AP Biology Course Outline, 2016-2017

This is what I used in my first reboot of my AP Course (I hadn’t taught it since 2010, when the old outline was still in use). I’ll be posting a new outline over the summer for my 2017-2018 course.

Click here to view as a google doc.

Table of Contents

NOTE: IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR INTERACTIVE MODULES, CLICK HERE. THIS IS THE COURSE OUTLINE. 

 

Unit 1: Course Themes; Evolution and Natural Selection

Module 1 (Campbell, Chapter 1): Key Themes Of Biology

Learning Objectives: N.A.

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge: N.A.

Module 2 (Campbell, Chapter 22): Descent with Modification (and sexual selection)

Learning Objectives:

  1. LO 1.2:The student is able to evaluate evidence provided by data to qualitatively and quantitatively investigate the role of natural selection in evolution.  (EK: 1A1)
  2. LO 1.3:The student is able to apply mathematical methods to data from a real or simulated population to predict what will happen to the population in the future.  (EK: 1A1)
  3. LO 1.9:The student is able to evaluate evidence provided by data from many scientific disciplines that support biological evolution.  (EK: 1A4)
  4. LO 1.10: The student is able to refine evidence based on data from many scientific disciplines that support biological evolution.  (EK: 1.A4)
  5. LO 1.11:The student is able to design a plan to answer scientific questions regarding how organisms have changed over time using information from morphology, biochemistry and geology.  (EK: 1A4)
  6. LO 1.12:The student is able to connect scientific evidence from many scientific disciplines to support the modern concept of evolution.  (EK: 1A4)
  7. LO 1.13:The student is able to construct and/or justify mathematical models, diagrams or simulations that represent processes of biological evolution.  (EK: 1A4)
  8. LO 1.25:The student is able to describe a model that represents evolution within a population.  (EK: 1C3)
  9. LO 1.26:The student is able to evaluate given data sets that illustrate evolution as an ongoing process.  (EK: 1C3)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Evolution is the change in the genetic makeup of a population over time. (EU: 1.A).
  2. How natural selection works
  3. Key concepts related to natural selection
    1. Natural selection acts on phenotypes. (EK: 1.A.2.D)
    2. Selection of phenotypes leads to adaptation (EK: 1.A.1.e)
    3. Populations evolve. Individuals are selected. (EK: 1.A)
    4. Evolutionary fitness is the number of offspring that survive to reproduce.
    5. (EK: 1.A.1.b)
    6. Selection can be directional  or fluctuating (Galapagos finches, Grant’s studies) (EK: 1.A.1.d)
  4. Other mechanisms of evolutionary change include
    1. artificial selection
    2. sexual selection (EK: 1.A.2.D)
  5. Evidence for evolution  (EK: 1.A.4)
    1. Populations that continue to evolve: peppered moth, DDT resistance in insects, antibiotic resistance, emergent diseases (1.C.3)
    2. Fossils (EK: 1.A.4.b.1)
    3. Morphological homologies; vestigial features  (EK: 1.A.4.b.2)
    4. Molecular evidence (proteins, amino acids) (EK: 1.A.4.b)
    5. Genetic (EK: 1.A.4.b.3)

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Unit 2: The Stuff of Life

Module 3: (Campbell, Chapter 2): Basic Chemistry

Learning Objectives: None from the AP Biology Outline,  because the College Board assumes that you know the basic chemistry required to understand biology.
Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge: None, for the reason listed above. Almost everything you’ll need to know is covered in my Basic Chemistry Tutorials. The basic ideas are listed below

  1. The structure of atoms
  2. Elements and the Periodic Table
  3. Drawing Atoms:The “Octet Rule” for electron configuration
  4. More chemistry terms: elements, compounds, molecules
  5. Chemical Bonding (ionic bonds, covalent bonds, structural formulas)

Module 4 (Campbell, Chapter 3): Water and Life

Learning Objectives

  1. Living systems depend on properties of water resulting from polarity and hydrogen bonding. (2.A.3.a.3)
  2. IEs (Illustrative examples) listed in the outline include cohesion, adhesion, specific heat, solvent, heat of vaporization (everything in my videos)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge: N.A. Note that with one exception, I’ve got this material completely covered in my Chemistry of Water video tutorials at https://learn-biology.com/chemistry-of-water-tutorials/. The key ideas are listed below.

  1. How polar covalent bonds develop within a water molecule because of unequal electron sharing
  2. How these bonds make water a polar molecule.
  3. How water’s polarity makes it a “sticky” molecule, resulting in hydrogen bonds that cause molecular cohesion among water molecules.
  4. How water’s polar nature gives rise to its various properties including
    1. Water’s high surface tension,
    2. Water’s high heat of vaporization;
    3. Water’s high freezing point,
    4. Why water is a great solvent,
    5. Why ice is less dense than liquid water
  5. Acids, Bases, and the pH scale

Module 5 (Campbell, Chapter 4): Carbon and Functional Groups

Learning Objectives: N.A.

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge: N.A, because this is p(Note: One the tutorial level, I started work on this at https://learn-biology.com/biochemistry-menu/. It still needs work. But there’s no video)

  1. Carbon’s structure (6p, 6n, 6e), and how that sets the stage for the complexity of organic molecules (chains, rings, and branched molecules)
  2. Hydrocarbons
  3. Functional groups
    1. Hydroxyl
    2. Carbonyl
    3. Carboxyl
    4. Amino group:
    5. Sulfhydryl
    6. Phosphate
    7. Acetyl
  4. Isomers

Module 6 (Campbell, Chapter 5): Basic Biochemistry

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 4.1:The student is able to explain the connection between the sequence and the subcomponents of a biological polymer and its properties. [See SP 7.1; Essential knowledge 4.A.1]  (EK: 4A1)
  2. LO 4.2:The student is able to refine representations and models to explain how the subcomponents of a biological polymer and their sequence determine the properties of that polymer.  (EK: 4A1)
  3. LO 4.3:The student is able to use models to predict and justify that changes in the subcomponents of a biological polymer affect the functionality of the molecule  (EK: 4A1)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Basic ideas of biochemistry (EK: 4.A.1): M
    1. Monomers and Polymers
    2. Dehydration synthesis and hydrolysis
    3. Origin of monomers (preview of abiotic synthesis at the origin of life).
    4. Directionality
  2. Carbohydrates  (EK: 4.A.1.a.4)
    1. Monosaccharides
    2. Disaccharides
    3. Polysaccharides.
  3. Lipids and phospholipids  (EK: 4.A.1.a.3)
    1. What makes a lipid a lipid (non-polar regions)
    2. Four main groups: fats and oils (energy storage and insulation), phospholipids (membranes), steroids (starting point for hormones, other molecules) and waxes (for waterproofing.
    3. Fatty acids can be saturated or unsaturated
    4. Triglycerides
    5. Phospholipids
    6. Steroids
  4. Proteins  
    1. Diversity of function: movement, defense, signaling, catalyzing, transport, energy storage, structure)
    2. Monomers are amino acids.
    3. Levels of protein structure: primary, secondary, tertirary, quaternary
  5. Overview of nucleic acids (EK: 4.A.1.a.1).

