Science Department

Essential Knowledge and Skills:

The Biology II Honors course builds off of a student’s previous biology exposure in Honors Biology. In this second year course students in Biology II Honors will explore why different biochemical molecules, cells and organisms function and respond within their various environments. To do this the students will grasp biological details, but more importantly the students will use this information in their writings to support perspectives and an awareness of the interdependencies of these details. To accomplish this the students will need to communicate a “big-picture” perspective as a learning tool rather than a memorization approach. The major focuses of this second year biology course fall into three topics: evolutionary biology, physiology and a study of science as a human undertaking. It is the same course as Advanced Placement Biology but without the requirement for the Advanced Placement Biology Labs, nor the commitment to take the Advanced Placement Biology Exam, although students can elect to take this exam.

Indicators of Student Learning

Upon successful completion of this course, the students will be able to:

Using the Scientific Method

• Continue to develop their critical thinking and analytical thinking skills that were initially fostered during their previous science courses.

• Have a chance to view environmental influences at the molecular, cellular, organism and ecological biological levels.

• Accept personal academic responsibility to study and be prepared for examinations, reports and projects.

Communication

• Defend biological perspectives and concepts. This will require the students to use information from various classroom presentations during the year as well as information gained from other sources such as readings, ecological studies, etc.

• Focus on the basic concepts of observations and inferences within the sciences. The students will communicate on the interdependence of these two basic concepts of science and the role of provisional acceptance within the on-going process of science.

• Presentation of a hierarchical level of biological taxonomy.

Technology

• Use of graphic programs (e.g., Excel, etc) to incorporate data into their taxonomic presentations.

• Use of scanning programs to incorporate visual examples into their taxonomic presentations.

Assessment

Upon successful completion of this course, students will:

• Demonstrate basic biological knowledge including: answering questions in a variety of examination questions and oral presentations, labeling diagrams, calculating results.

• Demonstrate competency in application of information, reasoning and problem solving including: looking for and communicating about patterns, relationships of information, choosing appropriate approaches and information in defense of concepts and the generation of their own defended perceptions and insights.

• Demonstrate competency in communication by using appropriate terminology, choice of appropriate supportive examples from the basic information, clarity in the presentation of their responses, presenting information by use of written responses, oral presentations and use a appropriate illustrations to enhance their vision of the inter-relationship of information.

• Demonstrate competency in technology by generation of inter-relationships through graphs, preparation of handouts and posters for their taxonomic presentations.