AP Biology Tips & Tools
              

 

Unit Assignments, Class Activities, Assessments
Each unit of study includes the content-aligned reading from the required Campbell AP Biology text. In essence, students will read and journal the entire text during the course of the AP Biology class. In addition, each unit of study will include a blend of the following experiences — class activities, discussions, problem sets, individual projects, group and collaborative projects, free response essays, online debate, concept mapping, laboratory investigation(s), interactive and independent exercises, self-check assessments, laboratory analysis, discussion, and presentation of the evidence for learning, and instructor reviewed and graded assessments including formal laboratory analysis, free response prompts, and unit exams—so that students have ample opportunities to:

a.       develop understanding

b.       reinforce learning

c.       practice applying concepts accurately and appropriately

d.       receive feedback from the instructor and others on their learning progression

e.       prepare evidence of the culmination of that learning through unit exams aligned to the AP Biology College Board Exam’s format, individual lab investigation scientific style papers, lab team presentations of findings, ongoing quarter long research projects, and group discourse and debate sessions about environmental and social concerns

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Concept Mapping Assignment

1. A concept map is a creative pattern of connected ideas. It is similar to a road map, sentence diagram, blueprint, or “you-are-here-map”.

2. Data shows that explicitly engaging students in the creation of nonlinguistic representations stimulates and increases activity in the brain.

3.  The greater the variety of learning input, the more accurate the recall.

4.  Begin with a topic and enclose it in a circle in the center of your paper.

5.  Add branches to hold key sub-topics.

6.  Add details to the branches.

7.  Personalize your mind map with “pictures, symbols, colors, and shapes.”

8.  Use at least three colors and use pictures and / or symbols for each key idea.

9.  Vary the “size” of the words by level of importance.

10.  Use a different color for each branch and use an arrow to show relationships

Study Reading

1. survey the reading—identify the subject, preview the material front to back
    
2. skim—read the opening and closing paragraphs, preview the main ideas
    
3. scan—search for specific information, use the index
    
4. research—use specific questions to guide search for information that will lead to original ideas, summarizing and note taking, personal idea notes, sources cited

Dialogue and Debate

When employing skills for scientific reasoning applied in class discussions and debate on environmental and social issues, students must:

1. Confront prior knowledge as evolving understanding
    
2. Apply biological knowledge in constructing the discourse appropriately
    
3. Formulate sophisticated justifications
    
4. Articulate explicit conclusions based on scientific evidence
    
5. Consider the 8 AP Biology themes as windows through which to form a new and interrelated view of the nature of living things
    
6. Rethink ideas in light of new evidence or proposals
    
7. Develop Awareness of the generalizations, context specific processes, biological principles, and standards versus raw, but level opinion and underlying assumptions

RESEARCH PROJECTS AND EXPECTATIONS

The AP Biology curriculum comes alive as students are required to integrate the AP Biology overarching topics and themes into three research projects—one for each quarter and one for each overarching topic. The student’s research projects:

1. evolve from student’s scientific questions which emerge during laboratory, class discussion, and review of current literature

2. encourage collaboration with peers

3. include local community mentorships, university partnerships, the metropolitan science center, and hands-on research experience at the University and through local hospitals

4. involve formal presentation of findings

Students in the AP Biology program have integrated their thinking with the experts in diverse areas, such as the examples given below:

                                 i.      heterogeneity of brain tumors correlated to treatments

                                 ii.      massasauga rattle snake populations study

                                 iii.     kidney transplantation

                                 iv.     wetland restoration project

                                  v.     heart surgery and robotics techniques

                                  vi.     FBI uses for DNA gel electrophoresis

                                 vii.     breast cancer cell lines established for research

                                 viii.    compromised immunity and human fungal infection

                                   ix.    closed head trauma and angiogenesis

                                    x.    frog populations and water quality

                                   xi.     human anatomy and physiology—autopsy

                                  xii.     the evolution and development of the walking gait correlated
             with physical therapies for cerebral palsy

 Example: Holistic Rubric for critical thinking evident in Quarter Research Projects

critical reading and thinking

1. analyze and evaluate the author’s ideas
    
2. think beyond the author’s ideas with new ideas of your own
    
3. identify controversial issues and figure out the author’s positions on them
    
4. recognize the support and evidence which the author provides
    
5. evaluate the position’s validity
    
6. analyze unstated assumptions
    
7. ask the ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions
    
8. elaborate on new material
    
9. see new applications to real life
    
10. react to new material by associating and comparing it with familiar material
     
11. defend your new ideas by providing evidence that makes clear, vivid, and believable your thoughts
     
12. think in new ways
     
13. remain open to new developments that can alter how we think
     
14. write: reactions, original ideas, unique positions, essays

scientific journal

Students are required to keep a scientific journal to include:

1.Journals in three column review of the readings from the Campbell Textbook

2. Journals in three column review of the readings of current research articles

3. Reflection on Learning

4. Concept Mapping of the Big Ideas

5. Evidence of Laboratory Investigations

a.       Pre-lab notes on goals

b.       Lab Design Notes for testing variables

c.       Lab Data collection methods and analysis

d.       Lab Discussion Points for peer review

e.       Summaries of related scientific research findings

 
evidence of completing Campbell assigned reading--journaling:
Two sample methods for journaling the required textbook readings are explained.

