Biology

The textbook used at UNPS for high school biology is Biology: An Everyday Experience by Kaskel, Hummer, and Daniel.  We recently purchased the updated version with a copyright date of 2002.  The cost of the textbook is $67.50.

Remember you are financially responsible for your book per Board Policy!  If there is ANY damage to your book like bent corner on the cover, nicks or gashes in the cover, pencil or pen marks, mysteriuos spots, writing, bent pages, anything other than a perfect book write it down, make a copy for your own records,  and turn the original sheet into Ms. Klein so you don't have to pay for the damage at the end of the year.

Biology student will be provided with a notebook to put their vocabulary, objectives, and lab obsevations in.  This notebook will only be used for biology.  Students will need to provide a a blue/black pen or a pencil as well as a calculator.  Colored pencils are optional, but will be used often. A folder would also be helpful.  If students choose to complete their assignment with something other than a blue/balck pen or graphite pencil, they will be down graded 10% for not following directions.

We cover approximately one chapter per week.  Sometimes we go faster, sometimes we go slower.  The general flow of the week is...
                        Day 1: Objectives
                        Day 2: Activity/Worksheets
                        Day 3: Activity
                        Day 4: Activity
                        Day 5: Test/Vocabulary for the next chapter
For a Four-Day Week, we skip Day 3.  For a  Three-Day Week, we skip Days 3 and 4.  If a class acts foolishly, they will loose their activity and be assigned additional worksheets.

We will occasionally watch films.  All films require facts written in your notebook to receive credit for said film.  Number of facts will depend on the length of the film.

At the end of the year, we will dissect a starfish, squid, perch, and frog (depending availablity).

In our exploration of biology we will not go straight through our textbook.  Instead, we will take a more ecological approach. The following sequence will be used...

Please click on chapters below for vocabulary and objectives.

FIRST SEMESTER

Chapter 1-3

• Life characteristics
• Cell anatomy
• Classification of life forms into five kingdoms

Chapters 22,  26-29

• Role of mitosis and meiosis
• Heredity principles
• Human genetics
• DNA
  
• How life forms change as a consequence of natural selection
• Role of changing environment as selection agent of evolution

Chapters 4-6                 

• Survey of life forms (not including animals)
  
• Viurses, monera, protists and fungi, plants

Chapter  19-21, 23

• Plants and photosynthesis
• Plant support and transport
• Plant response, growth, and disease
• Plant reproduction and development

Chapters 30-32   

• Populations and Communities
• Ecosystems and Biomes
• Solving Ecological Problems
  

SECOND SEMESTER

Chapters 7-16, 24-25

• Simple animals (sponges, coelenterates, worms, mollusks)
• Complex animals (arthropods, echinoderms, agnatha, chondrichtheyes, osteoichtheyes, amphibians, reptiles, aves, mammals)
• Nutrition
  
• Digestion
• Circulation and Blood
  
• Respiration and Excretion
• Support and Movement
• Nervous and Chemical Control
• Senses
• Animal Reproduction and Development
  

Chapter 17-18

• Animal behavoir
• Drugs and behavoir