Essential Questions
How do interactions between and within populations influence patterns of species distribution and abundance?
How do living things use energy and matter to survive in an ecosystem?
How do humans impact the biodiversity of ecosystems?
What role does the environment play in sustaining homeostasis in biological systems?
Learning Objectives
Describe a scientific hypothesis about the origin of life on Earth. [LO 1.27, SP 1.2]
Evaluate scientific questions based on hypotheses about the origin of life on Earth. [LO 1.28, SP 3.3]
Describe the reasons for revisions of scientific hypotheses of the origin of life on Earth. [LO 1.29, SP 6.3]
Evaluate scientific hypotheses about the origin of life on Earth. [LO 1.30, SP 6.5]
Evaluate the accuracy and legitimacy of data to answer scientific questions about the origin of life on Earth. [LO 1.31, SP 4.4]
Justify the selection of geological, physical, and chemical data that reveal early Earth conditions. [LO 1.32, SP 4.1]
Learning Objectives
Construct an explanation of how viruses introduce genetic variation in host organisms. [LO 3.29, SP 6.2]
Use representations and appropriate models to describe how viral replication introduces genetic variation in the viral population. [LO 3.30, SP 1.4]
Learning Objectives
Connect how organisms use negative feedback to maintain their internal environments. [LO 2.16, SP 7.2]
Evaluate data that show the effect(s) of changes in concentrations of key molecules on negative feedback mechanisms.
[LO 2.17, SP 5.3]
Make predictions about how organisms use negative feedback mechanisms to maintain their internal environments. [LO 2.18, SP 6.4]
Make predictions about how positive feedback mechanisms amplify activities and processes in organisms based on scientific theories and models. [LO 2.19, SP 6.4]
Justify that positive feedback mechanisms amplify responses in organisms. [LO 2.20, SP 6.1]
Learning Objectives
Justify the selection of the kind of data needed to answer scientific questions about the relevant mechanism that organisms use to respond to changes in their external environment. [LO 2.21, SP 4.1]
Design a plan for collecting data to support the scientific claim that the timing and coordination of physiological events involve regulation. [LO 2.35, SP 4.2]
Justify scientific claims with evidence to show how timing and coordination of physiological events involve regulation. [LO 2.36, SP 6.1]
Use representations or models to analyze quantitatively and qualitatively the effects of disruptions to dynamic homeostasis in biological systems. [LO 2.28, SP 1.4]
Learning Objectives
Connect differences in the environment with the evolution of homeostatic mechanisms. [LO 2.27, SP 7.1]
Explain how the distribution of ecosystems changes over time by identifying large-scale events that have resulted in these changes in the past. [LO 4.20, SP 6.3]
Analyze data to identify phylogenetic patterns or relationships, showing that homeostatic mechanisms reflect both continuity due to common ancestry and change due to evolution in different environments. [LO 2.26, SP 5.1]
Activity 1
Propose a hypothesis about how the Earth formed
Write a description of early Earth using biotic and abiotic factors http://exploringorigins.org/timeline.html
Describe and evaluate other hypotheses regarding the origin of earth
Time: 45 minutes
Activity 2
Read the article “Genetic Variation Increases HIV Risk in Africans” (Science Daily) The article looks at an explanation of how viral
replication can introduce genetic variation in a viral population
Write a one-page summary explaining how viruses introduce genetic variation into host organisms
Time: 45 minutes
Activity 1
Create a Venn diagram that describes the differences between viruses and human cells Are viruses living? How is genetic variation incorporated into hosts? What role do viruses play in a biological system?
Share your ideas with the rest of the class
Time: 20 minutes
Activity 2
Go to the computer lab to research and analyze articles found at www.cdc.gov http://www.cdc.gov/flu/antivirals/whatyoushould.htm
Your goal is to prove or disprove the idea that antiviral drugs work
Work with a partner to research the topic and create a Powerpoint presentation. Email your presentation to me.
Explain why it is difficult which strain should be produced with antiviral drugs
Time: 60 minutes
Activity 1
Any problems from last lesson?
Do you know what work you are required to hand in?
Time: 10 minutes
Activity 2
Create a diagram of an organism of your choice that shows how the organism maintains homeostasis
Include the following: Control center, sensor, stimulus, effect, normal
temperature, negative feedback, and positive feedback
Include annotations that explain how organisms use negative feedback to maintain their internal environments
Time: 30 minutes
Activity 3
Choose a disease that affects a particular body system (i.e. Parkinson’s, asthma, cancer (various), HIV/AIDS, ulcers, diabetes, etc.)