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Unit 3: Cells and Cell Membranes

Module 7 (Campbell, Chapter 6): Eukaryotic Cell Structure

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 2.14:The student is able to use representations and models to describe differences in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.  (EK: 2B3)
  2. LO 2.6:The student is able to use calculated surface area-to-volume ratios to predict which cell(s) might eliminate wastes or procure nutrients faster by diffusion.  (EK: 2A3)
  3. LO 2.7:Students will be able to explain how cell size and shape affect the overall rate of nutrient intake and the rate of waste elimination.  (EK: 2A3)
  4. LO 2.13:The student is able to explain how internal membranes and organelles contribute to cell functions  (EK: 2B3)
  5. LO 4.4:The student is able to make a prediction about the interactions of subcellular organelles.   (EK: 4A2)
  6. LO 4.5:The student is able to construct explanations based on scientific evidence as to how interactions of subcellular structures provide essential functions  (EK: 4A2)
  7. LO 4.6:The student is able to use representations and models to analyze situations qualitatively to describe how interactions of subcellular structures, which possess specialized functions, provide essential functions.  (EK: 4A2)
  8. LO 2.5:The student is able to construct explanations of the mechanisms and structural features of cells that allow organisms to capture, store or use free energy.  (EK: 2A2)
  9. LO 4.15:The student is able to use visual representations to analyze situations or solve problems qualitatively to illustrate how interactions among living systems and with their environment result in the movement of matter and energy (EK: 4A6)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. The cell theory
  2. General features of all cells: membranes, genes, cytoplasm, and ribosomes.
  3. Three domains of cells
  4. Why Cells are small: Surface area, Volume, and Life
  5. Eukaryotic Cell Structure and the endosymbiotic theory of eukaryotic origins (list of organelles in 4.A.2, also 4.B.2.a.1, 2.B.3., 2.B.1.c)
    1. Energy acquisition systems: We’ve already looked at one of these: systems for energy acquisition.
    2. The endomembrane system and internal cellular partitioning
      1. The nuclear membrane
      2. the endoplasmic reticulum, E.R..
      3. the Golgi apparatus
      4. The lysosome
      5. Vesicles
      6. Vacuoles.
  6. Cell Walls (in bacteria and plants)

Module 8 (Campbell, Chapter 7): Cell Membrane Structure and Function

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 2.10:The student is able to use representations and models to pose scientific questions about the properties of cell membranes and selective permeability based on molecular structure.  (EK: 2B1)
  2. LO 2.11:The student is able to construct models that connect the movement of molecules across membranes with membrane structure and function  (EK: 2B1)
  3. LO 2.12:The student is able to use representations and models to analyze situations or solve problems qualitatively and quantitatively to investigate whether dynamic homeostasis is maintained by the active movement of molecules across membranes  (EK: 2B2)

Outline: Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Membranes allow cells to create internal environments that differ from the external environment (which is a key feature of life). DNA is our modern icon for that life, but it might be the membrane that came first.
  2. Where membranes come from:
    1. Now: Cell theory: cells from other cells
    2. In the beginning: Membranes and the origin of life. Phospholipids and spontaneous bilayer formation.
  3. The fluid mosaic model and selective permeability (2.B.1.b)
    1. The Fluid Mosaic Model
      1. Phospholipid bilayer
      2. Embedded proteins
      3. Other membrane components
        1. Cholesterol
        2. Membrane carbohydrates (glycolipids)
    2. Selective permeability: What moves through the membrane, and how:
      1. Small, uncharged polar and nonpolar molecules through PL bilayer;
      2. Hydrophilic molecules through channels and transport proteins
      3. Water through aquaporins
  4. Membrane transport processes allow for maintenance of homeostasis (2.B.2.a-c)
    1. Passive transport (osmosis, diffusion, facilitated diffusion)
      1. Primary means of import of resources and export of wastes
        1. IE: Facilitated diffusion for glucose
    2. Active transport
      1. Requires free energy
      2. Can be used to establish concentration gradients.
        1. Proton gradients
        2. Na/K pump for nerve impulses
    3. Bulk transport
      1. Endocytosis: taking in macromolecules, particles, embedding in vesicles from membrane
      2. Exocytosis: vesicles fusing with membrane
    4. Osmotic environment and how cells respond
      1. hyper, hypo, isotonic situations)
      2. osmolarity of solutions.
    5. Different types of of phospholipids allows for a wider range of functions (4.C.1.a)

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Unit 4: Energy and Enzymes; Cellular Respiration; Cell Communication

Module 9 (Campbell, Chapter 8): Energy and Enzymes

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 2.1:The student is able to explain how biological systems use free energy based on empirical data that all organisms require constant energy input to maintain organization, to grow and to reproduce.  (EK: 2A1)
  2. LO 2.2:The student is able to justify a scientific claim that free energy is required for living systems to maintain organization, to grow or to reproduce, but that multiple strategies exist in different living systems  (EK: 2A1)
  3. LO 2.3:The student is able to predict how changes in free energy availability affect organisms, populations and ecosystems.  (EK: 2A1)
  4. LO 4.17:The student is able to analyze data to identify how molecular interactions affect structure and function.   (EK: 4B1)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Life is a highly ordered system, maintained by input of free energy, used by organisms to maintain organization, grow, and reproduce 2.A.1)
  2. Entropy has to be staved off by processes that increase order, which are driven by free energy (2.A.1.a)
  3. Processes with negative free energy change (which increase entropy) are coupled with processes that have positive free energy (decreasing entropy) (2.A.1.b)
  4. For this to work, free energy input must exceed free energy loss.
  5. ATP/ADP (2.A.1.b)
    1. ATP to ADP has a negative change in free energy, and is the typical reaction that is coupled with reactions that have a positive free energy change
    2. Conversion of ATP to ADP and P makes free energy available for metabolism.
  6. Energy pathways are sequential, and can be linear or cyclical (2.A.1.c)
  7. Enzyme function is dependent on enzyme structure (4.B.1)
    1. Enzymes fit with substrates at the enzyme’s active site
    2. Binding with a substrate may be dependent on enzymes cofactors and coenzymes, which can alter the shape and activity of the enzyme.
    3. Enzyme activity can also be affected by other molecules in the enzyme’s environment, and the environment itself.
    4. Allosteric interactions
    5. Enzyme activity can be represented graphically

Module 10 (Campbell, Chapter 9): Cellular Respiration

Learning Objectives

  1. L.O. 2.4 The student is able to use representations to pose scientific questions about what mechanisms and structural features allow organisms to capture, store and use free energy.   (EK: 2A2)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Overview of energy capture strategies: autotrophs v. heterotrophs. Photosynthesis v. chemosynthesis (2.A.2.b)
  2. Oxygen allows for more efficient extraction of free energy
  3. Heterotrophs metabolize organic compounds as a source of free energy (2.A.2.b)
  4. Cellular Respiration details (2.A.2.f) (note: my videos are the right level, maybe a little too detailed)
    1. Cell respiration and fermentation use free energy to phosphorylate ADP to ATP. This drives metabolic processes (2.A.2.f)
    2. Cellular basis (where each process happens)
    3. Glycolysis (big picture only)
    4. Krebs cycle (big picture)
    5. ETC, chemiosmosis, and oxidative phosphorylation of ATD to ATP
    6. Decoupling oxidative phosphorylation from electron transport can be used to create metabolic heat for thermoregulation.
  5. Fermentation produces organic molecules (alcohol, lactic acid) , is anaerobic, (2.A.2.b)

Module 11 (Campbell, Chapter 11): Cell communication

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 3.31: The student is able to describe basic chemical processes for cell communication shared across evolutionary lines of descent  (EK: 3D1)
  2. LO 3.32:The student is able to generate scientific questions involving cell communication as it relates to the process of evolution (EK: 3D1)  
  3. LO 3.33:The student is able to use representation(s) and appropriate models to describe features of a cell signaling pathway  (EK: 3D1)
  4. LO 3.34:The student is able to construct explanations of cell communication through cell-to-cell direct contact or through chemical signaling  (EK: 3D2)
  5. LO 3.35:The student is able to create representations that depict how cell-to-cell communication occurs by direct contact or from a distance through chemical signaling (EK: 3D2)
  6. LO 3.36:The student is able to describe a model that expresses the key elements of signal transduction pathways by which a signal is converted to a cellular response  (EK: 3D3)
  7. LO 3.37:The student is able to justify claims based on scientific evidence that changes in signal transduction pathways can alter cellular response  (EK: 3D4)
  8. LO 3.38:The student is able to describe a model that expresses key elements to show how change in signal transduction can alter cellular response.  (EK: 3D4)
  9. LO 3.39:The student is able to construct an explanation of how certain drugs affect signal reception and, consequently, signal transduction pathways  (EK: 3D4)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge (3.D.)

