Biology

My biology course is set up as a series of problem-solving Projects.  There is a story that connects the entire Project, and students solve parts of the problem as they learn new concepts.  The main idea of this is to use the curriculum to foster critical thinking and problem solving skills, as well as seeing how the information applies to the real world.

• Introduction to Biology

  • The first week or so is a series of short problems that go along with introductory lessons

    • Case #1:  The Handprint:  Students learn about Data & Graphing, and then use this to correlate human height and hand-size

    • Case #2:  Dead Body:  Students learn about the Characteristics of Life, and then apply this to a murder mystery by using forensic entomology to analyze a crime scene

    • Case #3:  Fingerprints:  Students learn about Microscopes and then use them to analyze fingerprints

    • Case #4:  Blood Spatter:  Students learn about Measuring and then use that to create a solution to help identify blood on a suspect's shirt sleeve

    • Case #5:  Unknown Substance:  Students get an Introduction to Chemistry, and then apply that to figure out what a substance is on a suspect's shirt

• Project #1:  The Case of the Mystery Disease

  • An illness has landed a number of colonists on a new planet into the medical clinic.  You are in charge of figuring out what is causing the illness, treating it, and potentially creating a cure.

  • Students will learn the following lessons as they work through this Project:

    • Organic Molecules & Enzymes

    • DNA & Protein Synthesis

    • Inheritance

    • Biotechnology

• Mini-Project #1:  Murder Mystery

  • A body has been found and you are handed the case.  You must identify the body, find suspects, and figure out what happened using DNA fingerprints

• Mini-Project #2:  Alien Archeology

  • An ancient alien civilization has been found on your planet, and you are tasked with identifying the remains of the royal family.  You must use genetics and biotechnology to figure it out.

• Mini-Project #3:  Biotechnology Applications

  • Students will use research and evaluation techniques to learn about various biotechnologies and then communicate that knowledge to the rest of the class

• Project #2:  The Case of the Mystery Infection

  • Once again, the medical clinic is full of patients, but this time they have an infection of some sort.  You must figure out what the cause is, where it's coming from, how to treat it, and deal with a lot of unforeseen complications as you work through this Project.

  • Students will learn the following lessons as they work through this Project:

    • Cells

    • Cell Division

    • Gene Expression

• Mini-Project #4:  Twin Study

  • Your whole colony is one big twin study to see what difference living on this new planet has on the human body from living on Earth.  You will apply knowledge of twins, how genes and the environment interact, and data / graphing techniques to create a report.

• Mini-Project #5:  The Case of the Collapsed Workers

  • A number of workers at a colony mine suddenly collapsed while working.  Your job is to figure out why.  You will investigate the various systems that keep humans working correctly, and evaluate what went wrong.

• Project #3:  Ecosystem Survey

  • This new planet has a lot of interesting ecosystems.  Your job is to analyze those ecosystems and determine how they work and how they have changed.

  • Students will learn the following lessons as they work through this Project:

    • Flow of Energy & Resources

    • Population Dynamics

    • Evolution & Classification