Gasp. Local "Honors" Biology

[StephanieZ]

Gasp. I need to vent, and I can't do it IRL or on facebook b/c this would not be a great vent for folks whose children use the local schools . . . 

 

I recently learned that our "wonderful" local high school's Honors Biology course covers only the first 20 chapters of the 40 chapter Dragonfly Miller Levine Bio book! That's it! They just stop midway through the book! And, heck, that is just the PLAN on the syllabus! They don't even TRY to cover more than half the book!

 

Not only that, but all tests are open note!!

 

ARGH!

 

Last year, I taught bio using the newer Macaw M-L book. It has 35 chapters, and we covered every chapter, with the "harder" tests, and also used all the "harder" Unit tests as well. No open notes, for sure. And 3 hour labs weekly.

 

Some days, I wonder if hs'ing is worth the trouble. Especially on those days when my 14 yo son is particularly resistant or my 16 yo daughter particularly distracted.

 

Then I hear something like this. Or, another time, the AP English course which required only a handful of writing assignments all year, and those assignments were not graded for months, and when returned, had no comments whatsoever.

 

This was nice timing for me to hear some bad feedback about the "wonderful" high school, as the affirmation about what we are doing at home was well timed.

 

OK. I feel better. 

[DarlaS]

I'm not familiar with this text, but do they do the rest in Advance Bio (Bio II)? If it's intended to be used in one year, what would it be followed with for Bio II?

 

What you describe sounds like the equivalent of 2 college semesters of bio (to me anyway).

[JuanitaL]

At one of the DOD high schools my kids would have attended - the honors English class read Twilight; it left me wondering - why not read Dracula? (Maybe they did, I don't know; I just remember being surprised.)

[StephanieZ]

I'm not familiar with this text, but do they do the rest in Advance Bio (Bio II)? If it's intended to be used in one year, what would it be followed with for Bio II?

 

What you describe sounds like the equivalent of 2 college semesters of bio (to me anyway).

 

Nope, this is a high school (non AP) level book, widely used in regular and honors bio. This is not a 2 year sequence. It is their only stand alone non-AP bio course (other than the "regular" version of the same class).

 

Their AP Bio does NOT require the intro/honors bio as a prereq, either. 

[Ameena]

At one of the DOD high schools my kids would have attended - the honors English class read Twilight; it left me wondering - why not read Dracula? (Maybe they did, I don't know; I just remember being surprised.)

 

I read Harry Potter in my AP english class in high school 10+ years ago. I think we spent close to half the semester on it.

[DarlaS]

Nope, this is a high school (non AP) level book, widely used in regular and honors bio. This is not a 2 year sequence. It is their only stand alone non-AP bio course (other than the "regular" version of the same class).

 

Their AP Bio does NOT require the intro/honors bio as a prereq, either.

I see. These are the watered down AP/Honors courses we've been hearing about then. I've been hearing about this with math, we already knew they don't usually *really* study history and that silly books are assigned in English class...

 

Sad, but not really that surprising, unfortunately.

 

Homeschooling is definitely worth the trouble. :-)

[StephanieZ]

I read Harry Potter in my AP english class in high school 10+ years ago. I think we spent close to half the semester on it.

 

:crying:  :svengo:

[8filltheheart]

Look on the bright side.  This is why when our kids go to college they shine and do not have trouble adjusting to a college workload.  :)

[klmama]

While it could be that that's all of the book they cover, perhaps they actually go into a lot more depth on those topics than what the book provides.  Could it be that it was just a first semester syllabus you saw?  

[Harriet Vane]

We are having a similar experience with Spanish 4 at a local school. The only other student in the class cannot speak passable Spanish. At all. She didn't cover much of what my dd learned in Spanish 3 in her previous three years at this school. Tests are open notes and students are allowed two class periods to take the test. It's pretty sad.

[Parrothead]

Gasp. I need to vent, and I can't do it IRL or on facebook b/c this would not be a great vent for folks whose children use the local schools . . .

 

I recently learned that our "wonderful" local high school's Honors Biology course covers only the first 20 chapters of the 40 chapter Dragonfly Miller Levine Bio book! That's it! They just stop midway through the book! And, heck, that is just the PLAN on the syllabus! They don't even TRY to cover more than half the book!

 

Not only that, but all tests are open note!!

 

ARGH!

