Advanced Placement Name of Course

Advanced Placement Name of Course

AP Biology

Seneca Valley Senior High School

Student Syllabus 2016-2017

Faculty Information

Instructor / Mrs. Amy Palaski
Phone / 724-452-6041ext. 1253
Email Address /
Website /
Required Texts & Materials / Raven, Johnson, Losos, and Singer. Biology. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2005

Course Description

Advanced Placement Biology is a college-level course designed to be the equivalent of a two-semester college introductory biology course and intended for students wanting to pursue further study in the biological sciences or research. There are four “Big Ideas” that organize important concepts throughout the course:

  1. The process of evolution drives the diversity and unity of life.
  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.

Within these big ideas, we will explore the chemistry of life, cells, cellular energetics, heredity, molecular genetics, evolutionary biology, diversity of organisms, structure and function of plants and animals, and ecology. AP Biology has a strong emphasis on laboratory work and will expose students to lab techniques which include experimental design, microbiology, and genetic engineering.

The AP Biology class meets for single periods three days a week and for double periods twice a week, for a total of seven class periods per week. The course is a mix of direct instruction, classroom discussion, and opportunities for students to work as individuals or small groups in guided and student-directed, inquiry-based lab activities. Students can access power point presentations, laboratory data, and analysis generated from the class lab activities from the course website.In addition to the laboratory content, students are required to read and complete guided readings of the textbook chapters listed on the syllabus, various homework assignments, and complete quizzes and unit exams.

Due to the large amount of content and fast pace within this course, students must possess a high degree of independence and self-motivation. In addition, students have the option of taking the Advanced Placement Biology examination, potentially for college credits.

Standards/Anchors/Objectives:

These can be found by accessing the AP Biology Course and Description written by College Board:

Evaluation/Assessment

In AP Biology, the primary basis for evaluating student achievement is in the form of written homework and classroom assignments, lab reports, article reviews, quizzes, and unit tests. Each assessment component is weighted in the following manner:

Unit Tests 40%

Labs20%

Quizzes20%

Assignments20%

  • Attendance and appropriate learning behaviors (e.g. staying awake, keeping phones away, participating in class discussion and lab activities, bringing needed materials) are expected.
  • Students are expected to present clearly expressed answers in complete sentencesthat demonstrate comprehension of relevant concepts and display correct and appropriate presentation of data and data analysis (e.g. charts, graphs, calculations). One word answers or short phrases are NOT appropriate.
  • Quizzes and tests are a combination of multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions attempting to simulate the format of the AP exam.
  • Acumulative midterm and final exam will be given at the end of each semester.
  • Check your grade weekly to avoid surprises and eliminate errors.

Academic Dishonesty

  • Plagiarism is defined as taking or imitating the ideas, thoughts or language of another (student, author, encyclopedia, internet, etc.) to represent them as one’s original work. It is imperative that all work submitted by a student be representative of his/her own ideas, thoughts and especially language capability. Therefore, plagiarism is strictly prohibited in all work pertaining to school. A zero will be awarded for any submitted work which is found to be plagiarized and subsequent offenses will be dealt with accordingly. If the ideas, thoughts or language from another source must be used in the work being done, it is the student’s responsibility to footnote or annotate the information appropriately.
  • While lab work and other group assignments are often a collaborative effort, each student is expected to create their own work, presented in their own words.

Attendance

  • You will not be successful in this course if you have issues with attendance. This fact is especially evident when absences occur on days including a lab period.
  • Due to the nature of the labs conducted, it will be the responsibility of the student to schedule a time either before or after school to gather necessary data.
  • When absent, consult a classmate to acquire any notes given during class. See me with any specific questions concerning missed activities and to receive missed assignments.
  • I must emphasize that I will NOT come to after you for missed assignments. Any late assignments will be subject to the late assignment policy.

Assignment Policy

  • All assignments will be turned in to your period’s designated tray. Misplaced assignments are the responsibility of the student. Hand any late or missing assignmentsdirectly to me. DO NOT put them in the tray with other assignments due that day. They will get lost!
  • Assignments that are received after the day they are due will receiveno more than a 50%, up until the day of the exam for that unit. If the assignment is not turned in at all or after the unit exam, students will receive a zero (labs will lose 10% per day).
  • If absent, an assignment will be accepted according to school policy.
  • If you are not in class but you are in school, any assignment due that day should be turned in that day.