  1. Key question: how do cells know what to do and when to do it? Communication is about transduction of signals that can be inhibitory or stimulatory. These can come from other cells, or the environment (including the living environment)
  2. Signal transduction is under strong selective pressure
  3. For unicellular creatures, this is how response to the environment occurs.
    1. IE: quorum sensing, pheromones
  4. For multicellular organisms, transduction coordinates cell activities, and can regulate the entire organism.  (3.D.1.d)
    1. IE: epinephrine leading to glycogen breakdown
    2. Temperature determining sex in reptiles
  5. Cells communicate with each other through direct contact with other cells  (such as in the immune system, or plasmodesmata in plants) , or from a distance through chemical signaling (3.D.2)
  6. Process of cell communication (3.D.3)
    1. Signal production (which can be molecular). Note that the signal can also be environmental (physical, chemical, etc.)
    2. Recognition of a ligand by a receptor protein. Note that the response is often graded, with required threshold concentrations
    3. Ligands can be peptides, other small molecules, or proteins. Receptor-ligand relationship is one-to-one
    4. Binding with the ligand causes receptor’s shape to change, initiating transduction
      1. IE: G-protein linked receptors
      2. IE: Ligand-gated ion channels
      3. IE: Receptor tyrosine kinases
    5. Transduction converts the signal to a cellular response
      1. Signalling cascades relay signals from the receptor to a target within the cell, often with amplification of the the incoming signal, generating cellular responses.
      2. Second messengers are often involved
        1. IEs: ligand gated ion channels, cyclic AMP, Ca++, IP3
      3. Typical transduction pathways result in
        1. Protein modifications, phosphorylation cascades
        2. Changes in gene expression
        3. Apoptosis
        4. Change is physiological state, enzyme activity
  7. Changes in signal transduction pathways alter cellular response (3.D.4)
    1. IE: diabetes, cancer, cholera (see 3.D.4)
    2. IE: drug such as hypertensives, anesthetics, birth control drugs
  8. Understanding of signalling pathways has allowed for manipulation of these pathways:
    1. IE: birth control pills
    2. IE: fruit ripening control
    3. IE: antidepressants, control of blood pressure, etc.

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Unit 5: Mitosis, DNA, and Molecular Genetics

Module 12 (Campbell, Chapter 12): The Cell Cycle

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 3.7:The student can make predictions about natural phenomena occurring during the cell cycle  (EK: 3A2)
  2. LO 3.8:8 The student can describe the events that occur in the cell cycle  (EK: 3A2)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Cell cycle is highly regulated, with checkpoints (3.A.2.a)
  2. Three phases of interphase
  3. Checkpoints include
    1. MPF (IE)
    2. PDGF (IE)
  4. Cancer results from disruptions in cell cycle control (IE)
  5. Cyclins and cylin dependent kinases control the cell cycle
  6. Mitosis alternates with interphase
  7. Specialized cells often leave the cycle, but can be stimulated to reenter it.
  8. Mitosis passes the complete genome from parent cell to daughter (3.A.2.b)
    1. Follows DNA replication; produces cloned, daughter cells; roles in organisms (growth, repair, reproduction)
    2. Order of the process is replication, alignment, separation (Not the phases (boo!))

Module 13 (Campbell, Chapter 16): DNA

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 3.2:2 The student is able to justify the selection of data from historical investigations that support the claim that DNA is the source of heritable information  (EK: 3A1)
  2. LO 3.3:The student is able to describe representations and models that illustrate how genetic information is copied for transmission between generations  (EK: 3A1)
  3. LO 3.1:The student is able to construct scientific explanations that use the structures and mechanisms of DNA and RNA to support the claim that DNA and, in some cases, that RNA are the primary sources of heritable information.  (EK: 3A1)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Genetic information is transmitted from one generation to the next through DNA (or RNA) (3.A.1)
  2. DNA in eukaryotes is organized into multiple, linear chromosomes. Prokaryotes have circular chromosomes [note: Archaea too?] (3.A.1.a)
  3. Plasmids are small, extrachromosomal circles of DNA found in Bacteria (and some viruses and eukaryotes) [note: check that]
  4. Discovery of DNA’s structure came about through a series of experiments by Watson, Crick, Wilkins, and Franklin; Avery-McCleod, McCarty; Hershey-Chase experiments (3.A.1.a)
  5. DNA replication (3.A.1.a.6)
    1. Semiconservative model
    2. DNA replication is enzymatically controlled, and involves bidirectionality, leading/lagging strands, and enzymes such as DNA polymerase, ligase, RNA polymerase, helicase, topoisomerase

Module 14, (Campbell, Chapter 17): From Gene to Protein

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 3.4:The student is able to describe representations and models illustrating how genetic information is translated into polypeptides  (EK: 3A1)
  2. LO 3.6:The student can predict how a change in a specific DNA or RNA sequence can result in changes in gene expression.  (EK: 3A1)
  3. LO 3.25: The student can create a visual representation to illustrate how changes in a DNA nucleotide sequence can result in a change in the polypeptide produced.  (EK: 3C1)
  4. LO 3.27:The student is able to compare and contrast processes by which genetic variation is produced and maintained in organisms from multiple domains(EK: 3C2)
  5. LO 3.28:The student is able to construct an explanation of the multiple processes that increase variation within a population.  (EK: 3C2)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Nucleotide structure (3.A.1.b)
    1. Similarities and differences between DNA and RNA (bases, sugar, strandedness, base pairing rules).
    2. Purines v. pyrimidines
    3. 3 RNAs involved in transcription and translation; also RNAi.
  2. Central dogma (3.A.1.c)
    1. RNA polymerase reads DNA in a 3’ to 5’ direction
    2. Post transcriptional modification of RNA (IE: poly A tail, GTP cap, excision of introns)
  3. Details of translation (3.A.1.c.4)
    1. Start codon, codons, role of various RNAs, stop codon, release factor
  4. Key idea: phenotypes are determined by proteins (3.A.1.d)
  5. Mutations (3.C.1.a)
    1. What they are
    2. What causes them
      1. Errors in replication, DNA repair, mutagenic energy and chemicals
      2. Errors in meiosis/mitosis (3.A.3.c)
    3. Impact on phenotype (positive, negative, neutral), and how this depends on the environment (3.C.1.b)
    4. active, silent, frameshift, etc.
    5. Change in chromosome set number (polyploidy) can change phenotypes, lead to speciation, especially in plants (3.C.1.c)
    6. Human chromosomal disorders (3.A.3.c)

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Unit 6: Viruses, Bacteria, Genetic Engineering, and Genomics

