Advanced Topics in Biology
Advanced Topics in Biology Online High School Course
COURSE LENGTH:
Full Year (30 Sessions)
Course Overview
Advanced Topics in Biology is a full year (30 synchronous session) advanced high school course covering biology topics commonly encountered in a first year introductory college course. Similar to an introductory college level course, the pace is fast. Students can expect to spend no more than 1-2 lessons on each chapter. This places a premium on advance preparation and textbook reading. Students are primarily assessed through a mixture of short pre- and post-class quizzes, a collection of online Pivot labs and a set of open-ended, free response questions at the end of each unit. The course is strong preparation for any high school student preparing to take two semesters of introductory biology in college.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
The AT Biology course mimics or follows an introductory college-level biology course.
Students cultivate their understanding of biology through inquiry-based investigations as they explore the following topics: evolution, cellular processes, energy and communication, genetics, information transfer, ecology, and interactions.
Upon completion of the course students will have comprehension and understanding of the four main ideas that underpin modern biological studies:
Big Idea 1: Evolution - The process of evolution drives the diversity and unity of life
Big Idea 2: Energy - Biological systems utilize free energy and molecular building blocks to grow, to reproduce, and to maintain dynamic homeostasis
Big Idea 3: Information - Living systems store, retrieve, transmit and respond to information essential to life processes.
Big Idea 4: Systems - Biological systems interact, and these systems and their interactions possess complex properties.
Students will develop skills and analytical reasoning experience using representations and models to communicate scientific phenomena and solve scientific problems.
Students will use mathematics appropriately in analyzing scientific data
Students will learn and practice how to plan and implement data collection strategies in relation to a particular scientific question.
Students will perform data analysis and evaluation of evidence.
Students will work with scientific explanations and theories to gain a broader understanding of how biologists interpret life.
Students will connect and relate knowledge across various scales, concepts and representations in and across the domains of life.