1. Welcome Letter/ Qualities of an Advanced Student
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DC Biology Summer Packet
This packet includes: 1. Welcome Letter/ Qualities of an advanced student 2. Summer Assignments: • Letter of Introduction • Survival of the Sickest • Chemistry and Ecology Study Materials • Class Materials
Dear DC Biology Student,
Although it is the end of the school year, and not the beginning, I would like to take a moment to welcome you to next year’s DC Biology class, and help you prepare for this upcoming challenge. DC Biology involves a lot of hard work, but it can be incredibly rewarding. We have a lot of fascinating labs planned, and I am looking forward to an exciting year with all of you.
This summer you will delve into the world of biology like you never thought you would in those hot months! We will explore many topics to whet your appetite for the coming year of hard work.
This summer assignment has been designed for five purposes: 1. to get you to think during the summer and keep your mind sharp, because I will expect a lot out of it come August! 2. to expand your vocabulary by familiarizing you with terms that we will be using in class. 3. to introduce you to major concepts from DC Biology through non-classroom methods of learning. 4. to have you earn two strong grades to help you begin the first 9 weeks with confidence. 5. to decrease the amount of new material that you will have to learn during the school year.
The information in this packet can be accessed digitally through Google classroom. Please go to classroom.google.com and join with the class code teyq81. You should also be able to find the summer information on my Edlio site (accessed through the TMHS website), but it does reset sometime over the summer so the Edlio site is not always available. You can also email me at [email protected] . Feel free to contact me over the summer via email. I will try to respond within a few days at most.
This course will be taught with the same curriculum (in the same order) as AP biology, so if something happens with the scheduling and you get switched to AP in the fall, you will be prepared for that course as well. The only difference is that those registered in DC will be able to get Lone Star College credit at the end of the course (if the course is passed). DC students will be given the choice to take the AP exam at the end of the course if you are interested. One reason for the summer assignment is that extra out of class hours are required to make up the appropriate contact hours for college credit. We meet for about 80 contact hours in the fall, but the college requires 96 hours of work for credit. This course is BIOL 1406 and 1407; you will receive 8 hours of college credit if all grade requirements are met. You will be registered at the college in both the spring and the fall. Don’t forget to register, pay, and turn in paperwork on time!
Please remember that this is a college level science course. I am attaching some guidelines to follow in order to be a successful DC student. Please let me know if you have any questions!
Have a great summer! Schedule of Due Dates:
Mrs. Bulaclac Biology Supplies - Friday, August 25, 2017 Letter of Introduction – Friday, August 25, 2017 Chemistry and Ecology Test—Tuesday and Wednesday, September 5 and 6, 2017 Survival of the Sickest - Tuesday, September 5, 2017 Assigment #1: Letter of Introduction
Welcome to DC Biology! We are going to spend a lot of time together next year, so it’s best to get a head start on learning a bit about you. Also we will use the Internet and the Web a lot next year for this course, so let’s get you used to communicating via e-mail. Your first digital assignment is to successfully send an e-mail to your DC Biology teacher.
Due date: Friday, August 25, 2017, emailed to [email protected]
Draft an e-mail to me following these rules: a. Use clearly written, full sentences. Do not abbreviate words like you are texting with a friend. Use spell check! This is a professional communication like you would have with a college professor, so let’s practice for your rapidly nearing future! b. Address it to the appropriate teacher: [email protected] c. Make the Subject: “DC Bio: Introduction to
Please use the summer as your opportunity to get your supplies for DC Biology early! Come in prepared on Day 1.
Due date: Friday, August 25, 2017 (at the latest!)
MATERIALS 1. 3-ring class notebook/binder (2.5 – 3 inch) for handouts (Yes, I know that’s BIG, but you will fill it more than once!). 2. A small amount of loose-leaf paper 3. Bound notebook of graph paper — to be used as a lab notebook (I use a composition notebook that has grid paper). You may also purchase a carbonless lab notebook, which makes turning in labs much easier. Some examples are found at amazon.com; just search “carbonless lab notebook 100”. You would want one that has at least 100 original pages (200 total, since each page makes a carbonless copy). You can also find these at a college bookstore. 4. Blue or black pens and pencils to be brought to class EVERY day 5. Two books for the required readings (if you search by ISBN online you know you will get the right book). The first book is the summer reading, and the second will be read later in the year.
