AP biology syllabus ~ 2015-2016
Instructor’s Information
Course: Advance Placement Biology (A/B)
Instructor: Mrs. R. R. Wingerden
Phone: (805) 937-2051 x2121
E-mail: rwingerden@[Link]
Website: [Link]
Text book
Biology AP Edition - Campbell & Reece (8th Edition)
Course Description
AP Biology is a year long course which is graded on a 5 point scale that is designed to be taken by students
after the successful completion of both high school biology and chemistry. AP Biology includes those topics
regularly covered in a college introductory biology course and differs significantly from the standards-based,
high school biology course with respect to the kind of textbook used, the range and depth of topics covered,
the kind of laboratory work performed by students, and the time and effort required of the students. The
textbook used by AP Biology is also used by college biology majors and the kinds of labs done by AP students
are equivalent to those done by college students. AP Biology is a course that aims to provide students with
the conceptual framework, factual knowledge, and analytical skills necessary to deal critically with the rapidly
changing science of biology. This course is designed to prepare students for the Biology College Board
Advanced Placement Exam.
Prerequisites - Junior or senior standing only. Successful completion of one year of the following courses:
Biology (P) with an “A” or Honors Biology (P) with a “B” or better, and Chemistry (P) with a with a “B” or
better.
Required Course Materials
- three ring binder, lined loose leaf paper, one 5 x 5 quadrille ruled composition notebooks (100 pages, 9 3/4” x
7 1/2”), graph paper, pens, pencils, highlighters, colored pencils (8 pkg.) and a calculator
Summer Assignment: The summer assignment is due the first day of the course in the Fall semester
(August 2015). This assignment may be acquired from your guidance technician or from the AP Biology course
website ([Link] This assignment is designed primarily to familiarize
students with the vast diversity of life and how evolution serves as a foundation and unites modern biology.
Secondly, this assignment serves as a review of the chemical foundation for which all life is built and an
introduction to the level of academic dedication and maturity necessary to be successful in AP Biology.
Information regarding textbook checkout will be provided at the May 19, 2015 lunch meeting in
room 121 and can also be found on the AP Biology course website ([Link]
Assessments
Grades are calculated on a percentage basis. The value of each individual assignment varies. Students earn a
grade based on the quality and accuracy of the work they complete. Overall class grades are based on a
straight percentage, not a curve.
Exams and Quizzes 50%
Labs and Lab Reports 25%
Homework / Readings 25%
AP Biology Syllabus 2015-2016 page 1
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Exams
At the end of each unit, an exam will be given, which is 50 percent multiple choice/grid-in and 50 percent free
response. Unit exams will be completed in two 50 minute class periods and testing time for these exams will
be limited just as it is for the AP Biology Exam. There will be a comprehensive final exam at the end of each
semester. Final exams will be multiple choice and cumulative in nature.
Quizzes
At a minimum, one quiz will be given each week. Some quizzes will be announced and others will not.
Quizzes will vary in format depending on the topic being covered.
Lab & Lab Reports
Lab reports are required for each of the recommended Inquiry-Based AP Biology Labs. These reports may
include: title, introduction/background information, purpose, hypothesis, procedure, data/results, analysis,
question, and conclusion. Students work in pairs to complete lab procedures, but are responsible for turning
in individual lab reports. Students are encouraged to produce a high quality report and are given a week
from the conclusion of the lab to submit their report.
A formal lab write-up for the remaining additional labs are not required. In these cases, student’s lab papers
will include pre-lab questions, data/results, analysis, and post-lab questions, which are geared to emphasize the
key concepts of the lab.
Students may be asked to design an experiment, which they will implement at home. The student will
propose, in writing, the scientific question they wish to investigate to the instructor. After question approval,
students formulate a hypothesis and design an experiment to test their hypothesis. Experimental designs are
then peer-reviewed, redesigned if needed, and conducted by the student out of class. This project gives
students a chance to be creative and apply the scientific method to a question they wish to investigate.
Students work individually and have four weeks to implement their approved experimental design and write
their formal lab report.
Homework & Readings
An outline of this AP Biology course, which includes assignments and readings for the year, will be given to
the students. Additionally, on the last day of each school week, students are reminded of upcoming
assignments and due dates for the following week. This information is posted in class and on the AP Biology
course website. When appropriate, PDFs of assignments are provided on the website along with links to
related references.
Homework will take many forms and is designed to help with student understanding of the current unit being
studied. Homework assignments for each unit include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following;
completion of Major Themes Concept Maps, justify why the answers to the “self-quiz” multiple-choice section
at the end of each assigned chapter are correct, answering the “evolution connection” question at the end of
each assigned chapter, and answering free-response questions, which are related to the unit.
