Honors Biology
Honors Biology is an inquiry-based course designed to provide students with well-designed opportunities to explore their natural world. Using an active ‘hands-on’ and ‘minds-on’ approach to learning, and a variety of inquiry-based investigations, the course promotes the development of science literacy and student proficiency in the process of science. During the course, students will develop the understanding that life science principles are powerful conceptual tools for making sense of the complexity, diversity, and interconnectedness of life on Earth and that science is both a body of knowledge and an evidence-based, model-building enterprise that continually extends, refines, and revises knowledge.
Honors Biology is an inquiry-based course designed to provide students with well-designed opportunities to explore their natural world. Using an active ‘hands-on’ and ‘minds-on’ approach to learning, and a variety of inquiry-based investigations, the course promotes the development of science literacy and student proficiency in the process of science. During the course, students will develop the understanding that life science principles are powerful conceptual tools for making sense of the complexity, diversity, and interconnectedness of life on Earth and that science is both a body of knowledge and an evidence-based, model-building enterprise that continually extends, refines, and revises knowledge.
Units of Study:
Unit 1: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
Part 0: Nature of Science & Scientific Variables
Part 1: Matter and Energy Cycling through Ecosystems
Part 2: Biodiversity, Communities, and Succession
Part 3: Populations, Biomes, and Climate Change
Unit 2: Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems
Part 1: Biological Molecules
Part 2: Photosynthesis
Part 3: Cellular Respiration
Unit 3: Cell Specialization and Homeostasis
Part 1: Homeostasis, Cell Structure, Function and Transport
Part 2: Cellular Reproduction
Unit 4: DNA and Inheritance
Part 1: The Central Dogma and Technology
Part 2: Protein Synthesis and Mutations
Part 3: Heredity
Unit 5: Natural Selection and Evolution
Part 1: Natural Selection
Part 2: Evidence for Evolution