Syllabus+AP+Prep

**Instructor: Miss Kate Lyon ** Email: klyon@jfksberlin.org Office Room 204
 * 9th grade AP Biology Prep Syllabus 2012-13 **

1. Two ringed binder 2. Lined paper 3. Blue/Black pens 4. Colored pencils
 * Class Materials: **

Materials will be brought to class everyday. The binder should reflect what has been discussed in class including all handouts, class notes, diagrams and labs. Your binder will be your study guide and lifeline in biology.


 * Class Expectations: **
 * 1) 1Attend class and be on time.
 * 2) Everyone is expected to treat others with __respect__ and courtesy at all times.
 * 3) Behave in a mature manner; put downs and vulgar or offensive language/actions will not be tolerated.
 * 4) Class will be dismissed by me, not the bell! Students are expected to stay seated until dismissed. Lining up at the door will not be allowed.
 * 5) If you are absent from class, YOU are required to get the class notes and homework that you missed. The assignment due on the first day of your absence is due the first day of your return. There will be no reminders from the teacher; you remember for yourself. If you miss class because of a school-related reason, you must hand in work due before the end of the day or no credit will be given. Any notes and homework missed that day will be due the following day. __Being absent the day before a test/quiz is not a viable reason not to take a quiz!__ Students must have their lab partners phone number for information exchange.


 * Grading: **
 * % ||  100  ||  99-95  ||  94-91  ||  90-87  ||  86-83  ||  82-80  ||  79-75  ||  74-70  ||  69-65  ||  64-60  ||  59-55  ||  54-50  ||  49-40  ||  39-30  ||  29-20  ||  19-0  ||
 * # ||  15  ||  14  ||  13  ||  12  ||  11  ||  10  ||  9  ||  8  ||  7  ||  6  ||  5  ||  4  ||  3  ||  2  ||  1  ||  0  ||
 * # ||  1+  ||  1  ||  1-  ||  2+  ||  2  ||  2-  ||  3+  ||  3  ||  3-  ||  4+  ||  4  ||  4-  ||  5+  ||  5  ||  5-  ||  6  ||

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">The JFKS grading scales applies. Grades are based on a point system and are broken down into three categories as follows: -66.7% General Part 33.4% Written: (Homework / Classwork / Quizzes / Projects / Labs) 33.3% Oral (prepared for class, contribution to class discussions, curiosity, group collaboration, respectful to classmates, mature attitude when addressing instructor) -33.3% Exams


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">Tests/Quizzes: **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">Tests are announced in advance and quizzes may or may not be. If you are absent the day of an assessment, you must take the test the day you return.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">Homework: **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">Homework will be turned in ON TIME. All homework will be due at the beginning of the period. If it is not turned in at the beginning of class it is considered late. A late assignment can only be handed in the day after it is due for half credit. Any day after that will be calculated as a zero. There will be no reminders of what you need to hand in. You may not make up any work unless it is planned with the teacher previously.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">Labs are important. Each lab will be recorded in the lab notebook according to the rubric. Students are expected to read each lab carefully before coming to the laboratory and are responsible for following all correct laboratory and safety procedures. Students should also use the lab aid, [|**LabBench**]<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">, to make sure they understand all lab procedures before beginning a lab exercise. Due to the large amount of time required for laboratory set-up and time sensitive materials, it is essential that you are always present on lab days. Making up the Lab will most likely not be possible, but you will still be responsible for the work - details explained in class. Labs will always be recorded in your gridded, BOUND lab notebook with EACH PAGE NUMBERED, SIGNED and DATED. I recommend the Student Lab Notebook with spiral binding. The ISBN# is 978-1-930882-35-5. A table of contents will be recorded on the first page. Within one week of completing the lab, students will turn in lab reports in the format provided by the instructor. Students may be quizzed and tested on lab procedures and data. One formal lab report will be written per semester. Due dates will be announced. <span style="color: #bd158c; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">[|LabBench] [[http://www.phschool.com/science/biology_place/labbench/| __ __]]<span style="color: #bd158c; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">[|Lab Report Format] <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">  <span style="color: #bd158c; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">[|LabWrite]
 * Labs: **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">Miscellaneous: **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">CLEAN lab tables, desks and floor before leaving the classroom. How you come in is how it will be when you leave. If the classroom is left a mess, points will be taken off assignments. The teacher does not need to warn you about losing points for your mess.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">Eating and drinking is PROHIBITED in the science classroom. Science classes involve many chemicals, animals, etc. on the lab benches and is, therefore, unsafe to eat or drink. Even if a student does not have a lunch, they are not permitted to bring their lunch inside the classroom. There are plenty of other opportunities to bring your lunch into another class, science is the exception. Repercussions will be administered accordingly. The teacher has the ability to take away any privilege.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">Extra Help: **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">Extra help is __always__ available before, during or after school. It is your responsibility to get help when necessary. If you are having trouble, do not be shy or suffer in silence! In the morning and after school I can usually be found in room 212 or in my office.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;">Have a great year! Organismal focus Activity: Building Cladograms ||
 * ** Topic ** ||  ** Specifics **  ||  ** Activites **  ||
 * Ecology Intro || Basics: food webs, relationships || Predator prey activity ||
 * Population Ecology || Growth rates, factors effecting populatins || Activity: Bottle ecology ||
 * Evolution || Origin of Life, Macroevolution || Lab – Coacervates. ||
 * Diversity of Life / Phylogenetics || Tour of the Domains of Life || Internet exploration – “tree of Life”
 * Plant Physiology || Structure and Function of Plants || Lab - Transpiration ||
 * Animal Physiology || Structure and Function of Animal body systems (Mainly endocrine, excretory and skeletal, and others as time allows) || Lab – Heart rate/ BP, breathing rate. ||

Major Goals: The AP Prep course was designed to give prospective AP Biology students additional background information in Biology, in order for them to be more successful in the 11th grade. The course fills in the gaps of the current standards-based 7-10th grade Biology courses, and provides additional skills in laboratories, research and scientific writing. Each year the course focuses on essentially half of the AP Bio topics, providing a more appropriate pace at which to understand the concepts at a depth that time does not provide in the 11th grade course.

Materials and Equipment: The students are exposed to a majority of the lab equipment to be used in the AP course – including but not limited to: microscopes, prepared slides, buret’s, digital scales, spectrophotometers. They are also expected to become familiar with working with organisms, so they work with //Drosophila melanogaster//. Finally, the course emphases the use of technology, and much of the course work introduces students to proper web-based research methods, and the use of software that supports lab write-ups and graphing.