Readings for each unit include chapters from the textbook, which contain information that will be covered.
Scientific abstracts and papers are assigned with the purpose of showing how discoveries are made and
demonstrate that science is the process. Articles found in science magazines and online news sources are
also assigned to promote discussion about social and environmental concerns.
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Lab Component
The laboratory experience is extremely important in the AP Biology course and is used to emphasize that
biology and science is a process, which involves development and testing of a hypothesis, collection, analysis,
and presentation of data with a clear discussion of the results. To ensure the lab component of the course is
met, on average, one day out of every four is devoted to laboratory work. Students are required to come in to
the laboratory prepared and ready to complete the day’s procedure. Lab reports are then completed at home.
During the course, students will complete the recommended laboratories in the AP Biology Investigative Labs: An
Inquiry-Based Approach. The topics covered in these labs are:
Investigation 1 Artificial Selection
Investigation 2: Mathematical Modeling; Hardy-Weinberg
Investigation 3: Comparing DNA Sequences to Understand
Evolutionary Relationship with BLAST
Investigation 4: Diffusion and Osmosis
Investigation 5: Photosynthesis
Investigation 6: Cellular Respiration
Investigation 7: Cell Division: Mitosis and Meiosis
Investigation 8: Biotechnology: Bacterial Transformation
Investigation 9: Biotechnology: Restriction Enzyme Analysis
Investigation 10: Energy Dynamics
Investigation 11: Transpiration
Investigation 12: Fruit Fly Behavior
Investigation 13: Enzyme Activity
The course also includes additional lab activities, which have been chosen to emphasize topics covered in the
course that are not addressed in the recommended AP Biology Laboratories.
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Topic Outline For The Year
The AP Biology Curriculum is framed around four Big Ideas. For each of these Big Ideas, there is a set of core
concepts called Enduring Understanding, which will be used to guide the AP Biology course curriculum. Below
is an outline of the AP Biology Curriculum Big Ideas and the Enduring Understandings topics covered in this
course. AP Biology is a rigorous course that demands personal responsibility from the student. In order for
students to plan effectively, they are provided with due dates for all major projects, labs and tests. They are
strongly encouraged to complete nightly readings and study each day’s lecture notes on their own time.
Big Ideas Enduring Understanding
A. Change in the genetic makeup of a population over time is
Unit One evolution.
The process of evolution B. Organisms are linked by lines of descent from common
drives the diversity and unity ancestry.
of life. C. Life continues to evolve within a changing environment.
D. The origin of living systems is explained by natural processes.
A. Growth, reproduction, and maintenance of the organization of
living systems require free energy and matter.
B. Growth, reproduction, and dynamic homeostasis require that
Unit Two cells create and maintain internal environments that are different
from their external environments.
Biological systems utilize
C. Organisms use feedback mechanisms to regulate growth and
energy and molecular building
reproduction, and to maintain dynamic homeostasis.
blocks to grow, reproduce, and D. Growth and dynamic homeostasis of a biological system are
maintain homeostasis. influenced by changes in the system’s environment.
E. Many biological processes involved in growth, reproduction, and
dynamic homeostasis include temporal regulation and
coordination.
A. Heritable information provides for continuity of life.
B. Expression of genetic information involves cellular and
Unit Three molecular mechanisms.
Living systems retrieve, C. The processing of genetic information is imperfect and is a
transmit, and respond to source of genetic variation.
information essential to life D. Cells communicate by generating, transmitting, and receiving
processes. chemical signals.
E. Transmission of information results in changes within and
between biological systems.
A. Interactions within biological systems lead to complex
properties.
Unit Four
B. Competition and cooperation are important aspects of biological
Biological systems interact
systems.
and these interactions C. Naturally occurring diversity among and between components
possess complex properties. within biological systems affects interactions with the
environment.
Put this syllabus in your notebook for future reference.
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Please sign, remove this page from the packet, and return it to your guidance counselor.
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AP Biology ~ 2015-2016
STATEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING
By signing this contract, the parent and the student acknowledge that they have read
the preceding documentation (AP Biology Summer Assignment and AP Biology
Syllabus) for Mrs. Wingerden's AP Biology class and that they understand and
agree to the commitment necessary to be successful in this course.
_________________________________________________
printed student name
__________________________________________ /_______
signature of student / date
__________________________________________ /______
signature of parent or guardian
Please return completed STATEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING
to your guidance counselor to be eligible for enrollment in
Mrs. Wingerden’s AP Biology Course.
AP Biology Syllabus 2015-2016
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