What homeostatic mechanism does it affect?
Make predictions regarding how pharmaceutical companies will need to design drugs that will fight the disease based on the negative feedback mechanisms the organism has
Report this prediction to the class
Time: 45 minutes (30 minutes research, 15 minutes presentation)
Day 4 (60 min)Library
Work with a partner and choose 2 environmental disasters to explain how the distribution of changes in the ecosystem over time may affect changes in the future Hurricanes, floods, droughts, oil spills, earthquakes,
tsunamis, disease epidemics, etc.
Create a visual representation (i.e. poster, powerpoint, model, etc.) showing the before and after effects, and how it relates to evolution
Day 5Computer lab – 3 activities
Use the following site to see how the birth control pill works You will not be able to view the video, but there is a text only
version http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/sfeature/sf_cycle.html
Use note cards to explain that timing and coordination of certain events are necessary for normal development and are regulated by multiple mechanisms
How is the menstrual cycle affected by the contraceptive pill?
Create a table to represent the different hormones that are released with and without the pill
How does the pill disrupt the dynamic homeostatic clock in a female reproductive system?
Activity 2
Find a research article online that looks at the effects of hormone replacement drugs
Analyze the article, focusing on the evaluation of the collected data that supports the claim that timing and coordination of physiological events are regulated by multiple mechanisms
Activity 3
Choose a physiological event in a plant or animal Eg. Phototropism, photoperiodism in plants Eg. Circadian rhythms, diurnal/nocturnal cycles, jet
lag, seasonal responses, pheromones in animals
Create a comic strip that details the timing and coordination of your chosen event
Activity 1
Go over previous 2 lessons
Time to complete work & present activities you were working on
Time: 20 minutes
Activity 2
Create a diagram to show how a person removes their hand from a hot stove when the touch it
Include the following terms in your diagram: Stimulus/sensory input Response/motor output Cell body, dendrite, axon Neurotransmitter Synapse
Time: 20 minutes
Activity 3
Create a Venn diagram to show the differences between action potentials and graded potentials
Time: 10 minutes
Activity 4
Choose one of the following disorders:
Schizophrenia, Depression, Drug Addiction, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s Explain what it is How does it affect the nervous system? Are there drugs/therapies to control it? What side effects do these drugs/therapies have? What percent of the population does it effect?
Time: 30 minutes
Day 7
Use this class period to get caught up on any missing work
All corrections and outstanding work due Friday, March 15
Activity 1
Create a travel magazine(think of the ones that you find on an airplane) that depicts and describes at least 5 different biomes (use ch. 52 for the biomes)
For each biome, start at the macro level and drill down (biome, country, city/town, specific ecosystem, specific animal, specific plant
Include the following: Climate Location Abiotic and biotic factors Human impact on the biome Specific adaptations the plants/animals have to survive
Time: 40 minutes
Activity 2
Go to the website: http://learner.org/courses/envsci/interactives/disease/
In this interactive lab, you will explore various types of diseases
Each disease represents a fast-spreading epidemic with a high mortality rate
Download the data table on the first page to record your data as you go
Work through The Virgin Field, Vaccination, and Counter-Virus and keep record of your answers
Time: 40 minutes
Activity 1
Pre-lab questions: Do all plants have stomata? Is there any relationship between the number of
stomata and the environment in which the plant species evolved? Are leaf surface area and the number of stomata related to the rate of
transpiration? What might happen to the rate of transpiration if the number of leaves or the size of leaves is reduced?
Do all parts of a plant transpire? Do all plants transpire at the same rate? Is there a relationship between the
habitat in which plants evolved and their rate of transpiration? What other factors might contribute to the rate of transpiration? What structural/physiological processes help plants regulate the amount of
water lost through transpiration? How do plants maintain the balance between the transport of CO2 and O2 and the amount of water lost through transpiration?
Time: 20 minutes
Activity 2
The investigations, part 1
Answer the “Getting Started” questions #1-4
Obtain a leaf sample (I will show you which are best to use)
Work through Steps 1 and 2 You do not need to use the nail polish. The leaves we use
you can see the stomata without having to prepare a slide
Time: 30 minutes
Activity 3
Designing and Conducting Your Investigation
With your partner, read through this section and decide what you want to do for your investigation
We will complete this on Friday
Use the rubric as a guide for what you need to include in your investigation
Activity 1
You will use this class period to set up and conduct your investigation
You will use the mini-poster method to communicate your findings
Time: 90 minutes
Due: March 21