environment.
Activities:
-
Observe ecological succession in a pond water ecosystem
and determine the effect of changes in abiotic factors on the community.
-
Investigate characteristic flora and fauna of the land
biomes of
-
Observe the oxygen cycle in a closed environment.
-
Interpret graphs of predator/prey relationships.
-
Determine types of air and water pollutants present in
air and water samples taken around GRHS.
-
Observe the effects of acid rain and detergent on seed germination.
-
Study the growth characteristics of a yeast population.
Duration of time:
Summer Assignment + 2 Weeks
UNIT 3 - CHEMISTRY
AND BIOCHEMISTRY
Standards 5.2, 5.3,
5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7
Objectives:
Each student will be able to:
1. Distinguish
between chemical and physical properties of matter.
2. Relate
the particle structure of an atom to the identity of elements.
3. Explain
how isotopes differ.
4. Define
and distinguish among elements, compounds, mixtures, solutions and suspensions.
5. Distinguish
among the states of matter with respect to molecular movement.
6. Describe
the processes of ionic and covalent bonding.
7. Relate
the formation of ionic and covalent bonds to the stability of atoms.
8. Interpret
the formulas of chemical compounds and the meaning of chemical equations.
9. Distinguish
between exergonic and endergonic reactions with respect to energy transfer.
10. Relate the
properties of water to its molecular polarity.
11. Describe
properties of acids and bases.
12. Distinguish
organic compounds and relate their large variety to the atomic structure of
carbon.
13. Identify
functional groups and relate their behavior to their chemical structure.
14. Describe
the function of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids in living
systems.
15. Describe
the nature of enzymes and discuss ways in which their activity is controlled in
living cells.
Activities:
-
Observe and distinguish physical and chemical changes.
-
Determine the pH of common materials and relate them to
relative acidity/alkalinity.
-
Identify organic compounds in foods by standard
laboratory tests.
-
Construct molecular models of covalent compounds.
-
Use laboratory tests to determine properties of
enzymes, rates of enzyme activity and the effect of variables on the reaction
rates.
-
Model the processes of dehydration synthesis and
hydrolysis of polymers using computer simulations and paper models.
Duration of time: Approx. 4 Weeks
UNIT 4 - CELL
STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
Standards 5.1, 5.2,
5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6
Objectives:
Each student will be able to:
1. Compare
the operation of a compound light microscope with that of electron microscopes
and discuss the advantages and limitations of each type.
2. Explain
the contributions of Von Leeuwenhoek, Hooke, Schleiden, Schwann and Virchow to
the development of the Cell Theory.
3. State
the main ideas of the Cell Theory.
4. Distinguish
between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.
5. Describe
the structure cellular organelles and relate their structure to their function.
6. Examine
the fluid mosaic model of the plasma membrane and relate structure to function.
7. Explain
the processes of diffusion and osmosis and predict the direction of diffusion
of a dissolved substance.
8. Compare
active and passive transport and assess their importance to cellular
homeostasis.
9. Describe
the function of the sodium potassium pump as an example of active transport in
living cells.
10. Define cell
specialization and relate its importance to multicellular organisms.
11. Describe
the four levels of organization in a multicellular organism.
12. Define ATP
and describe its function as the immediate energy source in living cells.
13. List the
requirements for photosynthesis.
14. Explain the
relationship between the light and dark reactions in photosynthesis.
15. Relate the
reactions of photosynthesis to the structure of the leaf and chloroplast.
16. Describe
the processes of glycolysis, anaerobic and aerobic respiration.
17. Compare the
relative energy yields of aerobic and anaerobic respiration.
18. Compare and
contrast photosynthesis and respiration with respect to materials and energy.
19. Relate the
process of aerobic respiration to the structure of the mitochondrion.
20. Relate the
process of aerobic respiration to breathing.
21. Explain the
term surface to volume ratio and relate it to small cell size.
22. Distinguish
between mitosis and cytokinesis.
23. List the
four stages of the cell cycle and describe the events of each.
24. Distinguish
the four phases of mitosis based on cellular activity.
25. Distinguish
between cytokinesis in plant and animal cells.
