IB  Biology  HL/Advanced  Biology  Schenectady  High  School  

Course  Syllabus                                    

   

Table  of  Contents    

2-­‐Year  Topic  Outlook…………………………………….Page  2  

Course  Resources………………………………………….Page  3  

Class  Policies………………………………………………...Page  4  

How  will  I  be  graded  in  IB  Biology?........................Page  5  

HW  Rubric…………………………………………………….Page  6  

Class  Participation  Rubric………………………………Page  7  

Exams  and  Lab  Report  Grading……………………....Page  8  -­‐  9  

   

Photo  credit:  actor212  

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IB  Biology  HL  at  Schenectady  High  School  2-­Year  Topic  Outlook  

 Topic Essential Questions Year 1 Biochemistry Cell Biology Disease: Immunity Disease: Microbes and Biotechnology (extended topic)

• How do the small things matter?

• How does our understanding of chemistry help us solve complex problems?

Ecology • How can we design a self-sustaining ecosystem that includes technology?

Plant Biology • In what ways are plants more self-sustaining than humans?

Year 2 Evolution • How do we interpret

evidences to our evolution? Genetics • How do we apply our

understanding of DNA to solve scientific problems?

Human Physiology (extended topic) • How do highways mimic our transport system?

• How is our body designed to acclimate against different physical demands?

• What is the role of reproduction in community and global health?

• How do we sustain health at multiple levels?

                   

 

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COURSE  RESOURCES   Your instructor: Ms. Chien Class Website: www.mschien.com -- We will be working through my website frequently. You will be expected to write blogs, participate in discussions, view multimedia resources, and download readings and assignments. Schenectady’s J-Store: Access to major scientific journals for your research! Text: Campbell and Reece, Biology, 7th Edition Biozone class texts You can contact MsChien at — Our classroom is E5.

Email: mschien@mschien.com chiena@schenectady.k12.ny.us AOL/AIM Screen Name: mschien

I am logged on usually after 7 PM daily. I sleep around 10 PM. I am also logged on 24/7 on the weekends. If I do not respond to your message, I am busy, so leave a message or email.

Help Hours:

Help Hours will differ from week to week. It will be announced and posted on mschien.com. You can arrange an appointment with MsChien afterschool for help.

There is no help availability from MsChien the day before an exam, major project or lab report.

Preparation for ClassPreparation for Class : Your preparation is assumed. Expected daily in class

A section in your binder dedicated to this class. A dedicated spiral notebook is acceptable. Your notebook will be checked periodically for organization and neatness.

A system to store your handouts (i.e. folder, portable hole puncher) A good supply of pens (blue or black only!) A good supply of pencils for graph, sketch and math work Editing tools (white-out and erasers) Appointment/schedule calendar to write down assignment due dates and exam reminders.

Should have available at home

Your textbook Computer with Internet access Printer with lots of ink and paper A good place to work

Basic  computer  skills  are  essential  in  succeeding  in  college.  If  you  don’t  have  a  computer  or  printer  at  home,  you  need  to  know  where  and  how  you  can  have  access  to  these  resources.  Check  out  your  house  schedule  for  lunchtime  and  afterschool  computer  availability!  MsChien  can  help  you  with  this  as  well.  

Talk  to  her  privately.  

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CLASS  POLICIES   Group Work.Group Work. We will frequently work in pairs and teams. Sometimes I will allow you to choose your own partner, at other times I will assign students to work together. Since you are juniors, I expect you to accept these assignments without complaint/whining. Although we will do lab work in teams, each student will write up his/her own lab report. If you have a hard time putting things in your own words, then your understanding of the material is lacking, so ask for help! During group work, answers and solutions may be freely shared, but all members are expected to contribute. Simply copying answers from another lab report, homework, etc. without having helped to produce the product is plagiarism and will be treated as such. Missed Class Make Up.Missed Class Make Up. If you miss an assignment due to an absence, it is YOUR responsibility to seek and schedule a make-up, not my responsibility to seek you out. If you are absent, visit the class web site to see what you missed. You have one week to make up any assignments missed due to your legal absence. If you missed a lab due to a legal absence, it is YOUR responsibility to schedule a lab make up session within two weeks of your absence. Missed labs may require actual lab make-up or completion of an alternative assignment. You may not make up assignments, activities or labs missed due to an illegal lateness or absences. Late Work.Late Work. Late work due to an excused absence will be accepted without penalty if it is turned in on the day you return to school. All other late work will be accepted with a half grade penalty up to five school days late. You must talk to me personally if your work is late. Lab Safety.Lab Safety. Each student must have returned a lab safety contract, signed by student and parent before being allowed to do lab work. ElectronElectronics Use.ics Use. Cell phones must be turned off or placed on vibrate during class. Texting is forbidden. Music devices (IPODS, mp3’s, etc) and headsets are turned off/on vibrate and put out of sight. A second warning results in a phone call home. A third incident results in confiscation of the device to be sent to the dean.  Cheating.Cheating. Cheating is never profitable. We are here to learn and cheating makes learning impossible.

