HOW TO HELP YOUR

STUDENTS SUCCEED IN AP BIOLOGY

NABT 2013

ATLANTA

Fred and Theresa Holtzclaw

Webb School of Knoxville

MissMizzou@aol.com holtzclawfred@gmail.com

How to Help Your Students Succeed in AP Biology

I. What Content Will You Teach?

A. Our Approach

1. Simplify the Curriculum Framework to a manageable outline (4 pages)

2. Find where these topics are covered in the textbook

3. Highlight topics in the Table of Contents

4. Decide what “Illustrative Examples” to use to enrich your course

5. Highlight where these are covered in the text

6. Connect, connect, connect!

B. “You Must Knows” (from Test Prep) paired with the Curriculum Framework

II. How Can You Incorporate Science Practices?

A. A look at the Science Practices

B. Rehearsal is required! Mathematics, graph and data analysis, modeling and more

require practice!

C. Modeling—Activity with Pipe Cleaners

D. Science Skills—group exercise (Campbell 10e and Focus 1e)

E. Grid Ins—Activity with Samples from Test Prep

F. Other resources:

• Inquiry in Action: Interpreting Scientific Papers by Buskirk and Gillen • Biological Inquiry: A Workbook of Investigative Cases by Waterman and

Stanley • Practicing Biology : A Student Workbook by Heitz and Griffen • University of Buffalo Case Studies (sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu) • HHMI resources

III. What Will Your Labs Look Like?

A. Levels of Inquiry: Confirmation, Structured, Guided, Open

B. Move toward Guided Inquiry

1. Content needed = Knowledge Base

2. Teacher expectations should be high

3. Teach a technique—may do this using a “Classic” AP lab. (New teacher? Get a copy + teacher’s guide!)

4. Guide student questions in early labs

5. Structure pre-lab: background research, hypothesis, procedure, materials, safety considerations, data charts

6. Systems: Pillbugs, fruit flies, floating disks, enzyme reaction chambers, respirometers, dialysis tubing, Fast Plants, yeast.

7. Outfit your lab: buffers, lights, screens, water baths/coolers, solutions, (other?)

C. Evaluate using “Miniposter” presentations (see Brad Williamson’s resources at www.nabt.org/blog/author/ksbioteacher IV. Use Unit Exams to Develop a Core Knowledge Base

A. Incorporate Science Practices in every unit exam Activity: Sample MC Questions

B. Write and include Grid-in questions

C. Draw connections all year long!

D. Campbell Test Bank as a resource to develop Multiple Choice items + 136 NEW items to be posted to ExamView and MasteringBiology, aligned with LOs

E. Holtzclaw2 AP Biology Test Prep Guide: AP Test Prep Series: Biology

V. Strategies for Success

A. Multiple Choice Strategies (see Test Prep)

B. Essay Strategies Activity with stickies

1. Essay “fragments” and Concept Generalizations • Precision • Peer grading/self-grading

2. Teach Scientific Explanations: Claim, Evidence, Reasoning

3. Hints from the Readers

• See Test Prep • Become a Reader!

VI. Help Your Students Help Themselves! A. Reading Guides/Study Guide

1. How we use them

2. Evidence of student success

B. Cumulative Practice Exams (from Campbell Biology web site)

C. Use of test corrections, midterms and final exam to build knowledge

VII. Be Ready on Exam Day

A. Take the entire secure practice exam yourself. Use those insights to inform your teaching all year. B. Provide your students with calculators they can use on the exam, the formula

sheet, and write questions to use them on each exam. C. Study areas you haven’t covered (Reading Guides)

D. Use labs as an organizing review tool LabBench

E. Use released exams but be careful with the old ones!

Good: Lab Sets in Multiple Choice Questions 2, 3 (Part b, c) and Q 4 (all parts) from 2012 exam Bad: Discrete factual items

F. Know the format of the exam

1. ALL objectives link Science Practice to Content

2. 63 multiple choice items + 6 grid-ins (90 minutes)