Moalem, Sharon. Survival of the Sickest. New York: HarperCollins, 2007. ISBN-13 9780060889661 Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown Publishing, 2011. ISBN-13 9781400052189
Optional but STRONGLY recommended
6. One box of disposable gloves, either latex or nitrile, for labs.
Assignment #3: Summer reading – Survival of the Sickest Moalem, Sharon. Survival of the Sickest. New York: HarperCollins, 2007. ISBN-13 9780060889661
You will be reading Survival of Sickest by Sharon Moalem this summer. The book retails for $13.99 but you can find it online for much less. I recommend amazon.com or half.com for inexpensive used copies. Barnes and Noble also regularly stocks the book if you would like to get it locally.
This is not a textbook! This is a book about biology written for the general public. Yes, there are people who like science so much read about it for pleasure.
You will be responding to reflections on each chapter. These will be located in the Google Classroom. I will be sending reminders throughout the summer, so please check the classroom as often as you can.
Read the entire book. You will be writing a paper about the claims made in the book. This paper is intended to get you researching professional literature. In his book, “Survival of the Sickest”, Moalem makes several (and I mean several) statements regarding connections between disease and either their cause or their historical significance. He does not provide much research to back many of these claims (though he does state they are mere speculative hypotheses). For example, on pg. 51 he asserts that people should get their cholesterol checked in summer when more cholesterol is being converted to Vitamin D – but is this really true? Your job is to pick three of these claims and perform further research on them to either prove or disprove what Moalem writes in his book. The claims can either be about human disease or some of the animal examples given in the book.
You will need three references for EACH claim for a total of at least nine references. Requirements for the paper: Thesis statement must conclude the introductory paragraph o Tell me what you are going to write about and what you are trying to prove/disprove through your research APA Format (including title page, abstract, in-text citations, and reference list) o See: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ for more information about APA formatting (the most common format used in colleges now) 6-8 pages, double spaced. 1-inch margins, Times New Roman ONLY, 12-font o 6-8 pages DOES NOT include title page, abstract page, or reference page o Make sure Microsoft Word is set to Double spacing AND 0 pnts after and 0 pnts before At least 9 references (must be from reputable sources). If you don’t know if the source is reputable, here is a guide: http://en.writecheck.com/finding-reputable-sources/ If you are still not sure, contact me and ask. ERROR FREE (both spelling and grammar) A conclusion that brings the entire paper together o Your three claims can be separate, but the intro and conclusion should be cohesive and unifying Ensure that your work is original. Papers that are copied directly from the internet or from other students will automatically be given a zero. If multiple papers are identical, all students will receive a grade of zero. If you have questions or doubts, ask.
Due date: Tuesday, September 5, 2017, may be submitted via email, Google classroom, or turned in as hard copy
Assignment #4: Chemistry and Ecology Review
Directions: Use the internet to find the answers to these questions. You will be tested on this information. It will not be discussed in class. You do not have to turn in the study guide. If you have any questions about it, please ask!!
1) What is the relationship between an atom and an element?
2) What are the three (3) subatomic particles? Give characteristics of each (including size and charge)
3) How are atomic number and atomic mass different?
4) What is an isotope? What are common isotopes discussed in Biology? Why?
5) How is the periodic table arranged?
6) What causes electrons to get excited? What happens when they get excited ?
7) What are electron orbitals? What are the types and how many electrons can they hold?
8) How many electrons do you need to have in your outer orbital to achieve Noble Gas outer electron shell configuration?
9) When do ionic bonds form? What happens with this bonding type?
10) When do covalent bonds form? What happens with this bonding type? 11) Discuss what is meant by a single, double, or triple bond.
12) What is a polar covalent bond? Give an example.
13) What is a molecule?
14) Describe both a combination and a disassociation reaction.
15) What does pH measure? Describe the pH scale.
16) What are properties of acids?
17) What are the properties of bases?
18) Using an example of each, discuss the following ecological concepts.
a. Succession
b. Energy flow between trophic levels
c. Limiting factors
d. Carrying capacity
19) Define population, community, ecosystem and biosphere. Indicate how each is related to the others, and suggest one question that an ecologist studying each might seek to answer.
20) Distinguish between biotic and abiotic factors. Describe 6 abiotic factors, including an example of how each may influence a living organism.
21) Explain 6 factors affecting the distribution and ecology of organisms. (At least 3 of these should be biotic).
22) What is an introduced species? Cite 2 examples of introductions, and briefly explain their effects on the native species.
23) Explain how the earth’s curvature and axis of rotation influence the amount of sunlight reaching a given area, and how this influences the temperature and precipitation in that area.
