creating a complete biology credit while cutting out material

[Sharon37127]

My first high school student is working on biology and ,through a series of unfortunate circumstances, started biology in January.  We know we will be working on it through the summer, so I am planning on a 36 week course schedule.  We are also using Ck12 Biology.  He is also taking a basic biology lab at a co-op. Also, our higher education goals will be to go to a community college and get basic education credits completed at least.  Not sure about future plans yet (artistic minded).

 

My dilemma comes from the need to reduce the amount of material he will cover in 1 week.  He deals with ADHD and struggles with memory.  Large amounts of material are overwhelming to the point he wont remember anything .  So, I want to reduce how much he goes through in a given week while earning a complete credit and NOT extending Biology into 2 years.  Yes, I want my cake and to eat it too.  I know students don't always cover entire textbooks in classes, but how do I know what to cut out and what is needed?   I guess what my question is, is how do I know the minimum preparation needed so that he can function in a CC biology class? 

 

Edited- I had the thought to switch to the Miller & Levine (dragonfly) book, but it appears to be on average 30 pages a chapter (for 36 weeks).  I don't think he can do that. 

Edited February 18, 2016 by Sharon37127

[Reefgazer]

My DD is perfectly capable of completing that Miller Levine book, but we are cutting a few things out judiciously. Completing that book results in way more than 180 hours in a school year if you use between 36-40 weeks as a typical school year because you also have to include labs (we do some type of lab work nearly every week). Therefore, I think you're perfectly justified in cutting out material from the book and still calling it a legitimate high school credit.

 

We are cutting out the following: the chapter on DNA technology and all of the human anatomy chapters. We are doing this because I feel those chapters are not *general* biology and are specialized and belong in another course (molecular biology and human A+P). I also cut out those same chapters when I teach general biology at the college where I teach, and for the same reasons. In fact, I opted for the Miller Levine book because DD liked it and it was easy to cut out those chapters and not affect the general flow of the course. I actually don't think the book is all that great, other than that aspect of the layout. At any rate, this will allow us time to dig a little deeper into botany, DNA structure and replication, and evolution. So I would not feel at all guilty cutting some of those chapters. I'm sure there are others who have BTDT who will disagree with me, but that is the path I chose for my DD and I am confident she will still have a complete course.

 

ETA: If you want to cut from that book and still keep the A+P chapters, there is a *lot* of extraneous stuff to cut, BTW. Each chapter has busy sidebars, test prep questions, and opinion/debate pieces that you can dispense with without affecting the course one iota. You could also cut some detail and beef up your lab exercises instead. Some kids learn more from the hands on part of the course than the book reading.

 

ETA again: Why did you opt for that book? There are plenty of other quality books out there that are not as long and still high quality. Not criticizing, just asking. I don't like the book all that much, but DD liked it and I agreed to it because it does have some features I like (like the layout I mentioned, above).

Edited February 18, 2016 by reefgazer

[chiguirre]

If you want to use CK12, I'd only do chapters 2-20. Skip the human anatomy and cover it in health or a separate A&P class later. You could spend 2 weeks on each, although some of the later organism specific chapters would be fine to do in a week at a high level. If you only spend a week on fungi or prokaryotes, it will be fine.

[Tsuga]

My first high school student is working on biology and ,through a series of unfortunate circumstances, started biology in January.  We know we will be working on it through the summer, so I am planning on a 36 week course schedule.  We are also using Ck12 Biology.  He is also taking a basic biology lab at a co-op. Also, our higher education goals will be to go to a community college and get basic education credits completed at least.  Not sure about future plans yet (artistic minded).

 

My dilemma comes from the need to reduce the amount of material he will cover in 1 week.  He deals with ADHD and struggles with memory.  Large amounts of material are overwhelming to the point he wont remember anything .  So, I want to reduce how much he goes through in a given week while earning a complete credit and NOT extending Biology into 2 years.  Yes, I want my cake and to eat it too.  I know students don't always cover entire textbooks in classes, but how do I know what to cut out and what is needed?   I guess what my question is, is how do I know the minimum preparation needed so that he can function in a CC biology class? 

 

Edited- I had the thought to switch to the Miller & Levine (dragonfly) book, but it appears to be on average 30 pages a chapter (for 36 weeks).  I don't think he can do that. 

 

If you are cutting material that is standard HS biology, my probably unpopular opinion is that you shouldn't. If he can't memorize that much in Bio and Latin, then his grade will suffer in one of them. He might just get a C.

 

That's what happened to me when I chose not to study--or rather, I did get a lower grade than usual.

 

I know it's painful to watch your child not do well, but honestly, it's not fair to those who complete the entire course and Latin and get As because they simply were able to put their nose to the grindstone and do it, to represent your son's work as the same thing.

 

On the other hand, if we are simply talking about not doing the entire book from start to finish, because most schools do not do that anyway, as you said, there is a lot of room. But I would encourage you to really think about how much to cut before allowing him to fall behind if he doesn't do the work. If you start with the idea that it needs to be accessible to him without a clear idea of what he needs to know to get an A, that's a problem.