 

Last year, I taught bio using the newer Macaw M-L book. It has 35 chapters, and we covered every chapter, with the "harder" tests, and also used all the "harder" Unit tests as well. No open notes, for sure. And 3 hour labs weekly.

 

Some days, I wonder if hs'ing is worth the trouble. Especially on those days when my 14 yo son is particularly resistant or my 16 yo daughter particularly distracted.

 

Then I hear something like this. Or, another time, the AP English course which required only a handful of writing assignments all year, and those assignments were not graded for months, and when returned, had no comments whatsoever.

 

This was nice timing for me to hear some bad feedback about the "wonderful" high school, as the affirmation about what we are doing at home was well timed.

 

OK. I feel better.

All of this makes me feel so much better about labeling my biology syllabus with the honors designation. I'm planning on doing the entire book. 😃

[StephanieZ]

While it could be that that's all of the book they cover, perhaps they actually go into a lot more depth on those topics than what the book provides.  Could it be that it was just a first semester syllabus you saw?  

 

I didn't see the syllabus. Another homeschooling student is enrolled in the class, and she and her mom were lamenting to me about how pitiful it is; she is considering dropping it to do a home study. (She is PT enrolled.) I had actually taught the (younger) sister of this student in my bio class last year using the same book (but the new edition), and it was a LOT of work, lol, so the comparison is very stark for them, having just had the other sister take my rigorous bio last year with the current edition of the same text. I actually offered to provide and grade the girl's exams (as well as tutor occasionally if needed) if she drops the PS class & decides to self-study instead. (Not for pay, just as a favor, I don't teach classes for pay.) 

 

They actually go through exactly chapter 20, stopping smack dab in the middle of a unit. It is bizarre. It sure seems more sensible for this to be a one semester syllabus, but, apparently, it is not. The mom is very on top of things, and I am sure she has made sure she understands the syllabus before considering dropping the class.

[idnib]

Value of doing only half the book aside...

 

What I find weird is that when they decided to do half the book, they decided to stop in the middle. If someone forced me to only cover half the chapters in a biology book, I would go through the entire book and choose the chapters I felt were most important, regardless of where they are in the book!

[Corraleno]

The first 19 chapters of the full-length Miller Levine text are also sold separately as a "Core" edition. The Core version covers cells, genetics, evolution, and ecology; it leaves out the units on plants & animals. Not sure that's worthy of an "Honors" designation, especially with open note tests, but it's not as "incomplete" as it sounds that they are only covering 5 of the 8 units — Pearson offers that as an option, and the Core edition does cover the areas that most states require.

 

Jackie

[StephanieZ]

The first 19 chapters of the full-length Miller Levine text are also sold separately as a "Core" edition. The Core version covers cells, genetics, evolution, and ecology; it leaves out the units on plants & animals. Not sure that's worthy of an "Honors" designation, especially with open note tests, but it's not as "incomplete" as it sounds that they are only covering 5 of the 8 units — Pearson offers that as an option, and the Core edition does cover the areas that most states require.

 

Jackie

If that were the case, I could imagine it as a remedial biology course, but certainly not an honors one! And, this is the first twenty chapters of the dragonfly edition. They stop smack dab in the middle of a unit, after Protista, but before fungi! They never get to the plant chapter or mammals! It is so random and bizarre!

Last year, I taught bio using the newer Macaw M-L book. It has 35 chapters, and we covered every chapter, with the "harder" tests, and also used all the "harder" Unit tests as well. No open notes, for sure. And 3 hour labs weekly.

 

 

 

Sounds like you are doing a fantastic job.  However, I think you won't find many (any?) high schools doing three hour science labs on a weekly basis.  Most one credit high school science classes are in the area of 120 hours.  Assuming a 24 week academic year, that'd be 72 hours just in labs.  Or, for the typical non-block scheduled school, with five one-hour classes a day, that'd be three out of five days a week in the lab.

 

Aside:  for a high school lab science class, what's a good rule of thumb for hours in lab vs. hours in direct instruction?

 

I'm curious, then, how much time you devoted to this Biology class?  And at what pace?  Roughly a chapter a week?

[StephanieZ]

Sounds like you are doing a fantastic job.  However, I think you won't find many (any?) high schools doing three hour science labs on a weekly basis.  Most one credit high school science classes are in the area of 120 hours.  Assuming a 24 week academic year, that'd be 72 hours just in labs.  Or, for the typical non-block scheduled school, with five one-hour classes a day, that'd be three out of five days a week in the lab.