26. Explain the
importance of mitosis in maintaining genetic continuity.
27. Explain the
need for reduction division of chromosomes during gamete formation.
28. Demonstrate
how the phases of meiosis provide for the orderly reduction of chromosome
number.
29. Distinguish
between mitosis and meiosis and the respective processes involved in asexual
and sexual reproduction.
Activities:
-
Prepare wet mount slides and conduct microscopic
comparisons of plant and animal cells and their structures.
-
Construct a model “plasma membrane” and observe the
processes of osmosis and diffusion.
-
Design an experiment to test the permeability of
plastic sandwich bags.
-
Separate and identify plant pigments using paper
chromatography.
-
Using Internet resources, describe the contributions of
different scientists to the modern understanding of the process of
photosynthesis.
-
Observe turgor and plasmolysis in plant cells with the
aid of the microscope.
-
Examine photomicrographs of cells and subcellular
structures with the aid of Internet research.
-
Measure and record the effect of variables on the rate
of photosynthesis.
-
Measure and compare the rates of cellular respiration
in germinating and non-germinating seeds.
-
Measure the release of energy from monosaccharides as
indicated by temperature increase in a yeast culture.
-
Using phenolphthalein agar, observe the relationship
between diffusion efficiency and cell surface area.
-
Observe the process of mitosis in prepared slides of
plant and animal cells.
-
Prepare and analyze slides of growing onion root tips
to determine the relative amount of time cells spend in each phase of the cell cycle.
-
Using yarn or bead chromosomes, reenact the process of
mitosis and cytokinesis and compare the genetic makeup of the daughter cells to
that of the original cell.
Duration of time:
Approx. 6 Weeks
UNIT 5 - GENETICS
Standards 5.1, 5.2,
5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6
Objectives:
Each student will be able to:
1.
Describe the experiments of Gregor Mendel.
2.
Explain Mendel’s laws of dominance, segregation and
independent assortment.
3.
Use a Punnett square and laws of probability to predict
the outcome of various types of mono and dihybrid crosses.
4.
Relate Mendel's conclusions about segregation and
independent assortment to the process of meiosis.
5.
List the contributions of various scientists to the
identification of DNA as the genetic material.
6.
Describe the structure and function of DNA.
7.
Explain the process of DNA replication.
8.
Review the structural similarities and differences
between DNA and RNA.
9.
Identify the three types of RNA and their functions.
10.
Describe the process of transcription.
11.
Describe the process of translation and explain the
importance of ribosomes.
12.
Define the word mutation and distinguish types of
mutations.
13.
Distinguish types of mutations and assess their
relative effects.
14.
Recognize various patterns of inheritance including
codominance, incomplete dominance, polygenic, linked and sex linked traits.
15.
Define polygenic inheritance and cite examples of
polygenic traits in humans.
16.
Describe the regulation of the lac operon in prokaryotes as an example of control of gene
expression.
17.
Distinguish between introns and exons in eukaryotic
genomes.
18.
Distinguish between autosomes and sex chromosomes.
19.
Describe the relationship between oncogenes,
proto-oncogenes and some forms of cancer.
20.
Explain linkage groups and describe how the process of
crossing-over increases genetic variety.
21.
Identify the inheritance patterns associated with human
blood groups, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, Tay Sachs, and
22.
Describe nondisjunction. Relate it to abnormal karyotypes and cite it
as a cause of Down, Turner and Klinefelter syndromes.
23.
Identify hemophilia, red-green color blindness and
Duchenne muscular dystrophy as sex linked human disorders.
24.
Describe the process used to produce recombinant DNA
and cite applications of the technology.
25.
Describe the process of DNA fingerprinting and cite
applications of the technology.
26.
Describe the Human Genome Project and project future
applications for it.
27.
Explain the process of gel electrophoresis and its
applications in biotechnology.
Activities:
-
Use Punnett Squares and response boards to predict the
outcome of crosses.
-
Use coins to simulate gametes and allelic segregation
in one and two factor crosses.
-
Extract DNA from common materials (turnips, bacteria,
bananas, etc.)
-
Using paper and bead models, simulate the processes of
DNA replication, transcription and translation.