[regentrude]

I may be a heretic here, but I'll say it anyway: I do not consider it necessary to memorize all that stuff. You can create a biology course where assessment focuses on basic conceptual understanding, not memorization of details. I don't have my kids cram for short term memory. I don't give tests that test vocab.

(ETA: I have, for example, not made DC memorize all steps of the Krebs cycle - I have given them a diagram and let them explain orally what exactly happens to check understanding. I culd have made them momorize all the steps, but they wouldhave forgotten them within a week.)

 

You can have alternative methose of assessment - presentations, writing assignments. You can choose focus topics in which you go deeper and in turn not cover some other topics of the book.

It is still "biology". Not all bio courses have to be equal.

 

I have a bio hater. We cover the basics, but also spend part of the credit on researching and discussing current issues related to bio: stem cell research, GMOs... It it my prerogative to decide what I want to cover, since nobody can cover "all". Even a textbook is a selection of possible topics.

 

 

Edited February 19, 2016 by regentrude

[regentrude]

If you are cutting material that is standard HS biology, my probably unpopular opinion is that you shouldn't. If he can't memorize that much in Bio and Latin, then his grade will suffer in one of them. He might just get a C.

 

That's what happened to me when I chose not to study--or rather, I did get a lower grade than usual.

 

I know it's painful to watch your child not do well, but honestly, it's not fair to those who complete the entire course and Latin and get As because they simply were able to put their nose to the grindstone and do it, to represent your son's work as the same thing.

 

On the other hand, if we are simply talking about not doing the entire book from start to finish, because most schools do not do that anyway, as you said, there is a lot of room. But I would encourage you to really think about how much to cut before allowing him to fall behind if he doesn't do the work. If you start with the idea that it needs to be accessible to him without a clear idea of what he needs to know to get an A, that's a problem.

 

If you have a child with known memory issues, what good does it do to focus a course on memorization?

You would not do a  course where evaluation was based heavily on handwriting with a child with dysgrahia, or evaluate a child with speech impediment based on oral presentations. That is setting a student up to fail.

Homeschooling means you can tailor a course to the student's needs, interests, and abilities. You do not have to recreate a "typical" HS course.

 

Edited February 19, 2016 by regentrude

[EKS]

Doing these chapters of M&L dragonfly will give a (reasonably) complete modern biology course.  I would award a credit for learning this material well.  

 

Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

 

Alternatively, you could use the book Essential Biology.

[MamaSprout]

https://quarksandquirksbiology.wordpress.com

 

Not focused on memorizing terms.

[Penguin]

I may be a heretic here, but I'll say it anyway: I do not consider it necessary to memorize all that stuff. You can create a biology course where assessment focuses on basic conceptual understanding, not memorization of details. I don't have my kids cram for short term memory. I don't give tests that test vocab.

(ETA: I have, for example, not made DC memorize all steps of the Krebs cycle - I have given them a diagram and let them explain orally what exactly happens to check understanding. I culd have made them momorize all the steps, but they wouldhave forgotten them within a week.)

 

You can have alternative methose of assessment - presentations, writing assignments. You can choose focus topics in which you go deeper and in turn not cover some other topics of the book.

It is still "biology". Not all bio courses have to be equal.

 

I have a bio hater. We cover the basics, but also spend part of the credit on researching and discussing current issues related to bio: stem cell research, GMOs... It it my prerogative to decide what I want to cover, since nobody can cover "all". Even a textbook is a selection of possible topics.

:iagree:

 

My concept of a complete biology credit includes case studies, lots of data analysis, reading ever-increasingly-difficult science and learning how to write lab reports from scratch. Our emphasis is not on memorization or making sure we crank through the textbook.

[Sharon37127]

Thanks for all the input.  I am always afraid of asking that illusive "stupid question" and I imagine people looking at my post and saying, " and she's trying to homeschool kids?"

 

I guess I have a hard time distinguishing between mastering a subject and memorizing facts about it.  I thought the purpose of a high school biology credit was to prepare the student for a college level biology class?  What does "prepared" even mean? It sounds so subjective to me.  I want to meet him where he is, but also make sure he is prepared. 

 

ETA again: Why did you opt for that book? There are plenty of other quality books out there that are not as long and still high quality. Not criticizing, just asking. I don't like the book all that much, but DD liked it and I agreed to it because it does have some features I like (like the layout I mentioned, above).

Edited by reefgazer, Yesterday, 01:21 PM.

 

-only because it was highly recommended and appears to have some faith-based "counterarguments" out there for us to get a balanced, faith-based view of evolution.  See- I want my cake and to eat it too!

 

I would love any suggestions for a quality Biology textbook that DOESNT have all of that busy, side-bar, extra stuff.  It is actually very distracting to him. 

 

Also, I didn't want anyone to get the opinion he was refusing to do work or being intentional about this.  I'm sure there are some learning disabilities that have existed for a long time.  We've never done any testing just been naturally "accommodating" him up to now.  I'm just hung up on quantity/quality/and what he can do now in high school as there seems to be more focus on quantity and what an actual credit of biology is.  I want to have integrity when I give him a credit and a grade. 