Module 15 (Campbell, Chapter 19): Viruses

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 3.29:29 The student is able to construct an explanation of how viruses introduce genetic variation in host organisms.  (EK: 3C3)
  2. LO 3.30:The student is able to use representations and appropriate models to describe how viral replication introduces genetic variation in the viral population.  (EK: 3C3)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge (3.C.3)

  1. Basic viral structure
  2. Viral replication generates lots of genetic variation
    1. Lytic cycle (3.C.3.a)
    2. Lysogenic cycle (3.C.3.b)
  3. Mutation occurs in both cycles
  4. RNA viruses lack error checking mechanisms
  5. Simultaneous infection by multiple viruses of one cell can lead to recombination
  6. Retroviral life cycles and information flow (reverse transcriptase), using HIV as an example (3.A.1.a)
  7. Through transduction, viruses can increase genetic variation in their hosts. (3.C.2.b)

Module 16 (Campbell, Chapters 27 and 18 (selected topics)): Bacteria and Bacterial Gene Regulation

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 3.22:The student is able to explain how signal pathways mediate gene expression, including how this process can affect protein production.  (EK: 3B2)
  2. LO 3.23:The student can use representations to describe mechanisms of the regulation of gene expression.  (EK: 3B2)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Bacterial communities and their interactions (with each other and their hosts)
    1. Bacterial communities in the rumen of mammals (4.B.2.a.3)
    2. Bacterial communities around deep sea vents.  (4.B.2.a.3)
  2. Prokaryotic gene flow can be vertical (generation to generation) and horizontal, with acquisition of genetic information via transformation, transduction, transposition, conjugation (in addition to mutation). (3.C.2.b)
  3. Bacterial Gene regulation (note: explaining operons will do all of the below). (3.B.1.b)
    1. Inducers turn on genes, repressors turn them off. Both interact with regulatory proteins
    2. Regulatory proteins interact with DNA in an inhibitory or stimulatory way (turning off or on transcription, respectively).
    3. Some genes, like ribosomal genes, are always turned “on”
    4. Note that operons are an IE for negative feedback.

Module 17 (Campbell, Chapter 20): Genetic Engineering

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 3.5:The student can justify the claim that humans can manipulate heritable information by identifying at least two commonly used technologies  (EK: 3A1)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge (3.A.1.e)

  1. GE is used to manipulate the heritable information in DNA (3.A.1.e)
  2. Various techniques (3.A.1.e) (these are listed as IEs)
    1. Electrophoresis
    2. Transformation
    3. Restriction enzyme analysis
    4. PCR
  3. GE products  (3.A.1.f) (all are IEs)
    1. GM foods
    2. Transgenic animals
    3. Cloning
    4. Pharmaceuticals

Module 18 (Campbell, Chapter 21 (selected topics): Genomics

  1. Multiple copies of genes or alleles may provide for new phenotypes.
  2. Gene duplication creates a situation in which one copy of the gene maintains its original function, while the duplicate may evolve a new function (4.C.1.b.2)
    1. IE: antifreeze gene in fish

Module 18a (Campbell, various sections including 12.3, 18.5  (selected topics): Understanding Cancer

  1. Cancer results from disruptions in cell cycle control (3.A.2 a..2)
  2. Changes in p53 activity can result in cancer (3.B.2.b)
  3. Changes in signal transduction pathways can alter cellular response(3.D.4)

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Unit 7: Meiosis and Genetics

Module 19 (Campbell, Chapter 13 and Concept 15.4): Meiosis and Chromosomal Variations

Learning Objectives (two of these can also go to mitosis)

  1. LO 3.28:The student is able to construct an explanation of the multiple processes that increase variation within a population.  (EK: 3C2)
  2. LO 3.9:The student is able to construct an explanation, using visual representations or narratives, as to how DNA in chromosomes is transmitted to the next generation via mitosis, or meiosis followed by fertilization  (EK: 3A2)
  3. LO 3.1:The student is able to represent the connection between meiosis and increased genetic diversity necessary for evolution  (EK: 3A2)
  4. LO 3.11:The student is able to evaluate evidence provided by data sets to support the claim that heritable information is passed from one generation to another generation through mitosis, or meiosis followed by fertilization.  (EK: 3A2)
  5. LO 3.12:The student is able to construct a representation that connects the process of meiosis to the passage of traits from parent to offspring.  (EK: 3A3)
  6. LO 3.27:The student is able to compare and contrast processes by which genetic variation is produced and maintained in organisms from multiple domains(EK: 3C2)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Meiosis creates haploid gametes (3.A.2.c)
  2. Pairing of homologues
  3. Crossing over between homologues
  4. Random orientation before separation
  5. Independent assortment resulting from anaphase 1
  6. Fertilization restores diploid condition, increases genetic variation in population

Module 20 (Campbell, Chapter 14): Mendelian Genetics

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 3.13:The student is able to pose questions about ethical, social or medical issues surrounding human genetic disorders.    (EK: 3A3)
  2. LO 3.14:The student is able to apply mathematical routines to determine Mendelian patterns of inheritance provided by data sets.  (EK: 3A3)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge (3.A.3)

  1. Rules of probability explain passage of single genes from parents to offspring (3.A.3)
  2. Variation comes from segregation and independent assortment
  3. Genes on the same chromosome are linked and only separate as a result of crossing over (3.A.3.b)
  4. Various inheritance patterns (monohybrid, dihybrid, sex-linked, linked) can be inferred from data about parents and offspring phenotype and genotype. (3.A.3.b)
  5. Certain human genetic disorders can be traced to inheritance of single genes or through chromosomal changes (nondisjunction) (3.A.3.c)
    1. Single Gene related IEs: sickle cell anemia, Tay sachs, Huntington’s, X-linked RG color blindness,
    2. Nondisjunction/chromosomal IEs: trisomy 21, klinefelter syndrome.
  6. Human genetics brings up a host of ethical issues connected to reproductive rights, ownership of genetic information, privacy, etc. (3.A.3.d)

Module 21 (Campbell, Chapter 15): Genes and Chromosomes (and trans-Mendelian genetics)

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 3.15:The student is able to explain deviations from Mendel’s model of the inheritance of traits  (EK: 3A4)
  2. LO 3.16:The student is able to explain how the inheritance patterns of many traits cannot be accounted for by Mendelian genetics.  (EK: 3A.4)
  3. LO 3.17:17 The student is able to describe representations of an appropriate example of inheritance patterns that cannot be explained by Mendel’s model of the inheritance of traits.  (EK: 3A.4)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge (3.A.4)

  1. Most inherited traits are the product of multiple genes or physiological processes. You can see this in quantitative analysis, with the divergence between observed phenotypic ratios and predicted ratios. (3.A.4.a)
  2. Some traits are determined by genes on sex chromosomes (3.A.4.b)
    1. Sex linked genes in humans (how this works)
    2. Sex determination in humans/flies
    3. Sex limited traits
  3. Non-nuclear inheritance (3.A.4.c)
    1. Mitochondrial and chloroplastic inheritance (mitochondria only transmitted through egg cells).

