Biology A — Cells, Energy and Heredity is the first semester of a full-year laboratory biology course for grade 10 (UC A-G area D). It is built on the California NGSS high-school life science performance expectations HS-LS1-1 to HS-LS1-7, HS-LS3-1 to HS-LS3-3, HS-LS2-3 and HS-LS2-5, with the science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts and RST.9-10 literacy standards throughout.
Four units: Cells as Systems: Structure, Function and Homeostasis, Matter and Energy in Living Things, Growth, Division and the Code of Life, and Inheritance and Variation of Traits. Each unit opens with a California phenomenon and includes hands-on labs with inexpensive, school-available materials, a scientific argumentation lab, a modeling workshop and a multi-draft performance task.
Sources: OpenStax Biology 2e and Concepts of Biology (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; referenced, not reproduced) as the reference texts; public-domain material from the National Institutes of Health, the National Human Genome Research Institute, the CDC and NOAA; PhET Interactive Simulations (CC BY 4.0); SLS-written lessons, labs and tasks. Lab data tables marked illustrative are sample data for practice, not measurements.
Laboratory safety and student rights: labs follow the Science Safety Handbook for California Public Schools. No dissection is required, nothing uses human body fluids, and genetics work uses hypothetical pedigrees and plants, never students’ family medical history.
Curriculum
- 4 Sections
- 20 Lessons
- Lifetime
- Unit 1: Cells as Systems: Structure, Function and Homeostasis5
- Unit 2: Matter and Energy in Living Things5
- 2.1Phenomenon: Where Does a Giant Sequoia’s Mass Come From?50 mins
- 2.2Floating Leaf Disks: Measuring Photosynthesis100 mins
- 2.3Respiration With and Without Oxygen: The Yeast Balloon Argument100 mins
- 2.4Following Carbon: Atoms From Air to Tree and Back100 mins
- 2.5Performance Task — The Sequoia’s Carbon Budget150 mins
- Unit 3: Growth, Division and the Code of Life5
- 3.1Phenomenon: How Does a Fence Lizard Regrow Its Tail?50 mins
- 3.2Onion Root Tips: Counting the Cell Cycle100 mins
- 3.3Same Genome, Different Cells: The Strawberry DNA Argument100 mins
- 3.4From Gene to Protein: Modeling Transcription and Translation100 mins
- 3.5Performance Task — The Lizard’s New Tail150 mins
- Unit 4: Inheritance and Variation of Traits5
- 4.1Phenomenon: Why Do Corn Kernels Come in Ratios?50 mins
- 4.2Counting Kernels: Testing Mendel’s Ratios With Chi-Square100 mins
- 4.3Where Does New Variation Come From? The Meiosis and Mutation Argument100 mins
- 4.4Continuous Variation: Measuring Bean Seeds100 mins
- 4.5Performance Task — Explaining Variation in a Crop150 mins
Instructor
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