Notebook

  • A 3-ringed binder notebook used solely for the purposes of this class is highly recommended. The notebook will be utilized daily, as this class will rely heavily on notes and handouts.
  • You are welcome to bring a smaller binder to class for the papers of the current unit we are working on in class. Those papers can then be transferred to the large binder when the unit is completed.

Tests and Quizzes

  • Tests will be given at the completion of each major unit. All tests will be announced in advanced. However, quizzes may be both announced and unannounced. Be especially ready for quizzes after labs and guided readings.
  • Test format will vary, but emphasis will be placed on multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions similar to the AP exam. Multiple choice exams are not memorization based. They require you to process and use information to achieve the correct answer.

Test Corrections

  • Students will be given the opportunity to learn from their mistakes by making test corrections on unit tests. Typically, this means that one can gain up to half of the missed points on a test.
  • All corrections should be typed and printed out. DO NOTdo corrections on the original test. Test correctionsshould be stapledin front of the original test and include the student name and test name at the top of the first sheet of corrections. The original test and test corrections are to be turned in at the same time.
  • Even if you decide NOT to do test corrections, you MUST still turn in your test the day test corrections are due.
  • To receive credit for corrections on a given question, the error in your original response must be identified and corrected. In addition, one must provide the CORRECT REASONING used to achieve the new response. Either a few sentences or short paragraph must be provided to explain the conceptual or logical reasoning to the corrected multiple-choice answers or a rewriting of that part of essay/short answer questions. Simply stating the correct answer from the test IS NOT ACCEPTABLE and you will not receive credit.

AP Biology Exam

  • AP Biology Exam Date: Monday, May 8, 2017

Any student who registers and takes the AP Exam on May 8th will be exempt from the final exam for the course, given the following conditions:

Each student who is registered for the exam MUST attend 5 review sessions held prior to the AP Exam. If there is a scheduling conflict, the student must show the teacher adequate progress (to discussed at a later date) in a commercial AP Review Book.

  • Tentative Review Session Dates: Wednesday and Thursday afternoons 2:30-3:15, April 5 through May 4.

Mrs. Palaski’s Class Schedule (Room 324)

Period 1: Organic and Biochemistry

2:Organic and Biochemistry

3:Organic and Biochemistry

4: Plan

C: Lunch

5: AP Biology

6: AP Biology LAB M/W & T/Th ; Study Hall Fridays

7:AP Biology

8: CARE duty

Dear AP Biology Students and Parents,

Things will be a little different in your student’s AP Biology class than you may be accustomed. We will be implementing a teaching model known widely as the “flipped classroom”.

In short, a “flipped classroom” switches around the traditional order of teaching with the purpose of creating a more in-depth and supportive environment in the classroom when the teacher is present and able to help students. It allows for students to receive a more individualized instruction, thus resulting in higher and deeper level of understanding. In addition, it challenges students to learn how to take charge of their learning, becoming resourceful learners. Lastly, it provides time for more discussion and questioning during class time, helping students to become reflective communicators and to think more deeply about the subject.

For homework, students will be required to watch an instructional video(s), where the lesson and examples are the same as they would receive in class. However, because the students are watching the lessons on video, they can pause, rewind, or re-watch any segments of the video at any time. This allows students to learn at his or her personal pace and become more self-directed. Each lesson is specifically designed to be around 8 to 15 minutes long.

These videos can be accessed through Schoology (my class course management system). Because the videos are online, they can be accessed on any internet-capable device, including a cell phone or iPad.

Students will be required to take Cornell style notes and write a summary at the end of the notes on the concept being taught. The quality and depth of the summary provides me with an assessment of understanding. The notes and summary will be used in class for a supplemental discussion to follow each lesson.

Students are expected to come prepared to class each day with the background knowledge of each concept, ready to learn it better, deeper, and faster. Students are not expected to have full mastery of the content before they arrive in class, although many students will be at that level.

The “flipped classroom” requires your student to take responsibility for their learning in several ways:

  1. Students must plan time to watch the video when they are still fully awake and able to make connections between content. (Before 10pm is highly suggested).
  2. Students must take initiative to re-watch videos they need to see again.
  3. Students must make sure that if they are absent, they still watch the required videos and come to class prepared.
  4. Students must make sure that they take initiative to communicate with me either online or in person if there are issues with watching the videos.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

______

By signing below, I have indicated that I have read and understand the above Student Syllabus for AP Biology. Additionally, I understand that this course may require significant amounts of time outside the normally scheduled class periods.

This syllabus may change during the school year as necessary at the discretion of the instructor.

Student Name (Print) ______

Student Signature ______Date: ______

Parent Name (Print) ______

Parent Signature ______Date: ______