-
Construct a three-dimensional model of a DNA molecule,
DNA replication or protein synthesis.
-
Prepare a karyotype and examine it for genetic defects.
-
Construct and interpret a human pedigree.
-
Solve a hypothetical mystery using simulated blood
typing.
-
Use a model of the lac
operon to demonstrate control of gene expression in prokaryotes.
-
Prepare a recombinant paper DNA plasmid using
restriction enzymes to produce sticky ends and DNA ligase to recombine the DNA
fragments.
-
Carry out gel electrophoresis of DNA fragments.
-
Identify a “perpetrator” based on restriction analysis
and electrophoresis of paper DNA RFLP’s.
Duration of time:
Approx. 6 Weeks
UNIT 6 - EVOLUTION
Standards 5.2, 5.3,
5.4, 5.5
Objectives:
Each student will be able to:
1.
Analyze early experiments that support the concept of
biogenesis.
2.
Describe the environmental conditions on the ancient
Earth.
3.
Compare modern theories of the origin of life on Earth.
4.
Explain Oparin's hypothesis for the origin of life on
Earth and describe experimental support for it.
5.
Identify characteristics of the first true cells and
relate hypotheses about the origin of cells to the environmental conditions of
the primitive Earth.
6.
Describe the evolution of photosynthesis and its
importance to the development of the Earth's atmosphere.
7.
State the endosymbiont hypothesis for the evolution of
eukaryotes.
8.
Discuss how the fossils form and how the fossil record
is used to support evolution.
9.
Distinguish between relative and absolute dating of
fossils.
10.
Summarize the major geological and biological events of
the Geologic Time Scale.
11.
Identify and evaluate the basic assumptions of
Lamarck's theory of evolution.
12.
Discuss the influence of Lyell, Malthus, the Beagle
voyage, and agriculture on the development of
13.
Summarize the theory of evolution by natural selection.
14.
Cite evidence in support of evolution from comparative
embryology, comparative anatomy and modern biochemistry.
15.
Relate the idea of natural selection to the origin of
structural, behavioral and physiological adaptations.
16.
Explain the role of natural selection in divergent and
convergent evolution.
17.
Explain the process of speciation and describe how it
might occur.
18.
Relate mechanisms of speciation to changes in genetic
equilibrium.
19.
Compute allelic and phenotype frequencies.
20.
Explain Hardy-Weinberg genetic equilibrium.
21.
Define primates and relate their adaptations to life in
the trees.
22.
Sequence the evolutionary history of modern primates.
23.
Compare and contrast the adaptations of
australopithicines with those of apes and humans.
24.
Summarize the major anatomical changes in hominids
during human evolution.
25.
Identify the need for a classification system and
explain the Linnean system of binomial nomenclature.
26.
Compare and contrast cladistic and phylogenetic methods
of classification.
27.
Explain the use of biochemistry and evolutionary
relationships in modern taxonomy.
28.
Describe the six-kingdom classification system and
relate it to the three-domain system.
Activities:
-
Interpret events from fossil evidence.
-
Determine evolutionary relationships among diverse
organisms based on amino acid sequence in hemoglobin and cytochrome c.
-
Observe variation within populations of grasshoppers,
beans, and humans.
-
View the presentation:
“Life On Earth: 3.5 Billion Years
of Change”, Parts I, II and III and answer question sets.
-
Prepare and observe coacervates and microspheres.
-
Research the contributions of Haldane, Oparin, Stanley
Miller, Sidney Fox and Lynne Margulis to the modern understanding of the origin
of life on earth, using print and electronic sources.
-
Predict and observe changes in allelic frequencies in
model gene pools based on selective pressures.
-
Make and use a dichotomous key to identify organisms.
Duration of time:
Approx. 6 Weeks
UNIT 7 -
MICROORGANISMS
Standards 5.2, 5.3,
5.4, 5.5, 5.6
Objectives:
Each student will be able to:
1.
Distinguish between Archaebacteria
and Eubacteria.
2.
Recognize groups of Archaebacteria and distinguish
their characteristics.
3.
Describe the structure of a typical bacterium.