ECHHS Biology Teachers
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Biology Goals
East Chapel Hill High School

Yearlong Goals
Essential Question: How is scientific inquiry used as a tool to understand the world?

  1. You will learn how to ask significant scientific questions.
  2. You will know how to work safely.
  3. You will learn how to plan and do scientific experiments through:
    • Creating a testable hypothesis.
    • Identifying variables and using a control group when appropriate.
    • Selecting and using appropriate experimental materials.
    • Collecting, recording, organizing, and analyzing data.
    • Communicating findings to others.
  4. You will critique scientific investigations for quality by asking the following questions: Is your sample large enough? If you or another person were to repeat the experiment, would the same results be obtained? Are there different ways to test your question? Are there other ways that you could explain your results?

1st Quarter Goals
Essential Question: What are living things made of?

  1. You will understand the structure and function of the basic molecules from which all living things are made including: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.
  2. You will learn the basic structure and function of enzymes and their importance to living things.
  3. You will understand the basic chemical reactions that living things use to obtain and transform energy including: aerobic respiration, anaerobic respiration, and photosynthesis.

Essential Question: How are living things related within the biosphere?

  1. You will investigate and analyze how living things are related to one another within their population, communities, and ecosystems. To do this, we will focus on these topics:
    • The abiotic and biotic factors within a community and how they interact.
    • Factors that affect the growth of a population.
    • The basic elements used by all living things and how these materials are recycled within an ecosystem.
    • The movement of energy through an ecosystem.
  2. You will investigate and analyze the impact of human populations on both local and global environments, including:
    • Historic and future changes in human population growth.
    • How factors such as climate change and resource use relate to human activities.
    • Methods for conserving and minimizing destructive human impact on the environment.



2nd Quarter Goals
Essential Questions: What are cells made of? How are they specialized for their function? How do they maintain homeostasis?

  1. You will learn that cells contain organelles including: the plasma membrane, cell wall, mitochondria, vacuoles, chloroplasts, and ribosomes.
  2. You will learn that cells are specialized to their function and can communicate with one another.
  3. You will investigate how cells move materials in and out including: passive transport (diffusion, osmosis), active transport, and the role of ATP as a source of energy.

Essential Question: How and why do cells divide?

  1. You will learn that certain conditions make it necessary for cells to divide and that a cell goes through certain steps (mitosis and cytokinesis) to divide asexually. This allows for growth and repair of damaged cells, but also has implications for cancer.



3rd Quarter Goals
Essential Questions: How can knowledge of DNA help us understand the way that organisms are related to each other and how organisms change over time? How does DNA technology impact individuals and society today?

  1. You will analyze the molecular basis of heredity including: DNA and RNA structure, DNA replication, protein synthesis, mutations and their effect on the resulting protein, and gene regulation.
  2. You will compare asexual and sexual reproduction.
  3. You will interpret and predict patterns of inheritance including the following: dominant, recessive, and intermediate traits, multiple alleles, polygenic inheritance, sex-linked traits, independent assortment, test cross, pedigrees, and Punnett squares.
  4. You will assess the impact of the Human Genome Project and look at applications of biotechnology such as gel electrophoresis and transgenic organisms.
  5. You will examine the theory of evolution by natural selection focusing on: the origin of life, fossil and biochemical evidence, mechanisms of evolution, and applications such as pesticide and antibiotic resistance.



4th Quarter Goals
Essential Questions: How do scientists categorize living things? How do living things accomplish life functions?

  1. You will look at how scientists classify organisms based on their evolutionary relationships.
  2. You will learn how to identify an organism using a dichotomous key.
  3. You will analyze the processes by which the following groups accomplish basic life functions: protists, annelid worms, insects, amphibians, mammals, and plants.
  4. You will describe adaptations that allow organisms to survive and reproduce.
  5. You will examine how internal and external factors affect the health of an organism.
  6. You will analyze patterns of animal behavior.