24) What is microclimate? Why might variations in microclimate have a greater effect on some species than on others?
25) What abiotic factors seem to be the greatest determinants of biome locations.
26) Describe the primary characteristics of the major types of aquatic biomes, citing typical organisms. Discuss the factors that divide each into zones, and describe each zone.
27) Describe each major terrestrial biome with respect to climate, location, and representative flora and fauna.
28) What is a species geographic range? Explain the difference between a species potential and actual range.
29) Give two methods biologists use to estimate population densities. Distinguish between uniform, clumped, and random dispersions, and indicate the conditions under which each occurs, and which one is the most common. 30) Study a graph of the general types of survivorship curves Sketch:
a. A survivorship curve for a population in which the death rate is the same at every age, label it by type.
b. A survivorship curve that reflects the loss of large quantities of young, such as would be seen in most plant species and label it by type.
31) Why are survival and reproduction considered to be “conflicting demands?”
32) Sketch an exponential growth curve. Describe at least one situation in which exponential growth could occur.
33) Sketch a logistic growth curve and label the carrying capacity, the inflection point, the portion of the curve showing an accelerating rate of population growth, and the portion showing a decelerating rate.
34) Draw an exponential growth curve with a sudden crash, and list factors that might cause the crash. Distinguish between those that are density-dependent, and those that are density-independent.
35) Distinguish between an R-selected species and a K-selected species with respect to body size, life-span, number of offspring, relative time of reproduction (earlier or later in life) type of survivorship curve, type of environment (stable or unstable), and type of growth curve (S-shaped or boom-and bust). Use a chart format to answer this question.
36) Discuss several ways in which negative feedback mechanisms affect population growth. Include in your discussion at least one example of physiological stress caused by overcrowding.
37) Describe the snowshoe hare/lynx relationship. Explain the changes in the hare population in at least two ways.
38) Differentiate between the individualistic and the interactive hypotheses of community structure.
39) Explain G.F. Gause’s competitive exclusion principle. Give one example.
40) Define ecological niche. What is the difference between the fundamental niche and the realized niche?
41) “Coexistence” is the term given to a situation in which 2 closely related species are found in the same habitat. Explain how resource partitioning and character displacement might allow this to occur.
42) Distinguish between intraspecific competition and interspecific competition. Give an example of each.
43) Describe several strategies that prey species have adopted for survival. Include plant and animal examples.
44) Define and give an example of each of the following species interactions: predation, parasitism, commensalism, mutualism, symbiosis , coevolution.
45) What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?
46) The energetic hypothesis and the dynamic stability hypothesis both attempt to answer what question? How are these hypotheses different from each other?
47) Differentiate between a dominant species and a keystone species. Give an example of each.
48) The “top-down model” and the “bottom-view model” are views of community structure. Explain how each would answer this question: What has caused a decrease in the population size of primary consumers? 49) What is a disturbance? Give an example of a natural and of an anthropogenic (human-caused) disturbance. Are disturbances always bad?
50) Define the following terms: succession, primary succession, secondary succession.
51) Describe the steps and name some representative organisms that would be characteristic of succession if the school grounds crew stopped mowing the football field (before it was artificial turf ).
52) What is biodiversity? Explain the latitudinal gradient of species diversity.
53) What information can be gained from interpreting a species-area curve?
54) What is predicted by the theory of island biogeography?
55) Define ecosystem. Where does the flow of energy in an ecosystem begin?
56) What are trophic levels? What is always at the first trophic level? State the trophic level of each of the following: cow, grass, man.
57) What are detritivores? Give some examples.
58) What is primary productivity? Distinguish between gross primary productivity and net primary productivity.
59) How could primary productivity be increased?
60) What is meant by biomass? Which ecosystem would tend to have a greater biomass/unit area, a prairie or a deciduous forest? Explain.
61) What are the major limiting nutrients in aquatic ecosystems?
62) What is eutrophication?
63) Sketch and explain a pyramid of energy and a pyramid of biomass.
64) Use a diagram to describe the water cycle. Specify the roles of evaporation, transpiration and precipitation.
65) Use a diagram to describe the carbon cycle. In doing so, explain how carbon enters the living system, and how it leaves, indicate the role of microorganisms in the cycle, and identify the reservoir for carbon.
66) Use a diagram to describe the nitrogen cycle. In doing so, discuss nitrogen fixation, nitrification, and denitrification. Indicate the role of microorganisms in the cycle, and identify the reservoir for nitrogen.