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Unit 8: Population Genetics, Speciation, Origin and Early History of Life, Cladistics

Module 22 (Campbell, Chapter 23): The Evolution of Populations

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 1.1: The student is able to convert a data set from a table of numbers that reflect a change in the genetic makeup of a population over time and to apply mathematical methods and conceptual understandings to investigate the cause(s) and effect(s) of this change  (EK: 1A1)
  2. LO 1.4:The student is able to evaluate data-based evidence that describes evolutionary changes in the genetic makeup of a population over time.  (EK: 1A2)
  3. LO 1.5:The student is able to connect evolutionary changes in a population over time to a change in the environment.  (EK: 1A2)
  4. LO 1.6:The student is able to use data from mathematical models based on the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium to analyze genetic drift and effects of selection in the evolution of specific populations.  (EK: 1A3)
  5. LO 1.7:The student is able to justify data from mathematical models based on the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium to analyze genetic drift and the effects of selection in the evolution of specific populations.  (EK: 1A3)
  6. LO 1.8:The student is able to make predictions about the effects of genetic drift, migration and artificial selection on the genetic makeup of a population.  (EK: 1A3)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Evolution can be seen as a change in allele frequencies in populations
  2. Hardy Weinberg conditions for genetic stability
  3. Changes in H-W conditions can leading to evolutionary change ((1.A.1.f), 1.A.1.g)
    1. Focus on genetic drift in small populations (1.A.3)
  4. Importance of genetic diversity: allows for adaptation (1.A.1.c)
    1. Heterozygote advantage (using sickle cell anemia as an example)
    2. Different types of of hemoglobin allows for a wider range of functions (4.C.1.a)
  5. Sources of variation: mutation, recombination during meiosis and fertilization
    1. Imperfect nature of DNA replication and repair increases variation
    2. Sexual reproduction, including meiosis and fertilization, increase genetic variation
  6. Human induced genetic changes are also generating evolutionary change (monocropping, genetic engineering) (1.A.2.d)

Module 23 (Campbell, Chapter 24): Species and Speciation

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 1.20:The student is able to analyze data related to questions of speciation and extinction throughout the Earth’s history.  (EK: 1C1)
  2. LO 1.21: the student is able to design a plan for collecting data to investigate the scientific claim that speciation and extinction have occurred throughout the Earth’s history. .  (EK: 1.C.1)
  3. LO 1.22:The student is able to use data from a real or simulated population(s), based on graphs or models of types of selection, to predict what will happen to the population in the future.  (EK: 1C2)
  4. LO 1.23:The student is able to justify the selection of data that address questions related to reproductive isolation and speciation.  (EK: 1C2)
  5. LO 1.24:The student is able to describe speciation in an isolated population and connect it to change in gene frequency, change in environment, natural selection and/or genetic drift.  (EK: 1C2)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge (1.C.2)

  1. Definition of a species.
  2. Pre and postzygotic barriers
  3. Speciation results from reproductive isolation
    1. Can arise from geographic isolation (1.C.2.a)
    2. Polyploidy and other sympatric models
  4. Speciation rates vary
    1. Punctuated equilibrium (1.C.1.a)
    2. Mass extinctions and adaptive radiation (1.C.1.b)


Module 24 (Campbell, Chapter 25): Origin and Early History of Life

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 1.27:The student is able to describe a scientific hypothesis about the origin of life on Earth  (EK: 1D1)
  2. LO 1.28:The student is able to evaluate scientific questions based on hypotheses about the origin of life on Earth  (EK: 1D1)
  3. LO 1.29:The student is able to describe the reasons for revisions of scientific hypotheses of the origin of life on Earth.  (EK: 1D1)
  4. LO 1.30:The student is able to evaluate scientific hypotheses about the origin of life on Earth.  (EK: 1D1)
  5. LO 1.31:The student is able to evaluate the accuracy and legitimacy of data to answer scientific questions about the origin of life on Earth.  (EK: 1D1)
  6. LO 1.32:The student is able to justify the selection of geological, physical, and chemical data that reveal early Earth conditions.  (EK: 1D2)
  7. LO 1.14:The student is able to pose scientific questions that correctly identify essential properties of shared, core life processes that provide insights into the history of life on Earth  (EK: 1B1)
  8. LO 1.15:The student is able to describe specific examples of conserved core biological processes and features shared by all domains or within one domain of life, and how these shared, conserved core processes and features support the concept of common ancestry for all organisms.  (EK: 1B1)
  9. LO 1.16:The student is able to justify the scientific claim that organisms share many conserved core processes and features that evolved and are widely distributed among organisms today.  (EK: 1B1)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge (1.D.1)

  1. Origin of life: abiotic synthesis of monomers in an “organic soup”
  2. Possible role of biogenic surfaces like clays
  3. Formation of RNA: RNA world hypothesis
  4. Formation of protobionts.
  5. Shared conserved characteristics that argue for a single origin of all life, in all three domains (DNA, RNA, genetic code, metabolic pathways.) (1.D.2.b) (1.B.1.a)
  6. Earliest fossil evidence for life: key milestones are 4.6, 3.9, 3.5 bya. (1.D.2)
  7. Structural evidence for relatedness of all eukaryotes (1.B.1.b)
    1. Cytoskeleton, membrane bound organelles, linear chromosomes, endomembrane system.

Module 25 (Campbell, Chapter 26): Cladistics and Phylogenetics

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 1.17:The student is able to pose scientific questions about a group of organisms whose relatedness is described by a phylogenetic tree or cladogram in order to (1) identify shared characteristics, (2) make inferences about the evolutionary history of the group, and (3) identify character data that could extend or improve the phylogenetic tree.  (EK: 1B2)
  2. LO 1.18:The student is able to evaluate evidence provided by a data set in conjunction with a phylogenetic tree or a simple cladogram to determine evolutionary history and speciation.  (EK: 1B2)
  3. LO 1.19:The student is able create a phylogenetic tree or simple cladogram that correctly represents evolutionary history and speciation from a provided data set.  (EK: 1B2)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Phylogenetic trees for modeling evolutionary history. (1.B.2)
  2. They can represent derived traits (opposable thumbs), or lost due to evolution (loss of legs in aquatic mammals) (1.B.2.a)
  3. Phylogenetic trees can show both relatedness and recency of common ancestry  (1.B.2b)
  4. Evidence for constructing these trees can include morphology, DNA, protein sequences.
  5. Horizontal gene transfer in bacteria and viruses  (“ring of life”) (3.C.2.b)

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Unit 9: Eukaryotic Gene Expression and Development

Module 26 (Campbell, Concepts 18.2 – 18.4): Eukaryotic Gene Expression

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 3.18: The student is able to describe the connection between the regulation of gene expression and observed differences between different kinds of organisms (EK: 3B 1)
  2. LO 3.19: The student is able to describe the connection between the regulation of gene expression and observed differences between individuals in a population (EK: 3B1)
  3. LO 3.20:The student is able to explain how the regulation of gene expression is essential for the processes and structures that support efficient cell function. (EK: 3B1)
  4. LO 3.21:The student is able to explain how the regulation of gene expression is essential for the processes and structures that support efficient cell function. (EK: 3B1)
  5. LO 3.23:The student can use representations to describe mechanisms of the regulation of gene expression. (EK: 3B2) (also under operons)
  6. LO 4.23:The student is able to construct explanations of the influence of environmental factors on the phenotype of an organism. (EK: 4C2)
  7. LO 4.24:The student is able to predict the effects of a change in an environmental factor on the genotypic expression of the phenotype. (EK: 4C2)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge (3.B.1)