Cheating will not be tolerated and is clearly a violation of course and school policy. The following acts of cheating are examples of behavior that will result in disciplinary actions as set by SHS.

Passing calculators during a test, quiz, or other assessment Copying someone else’s test, quiz, homework, assignment, or report Letting someone copy from a test, quiz, homework, assignment, or report Looking at notes during a test, quiz, or other assessment Sharing questions from a test with students who have yet to take the test Listing someone else’s data without giving credit, or worse, making up data to fit the expected

answer. It is acceptable to present your own data, to state the reasons that you feel the results should be disregarded, and then to present another student’s data (making sure the source is acknowledged)

Any form of plagiarism Using opinions, facts, ideas, charts, data and direct quotes from research papers, newspapers,

magazines, textbooks, websites, or another person without citing the source. Quotes need not to be more than 3 sentences long and requires much analysis from your part, using your own words. Any quotes longer than that is considered an act of cheating.

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Exams  and  Quizzes  

Internal  Assessments  and  Projects  

  Participation    Homework   Attendance  

  Participation  includes  class  discussions  and  lab  work.    It  is  numerically  recorded  and  published  on  Pentamation.      Depending  on  the  student’s  success  within  a  research  experimental  period,  they  can  earn  up  to  a  5%  BONUS  on  a  corresponding  IA.  This  bonus  is  applied  to  their  SHS  grade.  Only  the  IA’s  original  score  is  report  to  IB.    

Homework  in  class  is  numerically  recorded  and  published  on  Pentamation.    Depending  on  the  student’s  success  within  a  chapter,  they  can  earn  up  to  5%  BONUS  on  an  exam.  

Attendance  to  class  is  recorded  and  published  on  Pentamation.    

Your  grades  will  be  based  on    -­‐-­‐50%  exams  and  quizzes  -­‐-­‐50%  lab  reports  and  projects  

 Your  performance  on  these  aspects  will  be  reported  on  your  progress  reports  and  used  to  compute  your  semester  and  final  grades.  They  are  published  on  Pentamation.    How  many  exams  and  quizzes  will  we  have?    After  each  chapter  we  will  have  an  exam.  Within  a  chapter,  we  will  have  at  least  one  quiz.  A  quiz  is  worth  ½  of  an  exam.    All  quizzes  and  exams  are  based  on  IB  questions  and  format.      What  are  Internal  Assessments  and  how  are  they  important?    Internal  Assessments  (IA’s)  are  lab  research  assignments  that  are  a  requirement  for  IB  diploma,  certificate  and  advanced  biology  candidates.  If  you  are  an  IB  diploma  or  certificate  student,  your  IA  scores  will  also  be  reported  to  IB,  which  will  be  used  to  determine  your  final  IB  Biology  score.  In  any  case,  all  IA’s  are  used  to  assess  a  students’  sense  of  responsibility,  creativity,  independence,  writing  and  critical  thinking  skills.    

   If  participation,  homework  and  attendance  are  not  a  part  of  my  grade,  how  are  they  important?    I  use  your  participation,  HW  and  attendance  data  to  write  your  recommendation  for  college  admissions,  a  job  opportunity  and  any  special  summer  and  programs  you  want  to  join.    People  can  see  how  smart  you  are  by  looking  at  your  transcript,  but  your  grades  do  not  illuminate  you  as  a  person.  Therefore  the  teacher’s  recommendation  is  more  of  a  character  reference.  I  use  participation,  HW  and  attendance  data  to  talk  about  your  sense  of:  

Responsibility   Honesty  and  Integrity  (Principle)   Organization   Community  (team  work)   Leadership  potential   Potential  as  a  contributing  citizen  

 I  can  write  more  about  you  if  you  give  me  a  rich  set  of  data  to  work  with  for  the  next  2  years.    I  can  write  good  things  about  every  student  with  good  grades,  but  a  student  with  good  grades  that  does  all  their  HW,  participates  consistently  and  has  solid  attendance  will  have  a  more  dynamic  recommendation  than  a  person  who  can  produce  the  grades  with  heavy  procrastination  and  keeps  quiet  in  class.      While  some  college  admission  counselors  weigh  the  guidance  counselor’s  recommendation  heavily,  many  guidance  counselors  use  the  subject  teacher’s  recommendation  as  a  reference  point.    

The  homework  and  participation  activities  are  designed  to  prepare  you  

for  better  scores  in  your  IA,  quizzes  and  exams.  If  you  avoid  them,  you  WILL  

miss  out.    

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HW  Rubric  Written work includes all homework (readings, mini lab worksheets) and in-class

assignments (i.e. journal, worksheets, lab planners). The standards are designed

to help you prepare for the Internal assessments (labs) and exams, which are

the majority of your final grade. The goal here is to measure YOUR EFFORT on

becoming a master learner. During the beginning of the course, you might be

on practitioner level – you will grow to the mastery level.