 

Aside:  for a high school lab science class, what's a good rule of thumb for hours in lab vs. hours in direct instruction?

 

I'm curious, then, how much time you devoted to this Biology class?  And at what pace?  Roughly a chapter a week?

 

Oh, I know 3 hr/wk of lab time is a lot for high school. I did it that way b/c I am a biologist, and I wanted it to be lab heavy. 

 

I plan a 36 wk school year. The Macaw book has 35 chapters, so, conveniently, we did one chapter a week. We missed a handful of weeks of labs when we had heavy snow or illness or whatever, so we did about 30 weeks of labs, probably averaging 3 hr/wk, as most weeks we took 30-60 min of the 3 hr period to do test prep and/or review a graded test, but some weeks we ran over a good bit, so it probably came out to at least 70 if not 80 or 90 hours of lab time. 

 

Other than the 3 hr session weekly, the kids read the chapter on their own, took the test on their own time (generally about 80 min -- they were long tests with many essays). There wasn't much other homework other than an occasional worksheet to reinforce something. The chapter reading and studying probably took about 3 hrs per week, a bit more if it was a dense/tough chapter, a bit less on the easier topics. When we wrote up a formal lab report, we did it together (each on our own computer) during our 3 hr block. We did also schedule a couple additional review sessions for the tougher unit tests. 

 

I considered it an Honors high school biology course. I am still old school, though, scheduling coursework based on 5 or so academic courses per year, so I didn't think it was unreasonable. 

Oh, I know 3 hr/wk of lab time is a lot for high school.

 

Just to be clear, I don't think a three hour weekly lab is too much for a prepared high school student to handle, I just think it is impossible for a public high school to be this flexible in their scheduling.  Even our local "block scheduled" high school runs four 90 minute classes a day.

My first double-post!  

[flyingiguana]

I just looked at the TOC for that book.  That stopping point isn't weird at all.  It makes perfect sense.

 

The class is doing the basics of biology -- the things that every student REALLY ought to know about the subject: cells, genetics, evolution, biochem, etc.

 

Skipping the phyla and plant and animal physiology happens in a lot of bio courses.  I'm guessing the teacher realizes that one can't do it all, unless it's all just a skim through where the students don't learn anything.  This has been one of the complaints about the AP Bio test -- in trying to cram everything in, no justice could be done to anything.  And the march through the organ systems at the end of the year was a kind of grueling death march where the students might pick up a few terms to answer test questions, but no real understanding was acquired.

 

When I've done bio with my kids, we did everything.  But it took us two years.  And we had a head start because the kids have been hearing about critters and plants since the day they were born (as both my husband and I have PhD's in biology).

 

So, no, I'm not appalled in the least by this story.  In fact, the teacher is probably doing the right thing, much as it would pain me to skip the neat things going on in the plant/animal world and in the organ systems.  If I were in this position, I'd probably be doing something similar -- just to make sure the students actually learned the basics.

 

There's a lot in biology.  A year isn't enough.

 

Some high schools do a separate physiology/anatomy course.  That may be what's going on here.

 

If this is just another thread on how one HAS to finish the textbook, I'm guessing that just picking the more limited text (that only goes through chapter 20) would be a way to stem that criticism.  But I suspect most teachers are more concerned about teaching than making sure they get through all the pages of some text that their school district happened to buy.

[StephanieZ]

I just looked at the TOC for that book.  That stopping point isn't weird at all.  It makes perfect sense.

 

The class is doing the basics of biology -- the things that every student REALLY ought to know about the subject: cells, genetics, evolution, biochem, etc.

 

Skipping the phyla and plant and animal physiology happens in a lot of bio courses.  I'm guessing the teacher realizes that one can't do it all, unless it's all just a skim through where the students don't learn anything.  This has been one of the complaints about the AP Bio test -- in trying to cram everything in, no justice could be done to anything.  And the march through the organ systems at the end of the year was a kind of grueling death march where the students might pick uFWIp a few terms to answer test questions, but no real understanding was acquired.

 

When I've done bio with my kids, we did everything.  But it took us two years.  And we had a head start because the kids have been hearing about critters and plants since the day they were born (as both my husband and I have PhD's in biology).

 

So, no, I'm not appalled in the least by this story.  In fact, the teacher is probably doing the right thing, much as it would pain me to skip the neat things going on in the plant/animal world and in the organ systems.  If I were in this position, I'd probably be doing something similar -- just to make sure the students actually learned the basics.