  1. Eukaryotic cells are genomically equivalent: key is which genes are turned on.
  2. All gene expression involves DNA regulatory sequences, regulatory genes, and small regulatory RNAs (3.B.1.a)
    1. Regulatory sequences: sequences of DNA that interact with regulatory proteins to control transcription. These involve promoters, enhancers, and terminators,
    2. Regulatory genes encode the regulatory proteins
  3. Eukaryotic gene expression is complex, and involves regulatory genes, regulatory elements, and transcription factors acting in concert. (3.B.1.c)
    1. Transcription factors bind to specific DNA sequences or regulatory proteins
    2. These transcription factors can be activators or repressors
    3. The combination of transcription factors determine how much gene product will be created.
  4. Environmental stimuli can affect gene expression in a mature cell.
  5. Signal transmission within and between cells also mediates gene expression  and function (3.B.2.a)
    1. IE: Cytokines regulate gene expression for control of cell division
    2. IE: Expression of SRY gene during development
    3. IE: ethylene during fruit ripening (note: see 3.B.2 for other IEs)
  6. An organism’s adaptation to the local environment reflects a flexible response of its genome (4.C.2.b)
    1. IE: darker fur in cooler regions of the body in certain mammals
    2. IE: alterations in timing of flowering due to climate changes
  7. Environmental factors influence many traits directly and indirectly (4.C.2.a)
    1. IE: height and weight in humans
    2. Sex determination in reptiles
    3. Effects of UV on melanin production in mammals (see 4.c.2.a for other examples as needed)

Module 27 (Campbell, Concepts 18.4, Chapter 47, Concept 25.5): Animal Development

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 2.31:The student can connect concepts in and across domains to show that timing and coordination of specific events are necessary for normal development in an organism and that these events are regulated by multiple mechanisms.  (EK: 2E1)
  2. LO 2.32:32 The student is able to use a graph or diagram to analyze situations or solve problems (quantitatively or qualitatively) that involve timing and coordination of events necessary for normal development in an organism  (EK: 2E1)
  3. LO 2.33:The student is able to justify scientific claims with scientific evidence to show that timing and coordination of several events are necessary for normal development in an organism and that these events are regulated by multiple mechanisms  (EK: 2E1)
  4. LO 2.34:The student is able to describe the role of programmed cell death in development and differentiation, the reuse of molecules, and the maintenance of dynamic homeostasis.  (EK: 2E1)
  5. LO 4.7:The student is able to refine representations to illustrate how interactions between external stimuli and gene expression result in specialization of cells, tissues and organs.  (EK: 4A3)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. “Differentiation in development is due to external and internal cues that trigger gene regulation by proteins that bind to DNA” (4.A.3.a)
  2. Structural and functional divergence of cells during development and growth results from the expression of genes for tissue specific proteins. (4.A.3.b)
  3. “Induction of transcription factors during development results in sequential gene expression” (2.E.1.b)
    1. Homeotic/HOX genes determine developmental patterns and sequences.
    2. Induction sets the correct timing of developmental events.
  4. Role of morphogens (IE for 3.D.2.b.)
  5. Specific silencing of gene expression is also key.
  6. Apoptosis plays a role in normal development and differentiation. (2.E.1.c)
    1. IE: C. elegans development; finger and toe development
  7. Genetic mutations can affect developmental patterns
  8. Timing and control of developmental events increases fitness.
  9. Role of microRNAs in development and cellular control.
  10. Role of transplantation experiments (2.E.1.b)
  11. In plants, temperature and water availability determine seed germination.
  12. Signal transmission within and between cells mediates cell function
    1. IE: HOX genes and morphogens in development
    2. morphogens

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Unit 10: Animal Biology, Part 1: Homeostasis

Module 28 (Campbell, Chapter 40 (selections)): Feedback Control, Thermoregulation, and Metabolism

Learning Objectives (for this chapter and the next one)

  1. LO 2.15:15 The student can justify a claim made about the effect(s) on a biological system at the molecular, physiological or organismal level when given a scenario in which one or more components within a negative regulatory system is altered.  (EK: 2C1)
  2. LO 2.16:The student is able to connect how organisms use negative feedback to maintain their internal environments  (EK: 2C1)
  3. LO 2.17:The student is able to evaluate data that show the effect(s) of changes in concentrations of key molecules on negative feedback mechanisms  (EK: 2C1)
  4. LO 2.18:The student can make predictions about how organisms use negative feedback mechanisms to maintain their internal environments  (EK: 2C1)
  5. LO 2.19:The student is able to make predictions about how positive feedback mechanisms amplify activities and processes in organisms based on scientific theories and models.  (EK: )
  6. LO 2.20:The student is able to justify that positive feedback mechanisms amplify responses in organisms  (EK: 2C1)
  7. LO 2.21:The student is able to justify the selection of the kind of data needed to answer scientific questions about the relevant mechanism that organisms use to respond to changes in their external environment.  (EK: 2C2)
  8. LO 2.25:The student can construct explanations based on scientific evidence that homeostatic mechanisms reflect continuity due to common ancestry and/or divergence due to adaptation in different environments.  (EK: 2D2)
  9. LO 2.26:The student is able to analyze data to identify phylogenetic patterns or relationships, showing that homeostatic mechanisms reflect both continuity due to common ancestry and change due to evolution in different environments   (EK: 2D2)
  10. LO 2.27:The student is able to connect differences in the environment with the evolution of homeostatic mechanisms  (EK: 2D2)
  11. LO 2.28:The student is able to use representations or models to analyze quantitatively and qualitatively the effects of disruptions to dynamic homeostasis in biological systems   (EK: 2D3)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. How feedback mechanisms work
    1. Negative feedback (2.C.1.a)
      1. Temperature regulation
      2. Plant responses to drought
    2. positive feedback (2.C.1.b)
      1. IE: lactation
      2. IE: Onset of labor in childbirth
      3. IE: Fruit ripening
  2. Homeostatic mechanisms across phyla show continuity from common ancestry, but also change from natural selection (2.D.2)
  3. Various strategies are used for thermoregulation (2.A.1.d.1)
    1. Endothermy (IE)
    2. Ectothermy (IE)
    3. Floral temperatures (IE)
  4. Relationship between metabolic rate and body size (smaller is higher) (2.A.1.d.2)

Module 29 (Campbell, Chapter 45): Hormones and the Endocrine System

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 2.35:35 The student is able to design a plan for collecting data to support the scientific claim that the timing and coordination of physiological events involve regulation  (EK: 2E2)
  2. LO 2.36:The student is able to justify scientific claims with evidence to show how timing and coordination of physiological events involve regulation  (EK: 2E2)
  3. LO 2.37:The student is able to connect concepts that describe mechanisms that regulate the timing and coordination of physiological events  (EK: 2E2)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Endocrine signals: produced in endocrine glands which release hormones (the signals), which travel through the blood, reach all parts of the body, but only impact cells with receptors.  (3.D.2.c)
  2. Breakdown in feedback mechanisms causing negative effects (2.C.1.c)
    1. IE: Diabetes
    2. IE: Graves’ disease
    3. IE: Dehydration in response
  3. IEs for hormones: insulin, HGH, thyroid hormone, testosterone, estrogen (see 3.D.2.C.1)

Module 30 (Campbell, Chapter 43): The Immune System (2.D.4)

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 2.29:The student can create representations and models to describe immune responses.  (EK: 2D4)
  2. LO 2.30:The student can create representations or models to describe nonspecific immune defenses in plants and animals.  (EK: 2D4)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge (2.D.4)

  1. Non-specific/innate responses (2.D.4.a)
  2. Specific/acquired immunity (2.D.4.b)
    1. IE (3.D.2) Communication between immune system cells (APCs, helper Ts, killer Ts)
    2. Recognition and molecular diversity of antibodies (4.C.1.a)
    3. Cell mediated response
    4. Humoral response
  3. Development of immunological memory (2.D.4.b)
  4. Different types of of MHC proteins allows for a wider range of functions (4.C.1.a)

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Unit 11: Animal Biology, Part 2: Nervous System and Behavior

