To: AP Biology Student
From: Ms. Erika Steele
Date: June 19, 2013
Re: Welcome to AP Biology 2013-2014
I hope that your end of the 2012-2013 school year was a success and that summer is off to a great start! I wanted to introduce you to some of the resources available to you for your Advanced Placement Biology class and explain some of your responsibilities to prepare for the upcoming class. The College Board has recently overhauled the AP Biology curriculum and this will be the second school year with the new course and the new exam. The course is centered around four “Big Ideas” and how they connect all life forms to each other and to a common ancestor. The four Big Ideas are:
1.The process of evolution drives the diversity and unity of life,
2.Biological systems utilize free energy and molecular building blocks to grow, to reproduce, and to maintain dynamic homeostasis,
3.Living systems store, retrieve, transmit, and respond to information essential to life processes, and
4.Biological systems interact, and these systems and their interactions possess complex properties.
This class requires that you are self-motivated and capable of independent learning. Much of your study and review will be done on your own in self-organized learning environments. We will be completing 10-12 detailed, college-level labs as well as a number of virtual labs and activities. The majority of the labs will be inquiry based where you will be responsible for designing the lab parameters and executing the procedure. Inquiry labs require a much higher level of thinking and complexity, so you must be absolutely prepared for class each and every day. Part of this preparation will include a “flipped” classroom model. (I will explain in detail my version of the “flipped” model in another introductory document.) This will include watching instructional videos and completing readings outside of class so that time in class is spent working on labs and activities. There is a lot to explore and I applaud your motivation to pursue this rigorous course and look forward to celebrating your success at the year’s end.
In order to accomplish all of this, you will need to complete a summer assignment. The summer assignment covers central biology themes, experimental design, a biochemistry review, and will introduce you to the types of labs, readings, and activities that you will be conducting throughout the year.
Your summer assignment has several parts:
1. Email me a letter of introduction.
a. Make the Subject: “AP BIO Intro
” (without quotation marks and brackets)
b. Introduce yourself:
i. What are you most looking forward to in AP Biology?
ii. What are you most anxious about in AP Biology?
iii. Which field of science do plan to pursue in college?
iv. What do you like to do (hobbies, sports, music, interests, etc…)?
v. Do you have a job?
vi. What did you enjoy in your first biology class?
vii. What was the last book you read?
2. Look out for an emailed invitation to become an author of our class blog, Concepts and Connections. This class blog will serve as an extension of our classroom for both resources and discussions. You will need a free gmail account to author the blog. Please read the CHS Blogging policy.
3. Visit the Edmodo.com site and join the site and then the AP Biology group. To do this visit www.edmodo.com and select the “I’m a Student.” button. Fill out the registration code using the group code “671kb4” and create your user name and password. Select the “Sign up” button to complete the process. This website will serve as our Class Management page for class communications, a document library, flipped lessons and video links.
4. Read Chapters 1- 4 of your textbook: Campbell, Neil A., Jane B. Reece, Martha R. Taylor, and Eric J. Simon. Biology: Concepts and Connections. 5th ed. San Francisco: Pearson, 2006. Answer all Chapter Review questions at each chapter’s end and be prepared for a Unit Test on this content the first week back to school.
5. Complete the How Science Works Tutorial (21 slides) Go to http://undsci.berkeley.edu/index.php, click on “How Science Works” in the tab Understanding Science 101, and take notes on the back of your How Science Works Flowchart. Here is a link to the flowchart document http://undsci.berkeley.edu/lessons/pdfs/complex_flow_blankgray.pdf *Your notes should focus on the proper way to carry out scientific investigations and present and analyze data.
6. Watch Paul Andersen’s “Introduction to AP Biology” podcast
7. Watch Paul Andersen’s “Scientific Method” podcast
8. Assemble a digital scavenger hunt album. Choose 15 biological terms and “collect” a representation of these terms. You will post a photo log on the Concepts and Connections Blog sharing your images and explaining the significance and meaning of each term. Each image must be your own photo (no Web images) and the brief caption must be in your own words (not a cut and pasted definition). I will provide a model post. Your first set of photos (seven or eight) should be posted no later than July 27th and the second set by August 17th. Your posts should be unique and you are encouraged to read and comment on posts by your classmates. Plan to check the Concepts and Connections Blog at least 4 times over the course of the summer.
I encourage you to pace yourself and work through the material in small steps. The information will be better retained than if you cram it all in the last week of summer. Feel free to email me with any questions or concerns.
Enjoy the remainder of your summer. I look forward to meeting you online and in person in the fall.