Journal Sample One: Three Column Review

Journal Sample Two: Like a Physician working with the patientStudents approach each reading assignment like a doctor approaching the patient.

Patient = Assigned Reading                              Physician = Reader

A)  What do you know about the patient?

Is this patient a referral or someone you know well? What prior knowledge do you have on this patient? Look over the patient’s chart—scan the reading assignment.

B) What questions do you need to ask your patient in order to clarify your patient’s message and make connections among the information which the patient has shared and will share?

Interact with the patient by reading the assignment, taking notes, and reflecting on your discussion.

C)  What new information does your patient share with you?

Work toward clarity using class notes, discussions, lab activities, and various references to understand the assigned reading. Do you need to reference other sources in order to develop a complete picture of your patient (who, what, how, why)? Begin to think about how the information being shared is connected part to part and part to whole.

D)  Describe your patient’s condition. What are the symptoms?

What is the patient saying? What new vocabulary is introduced? What familiar, strange and new concepts are discovered throughout your discussion? How do the symptoms impact other symptoms and the overall health and well-being of your patient?

E) What is your diagnosis? Generalize—forming conclusions from essential information, about the connections made and the impact these connections have on your understanding of the patient.

How have you evaluated the discussion you have had with your patient? How has your interaction with the patient brought you depth in understanding?

F) What treatment is likely—gene therapy, surgery (excision/ re-constructive), lifestyle changes, antibiotics, nuclear medicine, transplantation, counseling, further testing, etc.? How will you apply what you have learned?

How can this information be used? What treatment will be given to this patient’s information so that it becomes a part of you? Will surgery be necessary—excising misconceptions or reconstructing new information, will a vector be needed to help connect the concepts like the vectors used in gene therapy, what about the need for a transplant as old ideas wear out becoming nonfunctional, dysfunctional or cancerous and new ideas transform? How will you apply what you know?

G) What is the prognosis? How does the experience with this patient bring new “insight” for your interactions, diagnoses, and treatments for past, present and future patients?

What are your lingering questions concerning the information presented by your patient? How can the
         ideas from the interaction with this patient be transferred to related and not-so-related life
         experiences? How does this experience with this patient impact and expand your range of thinking
         about this patient, and past, present and future patients?

sample REQUIREMENTS FOR A Scientific Style Paper: completed as evidence of completing the AP Required Laboratory Investigation’s objectives:

1. TITLE PAGE: Minimally, this section includes the title of the paper, the name of the author(s) and the date.
    
2. ABSTRACT / INTRODUCTION: This section includes a brief synopsis of the study, describing the underlying concepts and principles; a statement of the significance of the laboratory investigation; the basic experiment (with no details); the general results and the most important conclusions. The objectives of the research are clearly defined by stating the null and alternative hypotheses. 
    
3. SCIENTIFIC METHODS / PROCESSES: Provides the information needed by another researcher in order to repeat the experiment and find similar results. Spell out the type of statistical analyses performed. DO NOT USE A COOKBOOK FORMAT! Numbering steps is appropriate only if it is written in paragraph form and if it aids in clarity. If tables or figures clarify a procedure, refer to them in the text.
    
4. RESULTS: Provide a thorough description, without analysis or explanation, of generalities and trends observed in the data, and do so upon completion of the study and data analyses. This section is written in paragraph form and may include references to tables and figures. Raw data should not appear in this section, but polished graphs, charts etc are encouraged.
    
5. DISCUSSION: The null hypothesis is either accepted or rejected. This section explains the meaning of the data by appropriately applying and explaining the biological principles underlying the research question. The primary literature, describing similar research, is referenced in this section to support the thinking behind the conclusion drawn about the study. In this section, explain what is important about this study in the context of other studies and future studies. What contributions do the data make in understanding of the natural world? What are some of the more compelling trends observed? Why were they compelling? What is causing these trends? What potentially caused some of the anomalies in the data? Could they have been prevented? Use the primary literature to help make these points.
    
6. LITERATURE CITED: Use APA format. 
    
7. Tables and Figures: Tables not included in the text follow the Literature Cited section in the order they are referenced within the text. Each table should appear on a separate page having a descriptive title including the table number (as they are numbered sequentially in order of reference) and any specifications in its contents detailed below the table. Figures follow the tables, again in the order of reference, filling one page and having appropriate labels.
    
8. FINAL NOTES: Proofread - grammatical and spelling errors and typos are unacceptable. Do be creative in the approach, writing as a scientist in the midst of a discovery. Make sure the paper is neat and organized, both in structure and in thought. Please let others read it, especially “non-science” people. Others should be able to understand the basic concepts if written in the paper.

lab team white board presentations Sample Rubric for: laboratory investigations that supplement the 12 required AP Biology Laboratory Investigations

1. Prepares a team (two-five minute) impromptu presentation on the laboratory investigation’s findings

2. Organizes the ideas presented

3. Applies the relevant language of science

4. Develops the question(s) to be investigated—null hypothesis

5. Explains the variables, data as it relates to the question

6. Draws conclusions and supports with scientific reasoning using evidence generated through the laboratory investigation

7. Identifies further question(s) to investigate

8. Demonstrates understanding when responding to flawed-model questions