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GOALS and
PHILOSOPHY:
All
students are inextricably entwined with the natural world, whether they
want to be or not! It is only human that students will be
curious about how the natural world works and why it works that way.
We will build on this curiosity that has been fostered in the younger
years, and look at nature in a more sophisticated manner than previously
encountered in school. Understanding of the relationships in
the environment and how biological systems work is important as a skill of
all citizens in a world that is becoming more technologically driven and
complex, and more affected by the presence of man. My major goal is to prepare students for
stewardship of this earth by giving them a thorough understanding of major
concepts and their importance.
Honors Biology is therefore designed to introduce students to the
fundamental concepts upon which modern biology is based. Because students have an elementary
background in life science from their primary years, we will look beyond
the obvious and look at the world of biology. This will include an
introduction to the diversity of microscopic organisms and their role in
the environment as well as molecular biology and the impact that it has in
our modern world. These topics are becoming more and more important,
and may never be addressed again during a student's education unless they
go into the life sciences in college or take AP Biology. This course
will go into more detail than CP Biology, and performance expectations as
well as opportunities will be greater.
Students will prepare to take higher level biology classes,
including AP Biology and the opportunity to earn college credit.
To get the most out of this course, I
expect students to follow a variety of paths to increased understanding of
Biology. Students will take more responsibility for their own
progress, and complete quarterly projects. There will be limited
traditional lecture, class discussion and written assignments as well as
traditional and open-ended laboratory experiences and computer simulations,
group assignments, videos, and anything else I can find that helps students
understand the "whys and ways" of the biological world.
Student experiences and observations will be used to connect the concepts
to the world that they know.
 QUARTERLY ASSIGNMENTS:
I will not necessarily remind you of deadlines....they
will be on the board and on ProgressBook, but you must be responsible
yourself.
1. Each quarter,
students will be required to submit a one to two-paged summary of an
educational nature program that they watched on TV or video. This will be due on the Friday before the last class day of each quarter,
but may be submitted early any time during the quarter.
This video summary should be
of an hour biological science program such as Nature, National
Geographic or Nova that can be accessed on a
TV. Taking notes during the program will make it easier to finish the
summary. The selection is not limited to those, but needs to be of an
educational nature on a biological topic and in the hour-long
format.
 Crocodile Hunter or ANY Irwin production is not acceptable in
any way, shape, or form. Neither are two half-hour programs,
cartoons, exploitational or commercial movies. Nor are
EyeWitness videos (they are only 1/2 hour), "Volcanos!",
"Hurricanes", “Tornados” and other natural disaster videos (why
do some people think they qualify as a biological topics?).
 Quarter 3 or 4's summary can be
satisfied by a summary of a visit to the Newport Aquarium. This is
especially valuable after students have studied invertebrates, and the
requirement can be satisfied by an informative student "tour"
report. Sometimes Omnimax has a film that is appropriate in content
and can be summarized, or other opportunities may be available.
After watching the program, a
summary of about 1.5 pages typed (about 500 words) will be submitted by the
due date to turnitin.com. All students will have a school email
address and a turnitin.com account assigned at the beginning of the
year. They will be used throughout the year, so be sure that you can
access them! If there is no computer access available at home, please
let me know and we will be sure that there is access through a school
computer. Since this is assigned at the first of the quarter, and not
due until near the end, students have ample time to complete the assignment
therefore, LATER PAPERS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED FOR
FULL CREDIT. Note that turnitin.com checks for plagiarism, so be
sure that this is your original work.
The heading should
include: the title of the program, the date viewed, the time, and the
channel viewed on. That is:
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"Goats
of the Andes"
8/30/06,
10 PM: WCET
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Not
so hard-if planned ahead, and it will be easy!
2. Students will also be
assigned to make models or projects at appropriate times during the year as
homework. They will be given a
description and instructions for the requirements of the project so that
you will know the parameters.
Parents are invited to give advice and support, and review
requirements with your student, but it is the student's project!
Quarter 3, a major project is
the scope and sequence project required in all classes each year.
Students will be expected to write an in depth research paper from
information from reading and the internet on a current controversial
biological topic. This will be a
formal research paper with internal citations and in a given typed
format.
More information for these
quarterly projects is given under the
page or through the links below.
Quarter 1: Cell Project
Quarter 2: DNA Project
Quarter 3:
Bioethics Research Paper (Scope and
Sequence requirement)
Quarter 4: Build a Virtual Biome Project
3. Honor students will be
responsible for taking care of the lab biota for one semester. Each
person will be required to participate in lab care of animals.
Students will sign up for a cage or tank at the beginning of the
year. A care and feeding plan must be submitted and approved
before being allowed to care for the chosen animals. More
information can be found on the
page.
4. Honor students may
earn minor extra credit (once only during the year) for the display case in
the hall or the bulletin board in the classroom during the year. More
information can be found on the
page.
5. Lastly, Honors students
will be responsible for changing the poster display on the classroom walls
each quarter. (This is actually also an extra credit opportunity, as
an alternative to the previous one.} Students will carefully take
down the posters of the past quarter and put them in storage, then replace
them by the posters appropriate for the next quarter. At the end of
the year, posters will be placed for the Fall quarter. Students may
sign up for the quarter they want to work on at the beginning of the
year. The opportunity will exist the first week of quarters 2, 3, or
4, and expire thereafter.