3. Free Response: 2 multi-part questions, 6 single-part questions (80 minutes)

VIII. Where to go for Help???

1. College Board at AP Central

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/teachers_corner/2117.html

2. AP Teacher’s Community Join the Listserve—under settings, sign up for a once-a-day digest.

3. Campbell Biology (AP Edition) for our materials (Pearsonschool.com)

http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PS12Qt 4. Teaching High School Science Through Inquiry by Douglas Llewellyn (NSTA)

IX. Enrichment Activities A. Articles, Books, and Case Studies

B. Team Building

1. DNA Day (In-school field trip) 2. Ethnic Dining 3. Video: Race for the Double Helix 4. Field Trip/Hikes 5. Pizza Review

Theresa: College Board Endorsed Consultant, Exam Leader, former Test Development Committee member, Author of LabBench, Editor of Classic AP Biology Lab Manual, Author/ Presenter for AP Insight, Author of Pearson AP Biology Test Prep and Active Reading Guide Fred: College Board Endorsed Consultant, Exam Leader, Question Leader, current chair of SAT Biology Committee, Author of Pearson AP Biology Test Prep and Active Reading Guide

TKH    2013    

MODELING WITH BEADS or PIPE CLEANERS (Simplified)

Materials: Pipe cleaners, scissors, beads if you wish

Directions:

1. Work with your lab group to demonstrate your understanding. Do not be afraid to admit you don’t know – ASK – this activity is designed to check for understanding and to fill in your gaps in understanding and correct any misconceptions.

2. Decide how you will represent homologous chromosomes. Represent 2 homologous pairs of chromosomes. Each will be a different length. Everyone starts with 2n = 4.

3. Create a model and give a verbal description to explain the process or situations below to your partner.

4. As you work, discuss with your partner: What is the significance of this event? How could it go wrong? What effects would occur?

5. Check off these tasks as you complete each one.

A cell in Prophase of mitosis

A cell in Metaphase of mitosis

A cell in Metaphase I of meiosis

A cell in Anaphase II of meiosis

A cell in Anaphase I of meiosis

A cell in Metaphase II of meiosis

The Law of Independent Assortment

Cells in Prophase II are haploid

Nondisjunction during Meiosis I

Nondisjunction during Meiosis II

The Law of Segregation

 

1/15/2014 Modified by Theresa Holtzclaw from work done by Brad Williamson based on A  Handbook  of  Biological  Investigation.  Harrison  W.  Ambrose  III  and  Katharine  Peckham  Ambrose.  1995.  Hunter  Textbooks.

Inquiry Lab Format

TITLE and AUTHORS

The title should describe the work to the reader. Include the variables that are manipulated and the author(s)

3

*QUESTION Narrowly focused and suggests how an answer might be investigated. It is answerable.

3

*BACKGROUND Where does this question fit with what is known? Include information obtained by your background reading.

10

*HYPOTHESIS Presented as an “If…then” prediction that structures your research.

3

*MATERIALS

5

*PROCEDURE This section should be in sufficient detail so that others can repeat your research. It should be easy to follow.

10

*SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS

5

RESULTS Describe the results clearly. Use graphs, tables and charts to help clarify the results. Include a discussion of any statistics you used to describe or test your data. Save any conclusions for the DISCUSSION • *Data Table(s) (titled, calculations completed) • Graph(s) • Statistical Tests (if appropriate)

10 15

(tbd) DISCUSSION

• Results summarized • Results compared to hypothesis and primary question. • Errors identified. If the results are unexpected or

contradictory, you should attempt to explain why, discuss sources of error

• Suggestions for improvement • Possible avenues for further research based on your

results.

4 2 4 4 4

LITERATURE CITED Include all published works mentioned in your presentation. List in bibliographic form.

3

CORRECT USE OF LANGUAGE

• Grammar • Punctuation • Spelling

5

OVERALL PRESENTATION Poster

• Neat • Organized logically

5 5

ORAL PRESENTATION All members speak and can answer questions (Deduction of 5 points possible.)

*****Items marked with an asterisk should be prepared before running your experiment, and discussed with your teacher.