 

There's a lot in biology.  A year isn't enough.

 

Some high schools do a separate physiology/anatomy course.  That may be what's going on here.

 

If this is just another thread on how one HAS to finish the textbook, I'm guessing that just picking the more limited text (that only goes through chapter 20) would be a way to stem that criticism.  But I suspect most teachers are more concerned about teaching than making sure they get through all the pages of some text that their school district happened to buy.

 

FWIW, the only bio courses offered at this high school (or the other one in our county) is this honors bio, a comparable regular intro bio, and AP Bio (that has no prereqs), and an AP Env. Sci course (not exactly bio, but closely related enough to list).

 

So, here's the ToC (below)

 

I can see your point about the first half containing much of the fundamental info, but I'd argue that for a once-and-done biology course (as this is billed, as the kids who want AP are generally encouraged to skip this course and go straight to AP), there should be broader coverage including plant biology and chordate biology and human biology, too. Yes, it'd be lovely if they were going to get a second year to cover those topics, but they are not.

 

In any event, add choosing half the text to open note tests, and I don't believe it is a rigorous course. I am not a big believer in open note tests unless they are very hard, essay based, sophisticated tests, aimed specifically at challenging someone to put together their thoughts, not just regurgitate info, which I guarantee you these are NOT. 

 

I have no argument with your taking two years to cover biology, as there is definitely lots of ground to cover. Dh and I are both biologists, but I also emphasize the other sciences, so I didn't want to take two years for intro biology, as fun as that could be. My kids can take a second year (AP level probably, or possibly a more special topic) in their later years if desired.

 

 

UNIT 1:  The Nature of Life 

Chapter 1:  The Science of Biology

Chapter 2:  The Chemistry of Life

 

UNIT 2:  Ecology 

Chapter 3:  The Biosphere

Chapter 4:  Ecosystems and Communities

Chapter 5:  Populations

Chapter 6:  Humans in the Biosphere

 

UNIT 3:  Cells 

Chapter 7:  Cell Structure and Function

Chapter 8:  Photosynthesis

Chapter 9:  Cellular Respiration

Chapter 10:  Cell Growth and Division

 

UNIT 4:  Genetics 

Chapter 11:  Introduction to Genetics

Chapter 12:  DNA and RNA

Chapter 13:  Genetic Engineering

Chapter 14:  The Human Genome

 

UNIT 5:  Evolution 

Chapter 15:  Darwin's Theory of Evolution

Chapter 16:  Evolution of Populations

Chapter 17:  The History of Life

Chapter 18:  Classification

 

UNIT 6:  Microorganisms and Fungi 

Chapter 19:  Bacteria and Viruses

Chapter 20:  Protists

Chapter 21:  Fungi

 

UNIT 7:  Plants 

Chapter 22:  Plant Diversity

Chapter 23:  Roots, Stems, and Leaves

Chapter 24:  Reproduction of Seed Plants

Chapter 25:  Plant Responses and Adaptations

 

UNIT 8:  Invertebrates 

Chapter 26:  Sponges and Cnidarians

Chapter 27:  Worms and Mollusks

Chapter 28:  Arthropods and Echinoderms

Chapter 29:  Comparing Invertebrates

 

UNIT 9:  Chordates 

Chapter 30:  Nonvertebrate Chordates, Fishes, and Amphibians

Chapter 31:  Reptiles and Birds

Chapter 32:  Mammals

Chapter 33:  Comparing Chordates

Chapter 34:  Animal Behavior

 

UNIT 10:  The Human Body 

Chapter 35:  Nervous System

Chapter 36:  Skeletal, Muscular, and Integumentary Systems

Chapter 37:  Circulatory and Respiratory Systems

Chapter 38:  Digestive and Excretory Systems

Chapter 39:  Endocrine and Reproductive Systems

Chapter 40:  The Immune System and Disease

[kroe1]

I cannot even fathom someone calling a class "biology" that doesn't cover plants and animals.

[EKS]

You know what?  When I taught from the Miller and Levine text (macaw, but it had a similar sequence), my plan was to cover the first 19 chapters (equivalent in scope to the first 18 chapters in dragonfly).  That's modern biology, folks.  My degree is in biochemistry and I worked for 10 years as a scientist, so I think I know what I'm talking about here.

