Course Description:
This class will help you understand the integral relationships and relevance of biology in our world and prepare you to find success on the AP Biology test to receive college Biology credit. Hands-on experiences using scientific equipment and procedures will be used to help you understand some of the basic topics and theories in biology, such as biochemistry, cell structure and function, genetics, DNA and RNA replication, biotechnology, evolution, history of life on earth, microbiology, classification, plant and animal physiology and behavior, and ecology. The course will be structured to help you learn how apply these concepts to the four big ideas on which biology is based, the enduring understandings within the big ideas and the essential knowledge within the enduring understanding:

Big Idea #1: The process of evolution drives the diversity and unit of life;

Big Idea #2: Biological systems utilize free energy and molecular building blocks to grow, to reproduce, and to maintain dynamic homeostasis;

Big Idea #3: Living systems store, retrieve, transmit, and respond to information essential to the processes;

Big Idea #4: Biological systems interact, and these systems and their interactions possess complex properties.

Exploring the world around us through inquiry has led to our current understanding of biology concepts. Therefore, the process of inquiry in science and developing critical thinking skills a very important part of this course. We will explore concepts utilizing 6 science practices:

Science Practice #1: The student can explain biological concepts, processes, and models presented in written format.

Science Practice #2: The student can analyze visual representations of biological concepts and processes.

Science Practice #3: The student can determine scientific questions and methods.

Science Practice #4: The student can represent and describe data.

Science Practice #5: The student can perform statistical tests and mathematical calculations to analyze and interpret data.

Science Practice #6: The student can develop and justify scientific arguments using evidence.

These practices will be demonstrated through note taking strategies during video lectures, scientific reading and writing, demonstration analyses, interactive assignments, inquiry labs and practice problem activities.  Students will be given the opportunity to engage in student-directed laboratory investigations throughout the course for a minimum of 25% of instructional time and will conduct a minimum of eight inquiry-based investigations (two per big idea throughout the course). Short quizzes and tests will also be used to determine students' grasp of the concepts and to prepare them for the format of the AP Exam. All of these skills will help develop the students' scientific thinking to be used for the rest of their life, help prepare them to find success on the AP Biology test to receive college Biology credit, and be used for success in future college courses of Biology.

Text:
Campbell, Neil and Reece, Jane, Biology, 8th Edition, 2008, Pearson Benjamin Cummings.  
We will have a set of textbooks to use in class and you will be assigned one of these textbooks which you will share with another student taking the course and that can be checked out overnight as needed throughout the school year.

Reference Materials:
Class Website
AP Biology Test Prep Book (Cliff Notes or Princeton Review highly recommended)
Daily Videos in AP Classroom and Bozeman AP Biology Videos on You Tube

Resources for Laboratory Activities and Demonstrations:
AP Biology Investigative Labs: an Inquiry Based Approach.(2012)
AP Biology Lab Manual (2001)

Other Materials needed for class:
Organization is an important part of student success in AP Biology. Students will need to bring bound lab notebook to class every day. All notes and class work will be recorded in this bound lab notebook. A second bound lab notebook will be needed for lab investigations as these will be turned in for grading. A calculator will also be needed for the computations studied in AP Biology (youtube video demonstration how to get online/digital TI 84).  Finally, a writing utensil will be needed daily, preferably a blue or black pen or a pencil.  Optional materials include highlighters to process notes and neon liquid chalk markers to make diagrams of concepts being studied and digital timer for data collection.

Effective Classroom Community
I would like our classroom to become a tight community; all working together to help each other find the greatest success on the AP Biology Exam and learn the maximum amount possible during the class.  The following areas will help establish this community.

• Lab Groups: With activities or labs being held once or twice a week for 60 minute sections, you need to chose individuals you can work with efficiently and effectively. Your lab groups will be 2-4 individuals working together to question, make hypotheses, write procedures or draw pictures to test those hypotheses, collect and analyze data, and draw conclusions from the data collected. Written reports with this information will be included in your lab investigation notebook and graded.
• Study Groups: You’ll also need to establish study groups that will exchange contact information to be able ask questions from home on an assignment or to study together before quizzes and tests. Your study group can also stay after school to work on practice tests or to do extensions of labs we do in class.
• Individual problem discussion as a class: Finally, during each chapter, review questions from the text book and old AP Exam questions that relate to concepts being studied will be assigned and discussed as a group to increase our understanding of the concepts. These questions will not be graded but will greatly help you prepare for our quizzes, tests and eventually the AP Biology Exam in the spring.