 

I would love to hear more about assessments based on understanding and not memorization.  What exactly does that look like in a real day of homeschooling?

[regentrude]

 

I guess I have a hard time distinguishing between mastering a subject and memorizing facts about it.  I thought the purpose of a high school biology credit was to prepare the student for a college level biology class?  What does "prepared" even mean?

 

I have a different goal. A student may never take biology at college. I see the purpose of a high school biology class in giving the student a sufficient education about biology to have a basic understanding of the functioning and development of cells and organisms so that he is equipped to learn more to be able to make informed decisions as a citizen and private person.

I want my student to be able to evaluate claims in media, to be able to form a science based opinion on controversional topics where biology touches on politics to be an informed voter; to understand the function of his own organism and basic medical interventions like antibiotics and vaccines; to understand the basics of genetics. I want him to know about basic methods of modern biology and to understand evolutionary theory and the arguments behind it.

 

A student is prepared for a college biology course if he is able to read and understand scientific textbooks, take notes, study hard, and think. It does not require a previous high school bio course for that... just like none of my students needs a high school physics course to be prepared for college physics. Intro courses are taught from the beginning on.

[regentrude]

 

I would love to hear more about assessments based on understanding and not memorization.  What exactly does that look like in a real day of homeschooling?

 

For example, as I mentioned in an earlier post:

"Here is a chart of the Krebs cycle. Narrate what happens, talk me through it and explain the purpose".

 

Or

" write a research paper about the GMO controversy. Explain what GMOs are, what dangers people see in the technology, what the stance of the scientific community is"

or

"give an oral presentation about evolution on the example of the whale"

 

You can do oral narrations (tell me what you learned in the section), presentations with visuals, write papers.

[Reefgazer]

Just so you know, Ken Miller wouldn't be putting faith based arguments in his textbooks, especially not one that has been vetted for the public school.  So if you are looking for that, you won't find it in Miller Levine. 

 

IMO, Reece Campbell Concepts and Connections is the much better, less-busy book for honors high school biology.  But alas, my DD wasn't keen on that book, so we are just taking supplementary readings from it occasionally.

 

I don't think quantity necessarily means quality.  You can take a few topics he enjoys and go deeper with them, concentrating on the quality and depth, rather than quantity of material.  I do, however, think there is a basic level of memorization that is necessary to intelligently discuss the concepts (generally, by this I mean basic terms that are germane to understanding a topic). 

Thanks for all the input.  I am always afraid of asking that illusive "stupid question" and I imagine people looking at my post and saying, " and she's trying to homeschool kids?"

 

I guess I have a hard time distinguishing between mastering a subject and memorizing facts about it.  I thought the purpose of a high school biology credit was to prepare the student for a college level biology class?  What does "prepared" even mean? It sounds so subjective to me.  I want to meet him where he is, but also make sure he is prepared. 

 

ETA again: Why did you opt for that book? There are plenty of other quality books out there that are not as long and still high quality. Not criticizing, just asking. I don't like the book all that much, but DD liked it and I agreed to it because it does have some features I like (like the layout I mentioned, above).

Edited by reefgazer, Yesterday, 01:21 PM.

 

-only because it was highly recommended and appears to have some faith-based "counterarguments" out there for us to get a balanced, faith-based view of evolution.  See- I want my cake and to eat it too!

 

I would love any suggestions for a quality Biology textbook that DOESNT have all of that busy, side-bar, extra stuff.  It is actually very distracting to him. 

 

Also, I didn't want anyone to get the opinion he was refusing to do work or being intentional about this.  I'm sure there are some learning disabilities that have existed for a long time.  We've never done any testing just been naturally "accommodating" him up to now.  I'm just hung up on quantity/quality/and what he can do now in high school as there seems to be more focus on quantity and what an actual credit of biology is.  I want to have integrity when I give him a credit and a grade. 

 

I would love to hear more about assessments based on understanding and not memorization.  What exactly does that look like in a real day of homeschooling?

 

[Penguin]

OP, I know exactly how you feel, thinking someone will read my post and asks themselves: And she's trying to homeschool kids? 

 

You have had some good answers from scientists, and I am not a scientist. I should just stop now :)

 

My plan is for DS to take Biology in 9th and Chemistry and 10th. And my goal is for him to feel prepared to take either AP Bio or AP Chem after that. But, like you said, what constitutes prepared? 

 

You can pick and choose what is worth memorizing. I think regentrude's example of the Krebs Cycle was a good one. That was several chapters ago, and I might cringe if I asked him to tell me off the top of his head what he knows about it. But the difference between a gene and a chromosome seems to me like something worth internalizing in long term memory. 

 

I don't dismiss the ability to memorize massive amounts, either. But DS studies two languages. He holds a boatload of history inside his head. I don't feel compelled to make memorization the be-all and end-all aspect of 9th grade Bio.