Module 31 (Campbell, Chapter 48): Neurons

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 3.43:The student is able to construct an explanation, based on scientific theories and models, about how nervous systems detect external and internal signals, transmit and integrate information, and produce responses  (EK: 3E2)
  2. LO 3.44:The student is able to describe how nervous systems detect external and internal signals  (EK: 3E2)
  3. LO 3.45:The student is able to describe how nervous systems transmit information.  (EK: 3E2)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Neuron structure (3.E.2)
    1. Cell body, axon, dendrites, myelin sheath
    2. Relationship of neuron structure to detection, integration, generation, and transmission of signals)
    3. Myelin sheath/Schwann cells and saltatory conduction
  2. Creation of action potential (3.E.2.b)
    1. Resting potential generated by Na+/K+ pump and membrane permeability
    2. Action potential through opening of Na+ and K+ ligand gated channels that lead to local depolarization.
  3. Synapses and neurotransmitters (3.E.2.c)
    1. IEs: (choose one or two) acetylcholine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin, GABA
    2. Effect on postsynaptic cell can be inhibitory or stimulatory (note: summation is inferred, but not explicitly mentioned)

Module 32 (Campbell, Chapter 49 (selections)): The Brain

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 3.46:The student is able to describe how the vertebrate brain integrates information to produce a response  (EK: 3E2)
  2. LO 3.47:The student is able to create a visual representation of complex nervous systems to describe/explain how these systems detect external and internal signals, transmit and integrate information, and produce responses.   (EK: 3E2)
  3. LO 3.48:The student is able to create a visual representation to describe how nervous systems detect external and internal signals.  (EK: 3E2)
  4. LO 3.49:The student is able to create a visual representation to describe how nervous systems transmit information  (EK: 3E2)
  5. LO 3.5:The student is able to create a visual representation to describe how the vertebrate brain integrates information to produce a response  (EK: 3E2)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Different regions of the vertebrate brain have different functions (3.E.2.D)
    1. IEs include discussion of vision, hearing, muscle movement, abstract thought, lateralization in the cerebrum, forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain

Module 33 (Campbell, Chapter 51): Animal Behavior

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 3.40:The student is able to analyze data that indicate how organisms exchange information in response to internal changes and external cues, and which can change behavior.   (EK: 3E1)
  2. LO 3.41:The student is able to create a representation that describes how organisms exchange information in response to internal changes and external cues, and which can result in changes in behavior  (EK: )
  3. LO 3.42:The student is able to describe how organisms exchange information in response to internal changes or environmental cues.  (EK: 3E1)
  4. LO 2.38:The student is able to analyze data to support the claim that responses to information and communication of information affect natural selection  (EK: 2E3)
  5. LO 2.39:The student is able to justify scientific claims, using evidence, to describe how timing and coordination of behavioral events in organisms are regulated by several mechanisms.  (EK: 2E3)
  6. LO 2.4:40 The student is able to connect concepts in and across domain(s) to predict how environmental factors affect responses to information and change behavior(EK: 2E3)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Organisms exchange information with each other in response to internal changes and external cues, and that can change behavior (3.E.1.a)
    1. IEs: fight or flight, predator warnings, avoidance responses
  2. Communication occurs through various mechanisms (3.E.1.b)
    1. Signal behaviors or cues (territorial marking, coloration in flowers)
    2. Signals (visual, audible, tactile, electrical, chemical) for indicating dominance, finding food, establishing territory, and reproducing
      1. IEs: bee dances, bird songs, territorial markings, pack behavior, predator warnings, flocking/schooling/herding/swarming
    3. Adaptive responses to signals/communication/information are highly selected by natural selection (3.E.1.C)
      1. IEs: Parent offspring interactions, migration patterns, courtship/mating, foraging strategies,
    4. Cooperation can increase fitness  (3.E.1.C)
      1. IEs: herding/flocking/schooling behavior, pack behavior, predator warnings
  3. Various reproductive strategies have evolved in response to energy availability (2.A.1.d.2)
    1. IE: seasonal reproduction
    2. IE: Life history strategies like biennial plants, diapause (?)
  4. Animal behaviors are triggered by environmental cues (3.E.2.b)
    1. IE: hibernation, migration, courtship, estivation
    2. IE: Release and reaction to pheromones
    3. IE: taxis and kinesis
  5. Innate v. learned behavior (2.E.3.a)

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Unit 12: Topics in Plant Biology

Module 34 (Campbell, Chapter 10): Photosynthesis (2.a.2.d)

  1. Interdependence of photosynthesis and respiration
  2. Where PSN occurs (stroma of chloroplasts)
  3. Structure of chloroplasts: chlorophyll, internal structure (thylakoids, organized into grana), where light reactions and calvin-Benson cycle occur)
  4. Light dependent reactions (Z scheme, how ATP and NADPH are produced; ATP production through chemiosmosis))
  5. Overview of the Calvin cycle
  6. Evolution of photosynthesis (where it first emerged) and its evolutionary importance (creation of oxygen atmosphere)
  7. Different types of of chlorophylls allows for a wider range of functions (4.C.1.a)

Module 35 (Campbell, Chapter 39): Plant Responses to Light

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 2.35:35 The student is able to design a plan for collecting data to support the scientific claim that the timing and coordination of physiological events involve regulation  (EK: 2E2)
  2. LO 2.36:The student is able to justify scientific claims with evidence to show how timing and coordination of physiological events involve regulation  (EK: 2E2)
  3. LO 2.37:The student is able to connect concepts that describe mechanisms that regulate the timing and coordination of physiological events  (EK: 2E2)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. “In plants, physiological events involve interactions between environmental stimuli and internal molecular signals.”
    1. Phototropism (2.C.2.a, 2.E.2.a, 2.E.3.b)
    2. Photoperiodism
      1. Long and short day plants

Module 36 (Campbell, Chapter 36): Transpiration and Water Transport in Plant

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 2.18:The student can make predictions about how organisms use negative feedback mechanisms to maintain their internal environments  (EK: 2C1)
  2. LO 4.18:The student is able to use representations and models to analyze how cooperative interactions within organisms promote efficiency in the use of energy and matter(EK: 4B2)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge (note that while the word “transpiration” appears only once in the Course Description, it’s one of the AP labs).

  1. Plant response to water limitation as an example of negative feedback.
  2. Interaction between root, stem, and leaf as an example of how “organisms exhibit complex properties due to interactions between their constituent parts” (4.A.4, both a.  and b.)

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Unit 13: Ecology

Module 37 (Campbell, Chapter 52, Concept 52.4): Species Distribution and Abundance

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 4.19:The student is able to use data analysis to refine observations and measurements regarding the effect of population interactions on patterns of species distribution and abundance.  (EK: 4B3)
  2. LO 4.2:The student is able to explain how the distribution of ecosystems changes over time by identifying large-scale events that have resulted in these changes in the past.   (EK: 4B3)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Geological and meteorological events impact ecosystem distribution, as shown by biogeographical studies (4.B.4.b)
    1. IEs: el niño, cretaceous extinction of dinosaurs, continental drift
  2. Species specific environmental catastrophes, geological events, resource availability changes, and human activity affects species distribution and abundance (4.B.3.c)

Module 38 (Campbell, Chapter 53): Population Ecology

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 2.3:The student is able to predict how changes in free energy availability affect organisms, populations and ecosystems.  (EK: 2A1)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Population growth can be modeled mathematically and graphically (4.A.5.c)
    1. Exponential growth
    2. Carrying capacity
    3. Density dependent and density independent limiting factors
      1. Density Dependent examples are
        1. Competition for resources, territory (4.A.6.e)
        2. Predation, health, accumulation of territory
    4. Age distribution and fecundity data for studying human populations
  2. Changes in free energy can influence population size.