[StephanieZ]

You know what?  When I taught from the Miller and Levine text (macaw, but it had a similar sequence), my plan was to cover the first 19 chapters (equivalent in scope to the first 18 chapters in dragonfly).  That's modern biology, folks.  My degree is in biochemistry and I worked for 10 years as a scientist, so I think I know what I'm talking about here.

 

:smilielol5:

 

That's coming from a biochemist. ;)

 

I'm an ecologist; dh is a veterinarian. We'd argue that modern biology should also include plants, animals, and anatomy. :) There is more to biology than biochem and micro (with a splash of ecol.)

 

I guess that is why the intro book covers 35 chapters . . . There is a lot of territory in the field of biology.

 

FWIW, if you only taught the first 19 chapters of Macaw, you'd be skipping VIRUSes in addition to plants, animals, and humans. All the body function chapters that weigh heavily on a human's ability to understand medicine and health. All the plant chapters! HIV is a virus! ACK! 

 

IMHO, it is important to be grounded in biology, and covering (nearly) all the content of some good intro text seems like a basic requirement. If you are in control of your child's subsequent classes, you can, of course, split it up over various courses, but if it is a once-n-done bio class, then skipping half the content seems irresponsible to call it a intro bio course.

[StephanieZ]

the "Stop point" in the OP's referenced book is the stop point in the first  semester of my college bio class.  the second semester we do animals and plants, so this is definitely a 2-course book, even thought the school might not use it/intend it like that.  seems like the age-old debate about "breadth" vs "depth".  for a survey of biology course for students who will not do any further high school biology, I'd argue for breadth over depth, though.

 

Wait a minute. Are you saying the Miller & Levine is a COLLEGE text? That is not right. There might be colleges using it that way, but it is not intended for that purpose so far as I can tell. IMHO, it would be a remedial course if it used this text in college. Personally, I'd think it was totally inappropriate to claim it was a college level course if this were the core text.

 

http://pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZxAa

 

http://www.millerandlevine.com/km/textbooks/

 

As the above links from the publisher & authors show, this text is clearly marketed as a high school text, not a college text.

 

Of course, a college text is designed to be done in a full college year (or full AP high school year in some cases), but M&L is a high school level text, not a college level text.

[EKS]

:smilielol5:

 

That's coming from a biochemist. ;)

 

I'm an ecologist; dh is a veterinarian. We'd argue that modern biology should also include plants, animals, and anatomy. :) There is more to biology than biochem and micro (with a splash of ecol.)

 

Laugh all you want, but biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, and evolutionary biology provide the underlying structure for all of biology.  My point isn't that those other things aren't important, but that it is quite possible to have an honors level biology class that doesn't include them. 

 

Assuming that you've decided that the class could only cover one chapter every two weeks, which 18 chapters would you choose?

[StephanieZ]

Laugh all you want, but biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, and evolutionary biology provide the underlying structure for all of biology.  My point isn't that those other things aren't important, but that it is quite possible to have an honors level biology class that doesn't include them. 

 

Assuming that you've decided that the class could only cover one chapter every two weeks, which 18 chapters would you choose?

 

I would choose a different book!!

 

If it is once-n-done, I think you need to cover nearly all of that material, but more superficially if you don't think you can handle 35 chapters in 36 weeks. Personally, I think honors levels high schoolers can handle it. My students were in 7th, 8th, and 10th grade, and they did beautifully, even with my very heavy lab section as well, and they had heavy other courses as well.

 

 

The assumption that one should chop out half of a HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL bio text for the intro bio course seems odd. I would simply not teach that way. If M&L was too much for my time/kids, I'd choose another book. 

 

I.e., Giancoli Physics was too much for my 9th grader this year, so I chose a different book for Intro Physics for him. (His big sister can handle Giancoli, but he can't yet.) I wouldn't cover half of the Giancoli book and call it Intro Physics. If I wanted to do that, I'd call it Intro Mechanics (or similar), but not Intro Physics. Intro Physics, IMHO, implies a SURVEY course, covering the broad spectrum of topics expected in a survey course. Likewise, IMHO, Intro Biology should cover the common breadth of materials, unless you call the course something else -- like Intro Molecular & Chemical Bio or Bio Part 1 or whatever. (It wouldn't be fair to call it Biochem or Molecular Bio, either, as those titles imply a much deeper coverage of those topics.)

[EKS]

I would choose a different book!!

 

Presumably since this teacher is working at a public school, he/she doesn't have a choice about which textbook to use.  If you had to use Miller and Levine and had to choose 18 chapters, which would you choose?

 

I'll give it a shot...

