Beginning of the Year!

Here is what we have already done and will be doing at the beginning of this year:

• Mon 8/27:  Full 8 Day!  30 minutes of brief introduction to the year.  Read 4.1.
• Wed 8/29:  Classroom procedures.  Hand out Safety Contract and Academic Contract to be signed by next Friday 9/7.  Group work on Ecology.  Individual bookwork done in your notebook.  Read 4.2.
• Fri 8/31:  Go over 4.1 bookwork.  Discuss how to do Chi-Squared and do it.  Get 4.1 work checked off today or next Wednesday.  Notes on nutrient cycling, sustainability, and mesocosms.  Jane Poynter video on Biosphere 2.
• Wed 9/5:  Finish checking off 4.1 work and go over it.  Energy transformation notes.  At your table group, make an illustrated food web that includes at least 10 organisms and draw an energy pyramid that represents one of the food chains.  Read 4.3.
• Fri 9/7:  Carbon cycling.  Distinguish between carbon pools and carbon fluxes.  Pick 2 out of the 4 DBQ's in 4.3 and do them in your notebook.  Draw a labeled carbon cycle in your notebook.  Read 4.4 for next Tuesday.

In-class Work for 8/29/2018

Group Brainstorm.  Have somebody in your group record to share out.

1. What do you think “ecology” means?

2.  What topics do you think fit under the ecology umbrella?

3.  When people say that a person is “ecologically-minded”, what do they mean?

4.   Who are some famous ecologists?

To be done in your notebook (each of you).  You can use 4.1 in the text for the rest

5.  What are     a)  producers?     b)  primary consumers?    c)  secondary consumers?     

d)  detritivores?    e)  saprotrophs?       If possible, include an example of each of the above.

6.  What are   a)  autotrophs?    b)  heterotrophs?   Examples?

7.  Define:  a)  species    b)  population    c)  community

8. What is an ecosystem?  Give 3 examples.

9.  How does an ecosystem remain sustainable?

10. DBQ on p. 204

11. DBQ on p. 209 (start if you have time, but we will discuss this and have more time on Fri 9/31)

Welcome Back to IB Biology HL!!

Welcome back for your senior year (except for a couple of you) of IB Biology!  I think you will enjoy the material for this year as we have saved the best for last!  At the same time, it will also take a lot of effort and perseverance.  It can be very challenging to juggle college aps, extended essays, portfolios, athletics, activities, and just having a social life!  You will probably find that you can't do it all and you will have to make some choices so that you can navigate the year.  Here is the proposed outline of topics for this year: 

Ecology (Chapter 4)

Biodiversity (5.3 and 5.4)

Evolution (5.1, 5.2, 1.5 and 10.3)

Digestion (6.1)

Circulation (6.2)

Respiration (6.4)

Carry out Individual Investigation (IA)

Semester 1 Final Exam

Immunology (6.3 and 11.1)

Muscles and Movement (11.2)

The Kidney (11.3)

Sexual Reproduction (6.6 and 11.4)

Neurons and Synapses (6.5)

Option A,B,C, or D (we will vote shortly)

Review for the IB Exam!

Late April:  Practice IB Exam on Papers 1, 2, and 3

May:  take IB exams and work on end of year projects