Order of Topics in Miller-Levine Bio

[mellifera33]

I'm planning for my rising 9th grader, and was surprised by the order of topics in Miller-Levine. Unit one was what I expected: scientific method, basic chemistry, etc., but then unit 2 jumps to ecology? Now I'm old and haven't taken an intro to bio class in 25 or so years, but I had thought we'd do a general order of basic chemistry for life science, cells, genetics, evolution, basic organismal bio, and ecology at the end. I haven't looked at a lot of lesson plans or current high school biology textbooks, but now I'm wondering if starting with ecology is an idiosyncrasy of the Miller-Levine book, or if it's a more general trend of how biology is taught now. I hadn't planned on using the teacher's guide, but now I'm curious if it explains the choice of topic sequence. 

If you used Miller-Levine, did you follow the sequence in the book, or the traditional sequence? Is there a pedagogical reason for ecology before cell biology? 

[EKT]

I don't have definitive knowledge in this area, but I think it's pretty standard. We are currently using Oak Meadow Biology as a spine with the Holt MacDougal Biology Textbook by Stephen Nowicki. (I chose that text because Nowicki also teaches the Great Courses Biology class and I thought they paired nicely together.) Along with that, (instead of the Oak Meadow labs) we are using the Quality Science Labs Biology lab kit. 

The Oak Meadow curriculum and the Holt textbook outline the topics in this order:

• Intro
• Cells
• Genetics
• Evolution 
• Ecology
• Classification and Diversity
• Plants
• Animals 
• Human Biology

So, we have done things in this order and I just pulled select labs from the QSL kit as they corresponded with each unit. We had no trouble studying Ecology in the middle. (It made perfect sense in the textbook as we went along; the order did not feel strange to us, in context.) That said, I think that once you cover Intro, Cells, and Genetics, you could probably do the rest in any order. (The topics overlap in so many places.) But I liked the order of these!

I will say that we ended up hitting the Ecology unit in the middle of winter, which turned out to be slightly inconvenient for the labs. The QSL ecology lab is all about observing two ecosystems outdoors. I thought we would have a better-quality experience with this lab closer to summer (when more life forms are out and about!), so we're saving that lab for the end of the year. But we did all the bookwork for the ecology unit already, on schedule. (So, that might be one reason to do ecology early on, OR save it for the end of the year. But like I said, it hasn't been a big deal.) 

One other thing I'm glad about that you might like to consider: Our plant unit lined up perfectly with the spring season (we just finished that unit). We did several labs involving living plants (dissections, root observations, etc.) and at this time of year, we had no trouble at all sourcing inexpensive tulips and lilies and other small potted plants at the grocery store, which was really nice. (I didn't have to make any special trips to a florist or a nursery.)

Hope this helps!

Edited April 17, 2022 by EKT

[cintinative]

We used a schedule that my friend put together as well as labs from Biology Corner. Interestingly, the teacher who put together Biology Corner does seem to jump around. 

We covered Chapters 1-34 of the dragonfly edition in that order. We did some sections read-only. There is really no way to finish this whole book in a year.

 

[Wheres Toto]

When I teach Biology I do it in the order below.  I feel like Ecology is better understood after going through the characteristics of plants and animals (etc) before talking about adaptations or communities.  

Biochemistry
Cells
Genetics
Evolution
Classification
Bacteria/Protists
Plants
Fungi
Animals
Ecology

Edited April 19, 2022 by Wheres Toto
didn't mean to quote

[Reefgazer]

On 4/17/2022 at 11:02 AM, mellifera33 said:

I'm planning for my rising 9th grader, and was surprised by the order of topics in Miller-Levine. Unit one was what I expected: scientific method, basic chemistry, etc., but then unit 2 jumps to ecology? Now I'm old and haven't taken an intro to bio class in 25 or so years, but I had thought we'd do a general order of basic chemistry for life science, cells, genetics, evolution, basic organismal bio, and ecology at the end. I haven't looked at a lot of lesson plans or current high school biology textbooks, but now I'm wondering if starting with ecology is an idiosyncrasy of the Miller-Levine book, or if it's a more general trend of how biology is taught now. I hadn't planned on using the teacher's guide, but now I'm curious if it explains the choice of topic sequence. 

If you used Miller-Levine, did you follow the sequence in the book, or the traditional sequence? Is there a pedagogical reason for ecology before cell biology? 

I used Miller-Levine a few years ago with DD; we did the traditional sequence, with Ecology at the end.  Makes no sense to do Ecology at the beginning, when you have no concept of animal or plant biology.  I also skipped all of the human anatomy at the last part of the book.  IMO that is Human A+P and does not belong in a General Biology text.