Study Guides by Unit for AP Biology

In going through the process of the AP Biology course audit and writing my syllabus, I came across the work of some people who inspired me to make these study guides.  The College Board has four sample syllabi, and both #2 and #3 talked about a list of enduring understandings or science practices that they provided students to self-assess themselves as they went through the course and also to help them keep view of the overarching themes of the course.  I had also seen an AP Biology Essential Knowledge Student Diagnostic done by Jeremy Conn on Clear Biology.  I decided that it may be helpful for my students to have a chart of the enduring understandings, essential knowledge, and learning objectives that are included in each unit that we study.  The process of putting these together was also helpful to me, to make sure that the course I teach really does include each of these items.  I have one huge file that includes directions for students on how to use the charts as well as all the charts for the 10 units the course is divided into.  I also have 10 smaller files: one for each unit I teach. If you want to see which chapters are in each unit, you can see them in my syllabus.

Enduring Understandings, Essential Knowledge, and Learning Objectives by Unit

Unit 1 Chart-Biochemistry

Unit 2 Chart-Cells

Unit 3 Chart-Cellular Energetics

Unit 4 Chart-Cell Reproducion

Unit 5 Chart-Mendelian Heredity

Unit 6 Chart-Molecular Genetics

Unit 7 Chart-Evolution

Unit 8 Chart-Plant Form and Function

Unit 9 Chart-Ecology

Unit 10 Chart-Animal Form and Function

Writing a syllabus for AP Biology for the College Board

My big project for this summer was to complete the course audit with the College Board for AP Biology.  Even though I started teaching the class last year, my school did not pressure me to complete this right away.  Actually, we were focused on getting the class approved as a University in the High School class.  Since that was completed last year, I decided this year, I would complete the course audit, so the class could officially be called "Advanced Placement Biology".  I am so grateful for the freedom my school gave me to wait.  After teaching the class, I felt like I had a much better grip on the new content and could focus on how the class fit with the big ideas, enduring understandings, and essential knowledge for the course.  I was also glad for the time this summer to concentrate on this without having the pressure of keeping up with teaching.  I was pretty obsessive about following all of the guidelines given by the College Board, and although the Board said approval could take up to 60 days, it went much faster than that.  Here's a link to the syllabus: AP Biology Syllabus The most interesting parts (to me at least) are the last few pages.