Effort Level Description

Mastery

Equivalent to

95 level work

D.E.E (Define, Elaborate, Examples) is used accordingly

Work is completed to the full extent using evidence and connections from text,

reliable resources, class data and/or personal experiences.

Student shows independence as a learner by adding in own ideas and

questions that are genuine and thought provoking.

Work is organized, clear, and shows ownership

Forman

Equivalent to

85 level work

D.E.E (Define, Elaborate, Examples) is used accordingly

Work is 85% completed using evidence and connections from text, reliable

resources and class data and experiences.

Work is organized, clear, and shows ownership

Practitioner

Equivalent to

80 level work

D.E.E (Define, Elaborate, Examples) is used, with 1 or 2 omissions.

Work is 80% completed using evidence and connections from text, reliable

resources and class data and experiences.

Work is organized, clear, and shows ownership

Apprentice

Equivalent to

75 level work

Use of D.E.E is inconsistent

Work is incomplete, resources and evidences are questionable.

Work is organized, clear, and shows ownership

Novice

Equivalent to

70 and below

level work

No effort was made in the work. More than Less than 70% of the work are

incomplete, incorrect and/or left blank.

Plagiarism is evident

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Class  Participation  Rubric      FOR  CLASS  WIDE  DISCUSSIONS  (STUDENT-­LEADER  IN  CHARGE)    

Addresses  a  juicy  question  with  evidence  (+2  pts)    Challenges  the  whole  class  by  posing  a  juicy  question  based  on  the  topic  at  hand  (+1.5  pts)    

Juicy  Question  =    

A  “devil’s  advocate”  question  (you  force  others  to  look  at  a  different  POV’s)  

Challenges  someone’s  misconception   You  challenge  the  person  to  bring  out  the  evidence  for  their  

thoughts    

Answers  the  question  by  adding  on/  connecting  to  other’s  ideas  (+1  pt)    Answers  the  question  with  evidence  OR  asks  a  thoughtful  question  that  moves  the  whole  class  forward  (+0.5  pts)      Repeats  a  question,  or  asks  a  question  that  has  been  clearly  answered    Being  rude,  conducts  side  chatter  

       FOR  LAB  WORK  (WORKING  INDIVIDUALLY  OR  WITH  A  TEAM)  In  addition  to  being  included  in  the  classwork  grade,  your  lab  work  performance  score  will  be  strongly  considered  in  your  lab  report  grade.        

Takes  on  leadership  roles  for  the  group  to  move  forward  AND  BEYOND    Takes  on  leadership  roles  for  the  group  to  move  forward      Is  a  good  follower  by  doing  own  role  as  well  as  help  the  whole  group  move  forward  by  keeping  each  other  in  check.      Is  a  good  follower  by  doing  own  role.  Don’t  need  others  to  tell  what  to  do.      Does  the  minimal  work  required  –  waits  for  others  to  be  motivated    Does  not  do  the  work  /  work  is  incomplete  –  gets  very  distracted  and  distracts  other  folks  

 

Basic  credit  starts  here  

Basic  credit  starts  here  

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How  are  EXAMS  formatted  and  graded?  There is an exam every 2 weeks. Each exam contains three sections, to be completed

within one hour of the class. The end-of-the-year final is equivalent to 2 exam grades.

In addition to assessing your understanding of the current topics in class, each exam is

cumulative in nature. This means that some questions will pop up from old exams,

especially those that the class struggled with. If you understand and follow up with

what’s going on in class, making connections from one unit to another should be easy

for you. We will review before and after each exam, and you are expected to do

exam corrections as a part of your written assignment. Therefore, you HAVE to ask

questions to make sure you understand the material NOW.

How are my LAB REPORTS graded?

In addition to this formal IB internal assessment scoring system, your lab work will be graded for your regular

course grade using the scale below. In order to maximize your chance of doing well, you should consult the

grading rubric in detail, the lab write up guide and use the Student Checklist for IB Lab Report. Most

importantly, take advantage of drafts, peer and teacher critique opportunities!

Assessment Using One (1) Criteria with 3 aspects (6 points total)

Assessment Using Two (2) Criterions: with 6 aspects (12 points total)

Total

Points 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 3-4 1-2 0

Regular

Course

Equivalent

100 95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50

Assessment Using Three (3) Criterions with 9 aspects (18 points total)

Total

Points 18 17 16 15-14 11 - 13 8-10 6-7 4-5 2-3 1 0

Regular

Course

Equivalent

100 95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50

SHS Late Lab Policy for IB Students: 50% off of the class grade / no penalty for IB grade

Format  Part 1: Multiple Choice  Part 2: Short Answers  

Total

Points 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Regular

Course

Equivalent

100 95 85 75 65 55 50