Module 39 (Campbell, Chapter 54): Community Ecology

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 4.11:The student is able to justify the selection of the kind of data needed to answer scientific questions about the interaction of populations within communities.   (EK: 4A5)
  2. LO 4.12:The student is able to apply mathematical routines to quantities that describe communities composed of populations of organisms that interact in complex ways.   (EK: 4A5)
  3. LO 4.13:The student is able to predict the effects of a change in the community’s populations on the community.  (EK: 4A5)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Interactions between populations affects population distribution and abundance (4.B.3.a)
  2. Community structure involves both species composition and species diversity (4.A.5.a)
  3. Relationships among interacting populations can have positive or negative effects,
  4. Population interactions can be mathematically modeled (4.A.5.b)
    1. IEs: Predator-prey relationships, epidemiological models, invasive species
  5. Competition (note the essential role of competition as a driving force in natural selection)
    1. can be for territory, resources, etc.
    2. Acts as a limiting factor on growth for competing populations (4.A.6.e)
  6. Competition leading to niche partitioning (2.E.3.b.4 (but this is awkwardly and probably incorrectly placed in the College Board’s outline))
  7. Symbiosis
  1. Many complex relationships exist in ecosystems, with many feedback control systems.
    1. IE: loss of keystone species
    2. IE: invasive species like kudzu
    3. IE: epidemics like dutch elm disease.
  2. Keystone species have effects disproportionate to their abundance  in the ecosystem. When removed, the ecosystem often collapses (4.C.4.b, 4.B.3.c)
  3. Community change following a disturbance (Ecological Succession). Note that this is not an EK or even a component, but it’s mentioned in the intro to BI 4 (Systems Interact)

Module 40 (Campbell, Chapter 55): Ecosystems

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 4.14:The student is able to apply mathematical routines to quantities that describe interactions among living systems and their environment, which result in the movement of matter and energy  (EK: 4A6)
  2. LO 4.16:The student is able to predict the effects of a change of matter or energy availability on communities  (EK: 4A6)
  3. LO 4.15:The student is able to use visual representations to analyze situations or solve problems qualitatively to illustrate how interactions among living systems and with their environment result in the movement of matter and energy   (EK: 4A6)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge (4.A.6)

  1. Energy flows, but matter is recycled (4.A.6.a)
  2. Primary productivity (and what influences it: regional & global climate, atmospheric composition) (4.A.6.d)
  3. Food webs, food chains (4.A.6.d)
  4. Free energy change can disrupt ecosystems
    1. IE: change in producer level, change in sunlight
  5. Biogeochemical cycles: carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, water (note: not sure to what depth)(2.A.3.a.1, 2.A.3.a.2)

Module 41 (Campbell, Chapter 56): Biodiversity

Learning Objectives

  1. LO 4.21:The student is able to predict consequences of human actions on both local and global ecosystems  (EK: 4B3)
  2. LO 4.27:The student is able to make scientific claims and predictions about how species diversity within an ecosystem influences ecosystem stability.  (EK: 4C4)
  3. LO 4.25:The student is able to use theories and models to make scientific claims and/ or predictions about the effects of variation within populations on survival and fitness(EK: 4C3)

Enduring Understandings and Essential Knowledge

  1. Biological systems with many different components often have more flexibility in responding to changes in the environment
  2. Human population growth has impacted habitats of other species, causing reduction of population size, habitat destruction, and extinction (4.A.6.f)
  3. Human impact accelerates change at global and local levels (4.B.4.a)
    1. IE: logging, slash and burn, urbanization, monocropping, infrastructure development, global climate change
    2. IE: introduced species
    3. IE: invasive diseases: potato blight, dutch elm disease, smallpox
  4. Populations that have lost genetic diversity are less able to respond to changes in the environment, putting them at risk for extinction (4.C.3.a)
    1. IEs: california condor, black-footed ferret, prairie chicken, potato blight and potato famine, corn rust and agricultural crops, tasmanian devils and infectious cancer
    2. Genetic diversity allows for different responses to environmental conditions
      1. IE: in herding animals, not all animals stampede
      2. IE: varying levels of susceptibility to disease
  5. Natural and artificial ecosystems with fewer component parts and with little diversity among the parts are often less resilient to environmental change (4.C.4.a)

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CROSS TOPIC ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS and (pieces of) ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE

  1. 2.D: growth and homeostasis of a biological system are influenced by changes in the system’s environment.
    1. 2.D.1: how systems are impacted by biotic and abiotic interactions involving matter and energy
    2. 2.D.2: How homeostatic mechanisms show common ancestry and divergence…
  2. 2.C.2. Timing and coordination of physiological events are regulated by multiple mechanisms
  3. 3.C.2. Biological systems have multiple processes that increase genetic variation.
  4. 3.D.2. Cells communicate with each other through direct contact with other cells, or from a distance through chemical signaling
  5. 4.A.6.g: Many adaptations are related to obtaining and using energy and matter in a particular environment.
  6. 4.B.1.a: change in the structure of a molecular system may result in a change of the function of a system.
  7. 4.B.2: Cooperative interactions within organisms promote efficiency in the use of energy and matter
    1. Figure out how to do this at the organismal level (all the examples are human physiology that I’m not planning to teach)
    2. Also, the next one about interaction between individual cells
  8. 4.C.1.c: variation in molecular units provides cell with a wider range of functions

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CROSS TOPIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES

  1. LO 2.8:The student is able to justify the selection of data regarding the types of molecules that an animal, plant or bacterium will take up as necessary building blocks and excrete as waste products.(EK: 2A3)
  2. LO 2.9:The student is able to represent graphically or model quantitatively the exchange of molecules between an organism and its environment, and the subsequent use of these molecules to build new molecules that facilitate dynamic homeostasis, growth and reproduction.(EK: 2A3)
  3. LO 2.22:The student is able to refine scientific models and questions about the effect of complex biotic and abiotic interactions on all biological systems, from cells and organisms to populations, communities and ecosystems(EK: 2D1)
  4. LO 2.23:The student is able to design a plan for collecting data to show that all biological systems (cells, organisms, populations, communities and ecosystems) are affected by complex biotic and abiotic interactions.(EK: 2D1)
  5. LO 2.24:The student is able to analyze data to identify possible patterns and relationships between a biotic or abiotic factor and a biological system (cells, organisms, populations, communities or ecosystems(EK: 2D1)
  6. LO 3.26:26 The student is able to explain the connection between genetic variations in organisms and phenotypic variations in populations(EK: 3C1)
  7. LO 4.22:The student is able to construct explanations based on evidence of how variation in molecular units provides cells with a wider range of functions.(EK: 4C1)
  8. LO 4.26:The student is able to use evidence to justify a claim that a variety of phenotypic responses to a single environmental factor can result from different genotypes within the population (EK: 4C3)
  9. LO 4.18:The student is able to use representations and models to analyze how cooperative interactions within organisms promote efficiency in the use of energy and matter(EK: 4B2)
  10. LO 4.8:The student is able to evaluate scientific questions concerning organisms that exhibit complex properties due to the interaction of their constituent parts(EK: 4A3)
  11. LO 4.9:The student is able to predict the effects of a change in a component(s) of a biological system on the functionality of an organism(s).(EK: 4A4)
  12. LO 4.1:The student is able to refine representations and models to illustrate biocomplexity due to interactions of the constituent parts.(EK: 4A4)

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