
Biology
High School
Science
Course Description:
Biology covers the topics: cell biology, genetics, ecology, evolution, and physiology. Students understand that the fundamental life processes of plants and animals depend on a variety of chemical reactions and that stability in an ecosystem is a balance between competing effects. Additionally, students learn that evolution is the result of genetic changes that occur in constantly changing environments; mutation and sexual reproduction lead to genetic variation in a population; a multicellular organism develops from a single zygote; and genes are a set of instructions encoded in the DNA sequence of each organism that specify the sequence of amino acids in proteins characteristic of that organism.
Semester 1
Unit 1: Living Systems
Life in the Earth System
Organisms: Cells to Body Systems
Mechanisms of Homeostasis
Bioengineering
Unit 2: Chemistry in Living Systems
Chemical Bonds and Reactions
Carbon-Based Molecules
Unit 3: Matter and Energy in Living Systems
Photosynthesis
Cellular Respiration
Modeling Matter and Energy in Ecosystems
Cycling of Matter and Energy in Ecosystems
Unit 4: Ecosystems: Stability and Change
Population Dynamics
Ecosystem Dynamics
Unit 5: Cells: Stability and Change
The Cell Cycle
Mitosis and Differentiation
Semester 2
Note: if the following section is blank the course is 1 semester long
Unit 6: The Structure and Function of DNA
DNA Structure and Replication
Protein Synthesis
Gene Expression and Regulation
Unit 7: Genetics and Heredity
Meiosis
Mendel and Heredity
Traits and Probability
Mutations and Genetic Diversity
Genetic Engineering
Unit 8: Evidence for Evolution
Lines of Evidence for Evolution
Theory of Natural Selection
Unit 9: Patterns of Evolution
Evolution of Populations
Changes in Species
Adaptive Value of Behavior
Unit 10: Human Impacts on the Environment
Human Population Growth and the Environment
Human Impacts on Biodiversity
Engineering Solutions to Environmental Impacts