67) Explain the process of biological magnification. Cite at least one example.
68) What is contributing to the great increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide? What are potential effects of this?
69) What is the greenhouse effect? What contributes to it? Explain.
70) Distinguish between genetic diversity, species diversity, and ecosystem diversity.
71) Explain 4 threats to biodiversity, and give an example of each.
72) What is restoration ecology? Distinguish between bioremediation and augmentation. 73) What is explained by optimal foraging theory?
74) Distinguish between innate behaviors, learned behaviors, and habituation.
75) Describe the processes of parental and sexual imprinting and explain what is meant by the critical period.
76) Distinguish between classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
77) Explain the significance of “play” behavior.
78) What is cognition? Explain each of the following: kinesis, taxis, cognitive maps.
79) Discuss 3 navigational strategies used by birds to navigate on long flights.
80) For each of the following, explain the behavior and its ultimate cause (evolutionary significance): agonistic behavior, dominance hierarchy, territoriality, courtship.
81) Distinguish between monogamy and polygamy, and explain the role of parental investment in determining the evolution of these systems.
82) Use a diagram to describe the honeybee’s waggle dance, and the information it conveys. Given the position of a food source in relation to the hive, predict the angle at which a waggle dance would be performed.
83) Define “inclusive fitness” and explain the evolutionary advantage to a population which has members who exhibit altruistic behavior. Contrast kin selection and reciprocity as explanations of altruistic behavior. Which one of them is generally more applicable?
84) Explain what is meant by a biological clock and by circadian rhythms, and state the role the clock plays in effecting drives and changing behavioral programs.
85) Fill in the phylum chart on the following pages. You will have to read about the individual phyla.
PHYLUM COMPARISON SHEET FEATURE Porifera Cnidaria Platyhel- Nematoda Annelida Mollusca Arthro-poda Echino- Chordata minthes dermata
Symmetry
Tissue layers & level of Organization
Coelom
Developme nt (Proto vs. Deutero)
# of Digestive openings
Nervous System Organizatio n& Specialized structures
Respiratory Organs (gas exchange)
Type of Circulatory System & specialized strucutures
Support system
Repro- duction & life cycle characteristi cs What is an advanced Student?
These are the qualities that I believe define an advanced Student. I believe that these qualities are all equally important, so this is not a ranked list. This also applies to dual credit, which is about taking college courses early.
• Intelligence This quality is not just about being “smart”. It is being “smart” enough to identify what you do not know or understand and then actively seeking sources for help.
• Self‐Motivation This quality describes your attitude. Enrollment in this “advanced placement” level class is voluntary. Your desire to learn the material should be your chief motivation. You understand that the teacher will not cajole, plead, beg, etc. an advanced placement level student to do the assigned work. You are willing to “go the extra mile” when necessary to succeed.
• Integrity / Character This quality is about doing the right thing in all situations. If you have integrity, you do not cheat on any assignment, be it a test, quiz, project or homework. You do your own work. If you have integrity it means you do not help others to cheat, be it providing homework or labs for someone to copy or providing the questions/answers for a test or quiz in class or for another class.
• Work Ethic / Industriousness This quality means that the work you turn in is of your highest quality. You show complete and organized work on all assignments (tests, quizzes, homework, projects) clearly identifying how you arrived at the solutions. Showing just answers does not show any work ethic at all and is unacceptable.
Industriousness means that you use all available time to learn and improve. This could simply be starting your homework if there is time left in class. It could mean asking questions about a concept of which you are unsure. When given an extended problem/project/reading assignment industriousness means that you start on the assignment promptly and not wait until the night before the test or due date. This quality means you do not do work for another class or play games on your calculator/cell phone/ipod during class time.
• Inquisitiveness This quality means that if you have a question you ask the question as soon as possible. An advanced placement student does not just sit there and take notes, they think: Did I understand? Does it make sense? What if? Being shy is not a valid excuse in an advanced placement class. Do not make the mistake of assuming that a concept you do not understand now in class will all make sense later on. Being inquisitive also means taking advantage of all opportunities to help you understand including: Your teacher in class Your teacher out of class Your textbook! Other teachers of the same subject Other students who may have a grasp of the concept Other sources of information outside of your textbook (internet, etc.)
• Ingenuity This quality is about applying knowledge, not just rote memorization. An advanced placement student is able to devise solutions to problems they have never seen before. They are able to take what they have cumulatively learned in this class and all of their current and previous classes and apply it toward the solution of a new problem.