 

Using the TOC for the dragonfly book, I managed to get it down to 19 chapters (I'd do protists and fungi in one two week period).  Having not seen the book, I don't know how well it would flow though.  I chose the human body chapters because of the six listed, these three (nervous system, endocrine system, and immune system) seem to be the least understood among the general population. 

 

Chapter 2:  The Chemistry of Life

Chapter 7:  Cell Structure and Function

Chapter 8:  Photosynthesis

Chapter 9:  Cellular Respiration

Chapter 10:  Cell Growth and Division

Chapter 11:  Introduction to Genetics

Chapter 12:  DNA and RNA

Chapter 15:  Darwin's Theory of Evolution

Chapter 16:  Evolution of Populations

Chapter 17:  The History of Life

Chapter 19:  Bacteria and Viruses

Chapter 20:  Protists

Chapter 21:  Fungi

Chapter 22:  Plant Diversity

Chapter 29:  Comparing Invertebrates

Chapter 33:  Comparing Chordates

Chapter 35:  Nervous System

Chapter 39:  Endocrine and Reproductive Systems

Chapter 40:  The Immune System and Disease

[freesia]

You keep saying 35 chapters but the TOC you listed was for 40 chapters. I've been wondering, myself, how one could do 40 chapters in 36 weeks. Which 5 did you leave out?

[Mom22ns]

We did the Macaw book and didn't leave anything out. Here the public schools that use that book do the whole thing and call it honors biology or do selected chapters (I don't know or care what they leave out) for regular biology. I would agree with the OP that doing only half of this on level high school text does NOT constitute honors Biology. And in spite of a BioChemists view to the contrary it doesn't even cover standard scope and sequence of high school biology. It does cover the basics, but it is a poor excuse for Honors Biology.

[StephanieZ]

You keep saying 35 chapters but the TOC you listed was for 40 chapters. I've been wondering, myself, how one could do 40 chapters in 36 weeks. Which 5 did you leave out?

 

The dragonfly version, the last edition, had 40 chapters. That is the book used in the PS class, so that was what I was talking about intitially.

 

However, I taught this subject last year, using the newer macaw version, which has 35 chapters.

 

I didn't leave any out, as I used the newest edition, which has 35 chapters. 

 

Here is the TOC for the Macaw. We didn't leave any chapters out. We covered 35 out of 35. 

 

UNIT 1:  The Nature of Life 

Chapter 1:  The Science of Biology

Chapter 2:  The Chemistry of Life

 

UNIT 2:  Ecology 

Chapter 3:  The Biosphere

Chapter 4:  Ecosystems and Communities

Chapter 5:  Populations

Chapter 6:  Humans in the Biosphere

 

UNIT 3:  Cells 

Chapter 7:  Cell Structure and Function

Chapter 8:  Photosynthesis

Chapter 9:  Cellular Respiration

Chapter 10:  Cell Growth and Division

 

UNIT 4:  Genetics 

Chapter 11:  Introduction to Genetics

Chapter 12:  DNA

Chapter 13:  RNA & Protein Synthesis

Chapter 14:  Human Genome

Chapter 15:  Genetic Engineering

 

UNIT 5:  Evolution 

Chapter 16:  Darwin's Theory of Evolution

Chapter 17:  Evolution of Populations

Chapter 18:  Classification

Chapter 19: History of Life

 

UNIT 6:  Microorganisms to Plants 

Chapter 20:  Viruses and Prokaryotes

Chapter 21:  Protists & Fungi

Chapter 22:  Introduction to Plants

Chapter 23:  Plant Structure & Function

Chapter 24:  Plant Reproduction & Response

 

UNIT 7:  Animals 

Chapter 25:  Introduction to Animals

Chapter 26:  Animal Evolution & Diversity

Chapter 27:  Animal Systems - I

Chapter 28:  Animal Systems - II

Chapter 29:  Animal Behavior

 

UNIT 8: The Human Body 

Chapter 30: Digestive & Excretory Systems

Chapter 31:  The Nervous System

Chapter 32:  Skeletal, Muscular, & Integumentary Systems

Chapter 33:  Circulatory & Respiratory Systems

Chapter 34:  Endocrine and Reproductive Systems

Chapter 35:  Immune System and Disease

[StephanieZ]

 

Presumably since this teacher is working at a public school, he/she doesn't have a choice about which textbook to use.  If you had to use Miller and Levine and had to choose 18 chapters, which would you choose?

