Course Title:  Biology
2 Semesters – 10 Credits – 5 Class Periods Per Week
 

Course Description:
Biology is a sophomore level laboratory science which includes a comprehensive study of life with an in depth look at the cell theory, replication, classification, morphology, comparative zoology and ecology.  Biology students receive a comprehensive instructional unit regarding the theory of creation and the theory of evolution.  Students complete over a dozen labs and simulations and an additional 6-7 dissections.  The course includes lecture, laboratory work and individual student research.   Course topics include:
 
Activities of Science;  Characteristics of Life;  Basic Chemistry;  Biomolecules;  Cell Structure and Function;  Energy and the Cell;  Cell Regulation;  Mitosis and Cell Division;  Basis of Heredity;  Chromosomes and Genes;  Human Inheritance;  Creation Studies;  The Classification of Life;  Monerans and Viruses;  Protists;  Fungi;  The Seed Plants;  Plant Structure and Development;  Sponges and Cnidarians;  Worms;  Mollusks and Echinoderms;  Arthropods;  Vertebrates;  Fish;  Amphibians;  Reptiles;  Birds; and Mammals. Ecology, Evolution, Creationism.
 

Course Objectives:

1. Students recognize that God calls us to be consistent discoverers of His eternal truths which are revealed through the laws of chemistry which helps to understand and explain biological processes.1 Cor. 4:1
2. Students identify how God, through Jesus Christ, is the creator and sustainer of all things for His glory and purpose. This is shown in his perfect creation of the cell and its organelles.   Heb. 1:3; 1Col. 1:15; Gen. 1
3. Students identify that God operates consistent to his character through homeostasis which maintains a stable internal bodily environment. Isa. 55:9
4. Students understand and demonstrate the skills necessary to do scientific inquiry.
5. Students demonstrate scientific skills in a lab setting.
6. Students know enzymes are proteins that catalyze biochemical reactions.
7. Students know usable energy is captured from sunlight by chloroplasts and is stored through the synthesis of sugar from carbon dioxide.
8. Students explain how equilibrium is established as a result of passive transport.
9. Students explain how substances cross the cell membrane through passive and active transport.
10. Students describe the role of the mitochondria in making stored chemical-bond energy available to cells by completing the breakdown of glucose to carbon dioxide.
11. Students outline most macromolecules (polysaccharides, nucleic acids, proteins, lipids) in cells and organisms are synthesized from a small collection of simple precursors.
12. Students examine cells and describe how they are enclosed within semi permeable membranes that regulate their interaction with their surroundings.
13. Students differentiate and compare prokaryotic cells, eukaryotic cells and viruses and how they differ in complexity and general structure.
14. Students formulate how eukaryotic cells are given shape and internal organization by a cytoskeleton or cell wall or both.
15.  Students recognize that God, through Jesus Christ, is the creator and sustainer of all things for His glory and purpose. Colossians 1:16 & 17. Students know and diagram meiosis as an early step in sexual reproduction in which the pairs of chromosomes separate and segregate randomly during cell division to produce gametes containing one chromosome of each type.
16. Students illustrate how random chromosome segregation explains the probability that a particular allele will be in a gamete.
17. Students recognize that God calls us to be consistent discoverers of His eternal truths which are revealed through knowing why approximately half of an individual’s DNA sequence comes from each parent. 1Cor. 4:1
18. Students predict possible combinations of alleles in a zygote from the genetic makeup of the parents.
19. Students synthesize the probable outcome of phenotypes in a genetic cross from the genotypes of the parents and mode of inheritance (autosomal dominant or recessive). CA standard 3a
20. Students define the genetic basis for Mendel’s laws of segregation and independent assortment.
21. Students generalize the pathway by which ribosomes synthesize proteins, using tRNAs to translate genetic information in mRNA.
22. Students apply the genetic coding rules to predict the sequence of amino acids from a sequence of codons in RNA.
23. Students differentiate the types of proteins from the sequence of amino acids.
24. Students conclude that proteins with different amino acid sequences typically have different shapes and chemical properties.
25. Students list the general structures and functions of DNA, RNA, and protein.
26. Students apply base-pairing rules to explain precise copying of DNA during replication and transcription of information from DNA into mRNA.
27. Students recognize that Mankind is totally depraved and his sinful nature is seen through defining and understanding Evolution. Psalm 51:5
28. Students justify how God operate consistent to his character and God called us to be consistent discoverers of his truths which are revealed through his creation, his word, and son. Psalm 1:3,  Job 38:1-7
29. Students recognize that God called us to be faithful stewards of his mysteries. God called us to learn, be able to articulate and understand Darwin’s two major theories and be faithful to spread the message by using bible verses to support creation. Job 38:28-30
30. Students support how God, through Jesus Christ, is the creator and sustainer of all things for His glory and purpose through referring to scripture. Genesis chapter 1-6
31. Students explain the theory of natural selection.
32. Students know variation within a species increases the likelihood that at least some members of a species will survive under changed environmental conditions.
33. Students Define spontaneous generation. Describe how Pasteur’s experiment disproved the hypothesis of spontaneous generation.
34. Students outline the 7 days of creation and are able to Refer to scripture in order to provide support for their beliefs. Proverbs 2:6-10, Leviticus 25:3-5
35. God called us to be faithful stewards of his mysteries. 1 Chronicles 29:11.Studentsanalyzes changes in an ecosystem resulting from changes in climate, human activity, introduction of nonnative species, or changes in population size.
36. Students illustrate how fluctuations in population size in an ecosystem are determined by the relative rates of birth, immigration, emigration,and death.
37. Students discuss how God operate consistent to his character through knowing how water, carbon, and nitrogen cycle between abiotic resources and organic matter in the ecosystem and how oxygen cycles through photosynthesis and respiration.
38. Students relate the stability of an ecosystem to the number of producers and decomposers.
39. Students recall that at each link in a food web some energy is stored in newly made structures but much energy is dissipated into the environment as heat. This dissipation may be represented in an energy pyramid.
40. Students list the three major functions of roots.
41. Students describe the differences between monocot stems and dicot stems.
42. Students list five differences and five similarities between the structure of roots and the structure of stems.
43. Students define the tissues that make up the internal structure of a leaf.
44. Students describe and illustrate the anatomy of a flower.
45. Students define the process of pollination, fertilization, and seed germination. 
46. Students list the importance of useful bacteria
47. Students describe the structure of a bacterial cells and bacteriophage.
48. Students correlate the classification system with how God operate consistent to his character.
49. Students distinguish the three phyla of fungi.
50. Students distinguish between invertebrate and vertebrate.
51. Students illustrate the basic body plan of a sponge, and its process of filter feeding.
52. Students describe the anatomy of an earthworm and correlate it to the truth that states that God called us to be consistent discoverers of his truths which are revealed through his creation.
53. Students name the characteristics of four major classes of mollusks and identify the major organs in a squid.
54.  God through Christ is the creator of all things for his glory and purpose. Describe the distinguishing characteristics of arthropods. Identify the major organs in a crayfish.
55. Students list the characteristics that distinguish echinoderms from other phyla. Identify the major structures in a sea star.
56. Students classify vertebrates
57. Resolve the Lab Practical test.
58. Students recall and review for their 2nd semester final exam.

 
 
Textbook:
Bible
Heath Biology, by James E. McLaren and Lissa Rotundo, Published by D.C. Heath and Company, 1989.
 
Required Materials:
                Textbook
                Pen and pencil
                Ruler
                Calculator
                3 ring notebook with tabs
                Colored pencils or markers
 
Prerequisite:
Sophomore standing