TEXTBOOKS:
Students have been requested to keep their Biology books at home so that
they are at hand for nightly homework assignments. Loaner books are available in the
classroom on an honor/quick return basis so that students can do homework
in study hall during the day. The
text book is used mainly as a reference to familiarize students with the
topics we will be addressing during class.
Questions from the text are used to help students check their
understanding of the concepts we are discussing and let me know the
confusions or misunderstandings they have of those concept. Occasional supplementary readings will be
required. Some quizzes, a digital
textbook, and study material will be accessible on-line.
HANDS-ON
EXPERIENCES:
 Laboratory experiences are essential
to develop in depth understanding of the material, and confidence in their laboratory
skills. Labs will include
microscopic observations, biological methods and assays, biotechnology,
microbiology, live animal observations, and dissections. Dissections are valuable in aiding
understanding of body systems, diversity of organisms, and comparison of
adaptations. We do not use live
specimens for dissection, nor do we do frivolous dissections. Any student with an ethical or religious
objection to dissection will be excused from dissection ahead of time with
a note from a parent, and will be given academically equivalent written
assignment
Safety in the lab and classroom are paramount considerations in this
class. Goggles, aprons, gloves and
lab coats have been supplied for use in the lab, and safety procedures have
been emphasized. Each student has
passed a safety test and has signed a safety contract before being allowed
to participate in laboratory experiences.
A student violating safety rules will be removed from the lab, given
a grade of zero for the lab, and I will contact a parent to discuss and
remedy the problem if it continues. Horseplay or immature behavior
(the two main violations) cannot be tolerated, and, as with unproductive
work habits, will definitely affect your student's grade.
Be sure to look over your classroom Rights and Responsibilities as a biology
student. This, of course, leads to unwritten rules that we all know
and understand from years of practice! I will hold you to supporting
the rights and responsibilities in the classroom, so be familiar with
them!!
GENERAL
REQUIREMENTS:
Keep a neat, organized binder  (an organized binder reflects an
organized mind....) of all papers done in and for class. The binder will be their evidence of
accomplishment in this course, and students will be tested on the materials
therein.
Students are required to write in black or blue ink ONLY (I will not grade papers in other colors
of ink. They will be returned and
redone if a student would like the paper graded). Pencils are for drawings, data
collection, tests, and graphs, not for narrative work. I have found that students do not need
much notebook paper, since many notes and activities will be copied for
them, but some paper will certainly be necessary. A highlighter and notebook dividers are
also needed. Colored pencils are
optional (students may share the class sets).
The binder needs to have a
"TO KEEP" section at the front. Paper that need to be kept
for the whole year will be on gold paper. The rest of the binder is
up to the student to organize. I expect to see it organized in a way
that students can recover specific papers. It may be organized by
date, or by chapter, or by category (HW, Labs, Handouts, Tests, etc.).
Whatever method is chosen will need to be consistent and continuous, so
that a given paper can be accessed quickly and easily.
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suggested supplies:
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1.
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2", 3-ring binder
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2.
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notebook dividers
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3.
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blue or black pens
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4.
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#2 pencils
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5.
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highlighter
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6.
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colored pencils (optional)
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7.
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notebook
paper
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 GRADING:
Class
and lab work will be graded and points will be assigned. Labs and class work have varying point
values, depending on complexity.
Tests are usually 80-100
points each. "Quests" are
small tests of approximately 50 points. These usually ask for
application of concepts, but are based on factual information that must be
memorized.
Quizzes may or may not be
announced, and pop quizzes may not be made up.  One missed pop quiz will be omitted per
quarter when applicable, at the teacher’s discretion. Quizzes are over specific assigned
material from the previous day and the homework from the week. They
are worth from 5 to 20 points.
 Homework is due when the bell rings. It
will be reviewed or collected randomly for grading. Since there will be weekly homework/pop
quizzes, it is important that student completes and understand the homework
to do well on the quizzes. Regular, complete homework is essential to
doing well in this class. These homework quizzes are not optional and
cannot be made up. Therefore, regular attendance is essential to a
good homework grade, as it is essential to doing well in any class.
If a student is absent, the
student has as many days as (s)he was absent to make up labs and class
work. It is the student's responsibility to schedule lab work and
make it up, or no credit will be granted. Please see the student handbook
for details.
The standard Mariemont
grade scale is used. Grades will be based on total points, but will generally
reflect these guidelines.
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homework
quizzes
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10%
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tests and
quizzes
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40%
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labs and
class work
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40%
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quarter and
special projects
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10%
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No
extra credit work will be given to replace assigned work, or homework and
pop quizzes. Extra credit is rare,
and when given, will only be accepted if the student has no "0"s
for quizzes, tests, lab, or class work.
My goal is to help the students become responsible for their own
learning so that they will succeed in more difficult classes and become
proactive in their educations. For
some, this will be a more difficult lesson than for others.
CONTACT:
Parents: Please feel
free to contact me about any concerns you have about your student's
progress. I am available on
voice-mail (272-7600, ex 5023) or by
email  and
will give you a return response as quickly as I can. You are also invited to visit the
classroom. Please call ahead so that
I can tell you if we are having a test that day so that you do not waste
your time by observing non-instructional time.
Organization is the key to success.
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