 

I'll give it a shot...

 

Using the TOC for the dragonfly book, I managed to get it down to 19 chapters (I'd do protists and fungi in one two week period).  Having not seen the book, I don't know how well it would flow though.  I chose the human body chapters because of the six listed, these three (nervous system, endocrine system, and immune system) seem to be the least understood among the general population. 

 

Chapter 2:  The Chemistry of Life

Chapter 7:  Cell Structure and Function

Chapter 8:  Photosynthesis

Chapter 9:  Cellular Respiration

Chapter 10:  Cell Growth and Division

Chapter 11:  Introduction to Genetics

Chapter 12:  DNA and RNA

Chapter 15:  Darwin's Theory of Evolution

Chapter 16:  Evolution of Populations

Chapter 17:  The History of Life

Chapter 19:  Bacteria and Viruses

Chapter 20:  Protists

Chapter 21:  Fungi

Chapter 22:  Plant Diversity

Chapter 29:  Comparing Invertebrates

Chapter 33:  Comparing Chordates

Chapter 35:  Nervous System

Chapter 39:  Endocrine and Reproductive Systems

Chapter 40:  The Immune System and Disease

 

 

I wouldn't play that game. It's like asking me to choose which 13 letters I'd keep from the alphabet. You can't throw out half the alphabet and write English. You can't throw out half of the basic biology curriculum and cover biology. If it is a survey course, it needs to cover all those topics.

 

I quickly and easily googled an honors high school biology syllabus that covers all the M&L chapters, and I am sure there are hundreds more out there. 

 

If I were a teacher, and I were asked to do that, I would rename the course to be upfront and honest, or quit, or just get new books one way or another, or just say no to dropping chapters and teach the entire book.

[Corraleno]

I cannot even fathom someone calling a class "biology" that doesn't cover plants and animals.

 

You can't throw out half of the basic biology curriculum and cover biology. If it is a survey course, it needs to cover all those topics.

 

Actually, many one-semester, nonmajors Intro Bio college classes do not cover plants and animals. E.g. Campbell's Essential Biology, one of the most popular texts for nonmajors courses, only covers Cells, Genetics, Evolution, & Ecology — exactly the topics included in the M&L Core Edition, and which were covered by the PS class referenced in the OP.  Whether that particular PS class warrants an Honors designation or not is a separate issue, but it's simply not true that a course cannot be labeled "Biology" if it doesn't include an organismal section. 

 

Jackie

[EKS]

I quickly and easily googled an honors high school biology syllabus that covers all the M&L chapters, and I am sure there are hundreds more out there.

 

I googled high school honors biology, and of the ten or so links I clicked on, only two covered plants, animals, and human anatomy/physiology.  The rest covered biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, genetics, evolution, and ecology. 

[StephanieZ]

I think I'll have to agree to disagree about what makes up an adequate introductory biology course.

 

I won't convince anyone, and I don't really care much what anyone else's kids study (although I think it is sad and unfair to mislead them). Other people's kids aren't really my battle to fight.

 

I am glad my own kids are my students, which is, I suppose, the core reason most of us homeschool.

 

To each her own. 

 

Peace out. ;)

[Grantmom]

I think the main point here is that what one transcript shows as an Honors Biology course might be very different from what another transcript shows (whether that is a homeschooler or a better school-based course), but that to a college admissions office, it appears the same on the surface.  Each person could have "Honors Biology" ticked off on their checklist, but each learner might come away having been exposed to and learned a very different amount of material.  So, what this says to me is that it's important to 1) know that my child is actually learning a rigorous and challenging amount of material in any given subject, and 2) to do our best to show that we can back up all of our hard work with objective measures like standardized test scores.  My "hope" is that by taking the high road and covering more and better and deeper that it will show up in those objective measures that it might not for other kids.  And, also, of course, the more important reason, that it will result in greater and more comprehensive knowledge and understanding that actually sticks.  Real learning that will be useful and relevant to the learner, wow!

 

Personally, this is why I want to homeschool for the high school years, and hope that is what my learner chooses.  Right now, he is thinking that it is public high school that will prepare him better for college, because that is the message he hears from society and others.  But to me, I look at examples like this and think, no, that is not always the case.

 

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

On the use of test scores to back up work -

 

If the test doesn't ask about the additional content then it would be hard for it to reflect broader or deeper study. It could even be that kids in a more focused course score higher because they spend longer on what is on the exam.