Learning Streams

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High School Biology: 

Learn about the broad field of the biological sciences, organized into three major areas: molecular and cellular biology, organismal biology, and population biology. During this secular biology course, students will work extensively on comprehension and critical thinking questions and completing hands-on activities. Students will be taught how to cartoon their notes to help with the retention of the material. 

During this year long course students will learn about: 

• Scientific Method: understanding the means by which information is collected, how it is interpreted, how one hypothesizes from available information, and how one draws conclusions and makes further predictions
• Molecular & Cellular Biology: chemical composition of organisms, simple chemical reactions and bonds, properties of water, chemical structure of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids, origin of life, cells, structure and function of cell organelles, properties of cell membranes, comparison of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, enzymes, enzyme-substrate complex, roles of coenzymes, inorganic cofactors, inhibition and regulation, energy transformations, glycolysis, respiration, and anaerobic pathways, photosynthesis, cell division, structure of chromosomes, mitosis, meiosis, and cytokinesis in plants and animals, chemical nature of the gene, Watson-Crick model of nucleic acids, DNA replication, mutations, control of protein synthesis: transcription, translation, and posttranscriptional processing, structural and regulatory genes, transformation, viruses
• Organismal Biology: structure and function in plants with emphasis on angiosperms, parts of a plant, water/mineral absorption and transport, food storage, plant reproduction and development, alternation of generations in ferns, conifers, and flowering plants, gamete formation and fertilization, growth and development: hormonal control, tropisms and photoperiodicity, structure and function in animals with emphasis on vertebrates, major systems, homeostatic mechanisms, hormonal control in homeostasis and reproduction, animal reproduction and development, gamete formation and fertilization, cleavage, gastrulation, germ layer formation, and differentiation of organ systems, experimental analysis of vertebrate development, extraembryonic membranes of vertebrates, formation and function of the mammalian placenta, blood circulation in the human embryo, principles of heredity, mendelian inheritance, chromosomal basis of inheritance, linkage; including sex-linked, polygenic inheritance, multiple alleles
• Population Biology: principles of ecology, energy flow and productivity in ecosystems, biogeochemical cycles, population growth and regulation, habitat (biotic and abiotic factors), concept of niche, island biogeography, evolutionary ecology, principles of evolution, history of evolutionary concepts, concepts of natural selection, adaptive radiation, major features of plant and animal evolution, concepts of homology and analogy, convergence, extinction, balanced polymorphism, and genetic drift, classification of living organisms, evolutionary history of humans, principles of behavior, stereotyped and learned social behavior, societies (insects, birds, and primates), social biology, human population growth, human intervention in the natural world (management of resources, and environmental pollution), biomedical progress (control of human reproduction, and genetic engineering
• Hands-on Activities: reinforce the knowledge of facts, principles, and processes of biology.
• Research Project: Students will read, World Without Fish (book provided) and complete the provided research project packet  
• Student Exhibition Project: students compile all of their work into a portfolio to display at Student Exhibition.

Homework: 

• Students are expected to read and prepare for class ahead of time and will have approximately 2 hours of reading per week. 
• Open note Quizzes and Exams make up part of this class and students may need additional time to prepare.
• Quizzes and exams are graded and sent home.
• Research project packet is to be completed at home and work brought in. This project is graded and a grading rubric is provided to the student. 
• If the student wishes to take the Biology AP or CLEP exam, additional studying and testing should be completed at home.