Grading Policy:
The following grading scale will be used throughout each quarter using the total points of all your assignments. 
100-93% = A              92-90% = A-   89-87% = B+   86-83% = B        82-80% =B-  
79-77% = C+              76-73% = C     72-70% = C-   69-67% = D+      66-60% =D

 Real-life grades are available to view from family access. Family access is the district wide grading program where students and parents can access many important aspects of student life in the Sumner School District. All homework and in class assignments will always be current, if your student turned it in during class, it is in the grade book. All assignments not turned in by the end of each week will be marked as missing in family access. Lab Write Ups and Summative Assessments, however, often take 1-2 weeks to grade.

Students will be strongly encouraged to take the AP Biology Exam in May and success on this test will give the student college credit for the course. Students earning a 4 or 5 on the AP Biology exam will receive a 1/3 grade bump for a semester of their choice that would be distributed as follows: 4 = ⅓ (i.e. C+ to B-) 5 = ⅔ (i.e. B to A-). Grade change requests are the responsibility of the student. Since exam results usually aren't available until summer break, student requests should be made in the form of an email to their teacher's school email account or student discussion when we return to school. The grade change will be initiated by teachers when they return to school in September. If they receive a 3 or better on the AP Biology Exam and they previously had a failing grade for the class, the student's grade for both semesters will be changed to a passing grade. If a student chooses not to take the exam, they will be required to take a practice AP Biology Exam as a final and the grade on this test will affect their final grade in a similar way as above although if they get a 1 or a 2 their grade will drop a letter grade.

Graded Assignments
Through out each unit, you will be doing assignments to help you learn the information, taking formative assessments to measure progress of that learning and then completing labs and summative assessments to determine final learning achieved. 

• Formative Assignments will be reviewed at the beginning of the class period following the day they were assigned and a score of 1 will be entered in the grade book if they are completed correctly. A score of zero will be entered if they are not until they are completed correctly and need to be checked off on the student’s own time such as before or after school. Once a unit is completed, assignments for that unit will no longer be accepted for credit. If they are completed after the unit test, the missing assignment indicator will be removed as well as the zero although no credit will be given. All notes, review questions, lab reports and any other assignments for class will be recorded in our two class science notebooks.
   

• Formative Quizzes and Progress Checks will be given throughout a unit or at the end of the unit as review. The formative assessments will be graded in class using scoring guides and progress checks will be graded in AP Classroom so students understand how they are graded with scores entered into grade book but will not count toward the students grade for the class.
   

• Labs will be a very important part of your preparation for the AP test. To get the most out of each recommended lab we will be doing, students will need to come prepared for lab days with their pre-lab competed. On lab day, I will stand at the door to check off and give feedback on pre-labs, only those students with completed pre-labs can enter class. Complete lab write ups in lab notebooks will be turned in following lab days and will be graded more extensively. Labs can be turned in up to the day we take a test for a unit but they will be graded as time allows for Berwick and grade will not change until then. If lab is not turned in before the unit test, the zero will no longer be changed. Students who turn in their labs before the due date, by previously determined date, can receive feedback on their lab to modify before final turn in date.
   

• Summative Unit Tests will be given after more than one chapter is completed and will include information from the multiple chapters like the AP Exam. All students wanting to improve their score on a test can come in and do test corrections with the teacher if they have completed the flash cards for the necessary chapters as well as the test review prior to taking the test. A quarter credit will then be given for missed questions that are corrected if you write out the question missed, what the actual answer should be and explain why that is the answer. These corrections must be done before the next unit test.  All students have the option to retake the test. For test retakes, students must show evidence of how they have increased their learning (such as complete all formative assignments, study review in more depth, complete additional outside studying, and/or do test corrections) and then make an appointment before or after school to retake the test to improve their score. Students who would like to retake a test can meet with Mrs. Berwick to create a plan using the BLHS Assessment ReDo Form as long as they have met all the qualifications stated on the form.

Make up work from absences
To help students avoid getting behind, all make up work will be posted online and students need to take the responsibility for getting their own make up work from this website. Any work that can be done at home should be completed before returning to class. Work that was due on the day of an absence is due on the day you return. Appointments need to be made within one week to make up missed lab investigations, quizzes, or tests. Make ups can only be completed for excused absences. The student must make the arrangements for the make-up with the teacher as soon as they return. If a student feels they have special circumstances, write them down and have parents sign and turn them in for review to receive a due date extension.