Welcome to AP Biology at Allen High School! In choosing to take this course, you will be getting a firm foundation in Biology at the college level. This will serve you well whether you decide to become a biology major/minor, or whether you decide that biology is not the field for you. Either way, I hope that the experience you have in my class is a positive one and that you come out of it having learned not only about science, but about learning and most importantly, about life.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

AP Biology is a survey course of biological science equivalent to the introductory biology course for science majors taught at the university level.    AP Biology covers topics in greater depth and at a much faster pace than the Biology I course.  There is a heavy emphasis on science as inquiry and discovery; thus, a great deal of time is spent performing laboratory investigations.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Develop a conceptual framework of modern biology with an understanding of the overarching principle of evolution as the foundation for modern biological principles/models
• Connect and relate biological knowledge across various scales, concepts, and representations in and across domains*
• Recognize and analyze patterns in natural events and phenomena and determine how these patterns can be studied to solve problems*
• Engage in scientific questioning to extend thinking and guide investigations*
• Use representations and models to communicate scientific phenomena and solve scientific problems*
• Plan and implement data collection strategies appropriate to particular scientific questions*
• Perform data analysis and evaluation of evidence*