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A.P. Biology ~ Summer Assignments

K. Mitchell

AP Biology Students:

Welcome and thank you for signing up on this challenge with me! I am looking forward to working with you as you continue the learning process of scientific knowledge with a focus on biology. As you already know, AP classes are very rigorous and AP Biology is no exception!! You will be completing course work involving lots of reading and hands-on activities. Our goal is to prepare you for the AP exam in May covering the four Big Ideas. Although the course is challenging, it is also very rewarding!

A.P. Biology is an in depth inquiry-based study of four Big Ideas:

Big Idea 1: The process of evolution drives the diversity and unity of life

Big Idea 2: Biological systems utilize free energy and molecular building blocks to grow, to reproduce and maintain dynamic homeostasis

Big idea 3: Living systems store, retrieve, transmit and respond to information essential to life processes

Big Idea 4: Biological systems interact, and these systems and their interactions possess complex properties

Facts about the Class and the Exam

The A.P. Biology Exam is 50% multiple choice and 50% free response. It is inquiry-based, which means you will need to know a lot of biology, but also how to use your mind well and apply that knowledge to unknown situations. AP Exam: The Gold Star Standard!

The following link by Paul Andersen is helpful to understand the new format of the exam: The New AP Biology Exam: A user’s guide

Summer Assignment:

You will be reading Survival of the Sickest by Dr. Sharon Moalem. You will need to purchase your own book. You can purchase at Barnes and Noble or Amazon or any other places that sell books. Check with the library also.

Within each Big Idea are several Enduring Understandings, which are delineated further into numerous Essential Knowledge concepts. The new organization of the curriculum provides students explicit benchmarks in the understanding of biology as a systematic science. The book, Survival of the Sickest, addresses the 4 Big Ideas in a personal and intriguing nonfiction platform.

AP BIOLOGY SUMMER ASSIGNMENT

PART 1 OF 3:

1. Your summer assignment begins by sending me an email to kmitchell.oh@oxford.k12.al.us. In the subject of your email, put your first and last name along with AP BIOLOGY. In the body of the message, let me know two interesting facts about yourself and why you are taking this course.

2. Do this as soon as you can or you will forget! This helps me go ahead and set up class sets.

PART 2 OF 3:

1. Purchase Survival of the Sickest to read.

2. As you read the book, please complete the questions. You will have a test on this book the second day of school. Don’t get behind!!! You need to answer the questions on a separate sheet of paper. They are due the second day of school when we take the exam on the book.

Survival of the Sickest

Introduction

1. What is the “big” question the book will attempt to answer?

Chapter I

2. The author points out many ways in which iron impacts life. Identify/describe at least five.

3. In the context of this chapter, explain the author’s reference to Bruce Lee and to the barber pole.

Chapter II

4. Distinguish between each of the three types of diabetes.

5. What did the ice cores of 1989 reveal about the Younger Dryas?

6. Describe the body’s “arsenal of natural defenses” against cold.

7. Describe the connection between Rana sylvatica and diabetes.

8. In Chapters I and II several inherited disorders were discussed. Create and complete a chart with the following information: Disease/Disorder, Symptoms, Evolutionary Advantage.

Chapter III

9. Why do we need Vitamin D? Cholesterol? Folic acid?

10. Briefly describe the connection between the two concepts:

a. tanning beds; birth defects

b. sunglasses; sunburn

c. hypertension; slave trade

d. Asian flush; drinking water

e. skull shape; climate

f. body hair; malaria

11. What’s so fishy about the Inuits’ skin color?

12. Explain the good and the bad of ApoE4.

Chapter IV

13. Explain the role of G6PO.

14. Briefly describe the connection between the two concepts:

a. European clover; Australian sheep breeding crisis of the 1940s

b. Capsaisin; birds and mammals

c. Malaria; air conditioning

d. Favism; fava beans

15. Explain the following statement found on page 87: “Life is such a compromise.”

Chapter V: “Of Microbes and Men”

16. Complete Parasite Chart (Go to end of assignment.)

17. Identify 3 ways in which microbes/parasites move from host to host.

18. For each pathway listed in question #2, explain the relationship of the mode of transmission to the virulence of the invader.

19. What is our advantage in the survive-and -produce race?

Chapter VI: “Jump Into the Gene Pool”

20. Briefly discuss the following terms/scientists:

a) Jenner

b) vaccine

c) antibodies

d) B-cells

e) “junk DNA”

f) Lamarck

g) McClintock

h) retroviruses

21. What is the Weissman barrier?

22. Make connections between the following terms:

a. transposons; viruses; evolution

b. sunspots; flu epidemics

23. Humans have about 25,000 genes and more than a million different antibodies. How is this possible?

24. What is a persisting virus?

Chapter VII: “Methyl Madness”

25. Make connections between the following terms:

a) vitamin supplement; agouti mice

b) snakes; long-tailed lizards

c) Barker Hypothesis; fathers who smoke

d) Smoking grandmothers; asthmatic children

e) Betel nut chewing; cancer

26. Epigenesis may be partially responsible for the childhood epidemic of obesity.

Explain.

27. “Good times mean more boys. Tough times mean more girls.” Explain.

Chapter VIII: “That’s Life: Why You and Your iPod Must Die”

28. Make connections between the following terms:

a) Progeria; lamina A

b) Hayflick limit; telomeres

c) Cancer cells; stem cells

d) Size; life expectancy

e) Risky child birth; big brains and bipedalism

29. Explain the author’s iPod and aging analogy.

30. Identify the 5 lines of cancer defense.

31. What are the two accomplishments of biogenic obsolescence?

32. Compare and contrast the Savanna and aquatic ape hypotheses.

Conclusion

33. The author hopes that you will come away from this book with an appreciation of three things:

a) Life is in a constant state of creation

b) Nothing in our world exists in isolation

c) Our relationship with disease is often much more complex than we may have previously realized.

On a personal note, what would you add to his list?

34. “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.” How does the book, Survival of the Sickest, support this quote by Theodosius Dobzhansky, a noted evolutionary biologist?

Part 3 of 3:

Science as a Process: Experimental Design

In any experiment there are two types of variables that have a cause-and-effect relationship: the independent variable and the dependent variable. The independent variable (IV) is changed or manipulated, and can be thought of as the cause. It follows the If in a hypothesis. The dependent variable (DV) is what you measure, and can be thought of as the effect. It follows the then in a hypothesis. Constants are all of the other factors that must remain the same so that the only systematic difference is the independent variable.

Read the following hypothesis and identify the IV and DV. List conditions that you would set up as constants and predict the control set-up vs. experimental set-up.

|Hypothesis - If a hamster is given a choice of food items to eat, then it will choose the item with the highest protein content, because protein is an |

|important component of a hamster’s diet. |

|Independent Variable |

| |

|Dependent Variable |

| |

|Constants |

| |

|Experimental Conditions or Groups |

| |

|Control Condition or Group |

| |

Inquiry: Experimental Design

The direction in which plants grow is affected by conditions such as light, gravity, and contact with an object. In this part of the experimental design section, you will be required to design an experiment as this is frequently tested on the AP exam. For the following problem, choose an external condition to test to see its effect on plant growth. Write out a detailed step-by-step procedure required to conduct your experiment. Please include a materials list.

Problem:

How does changing an external condition affect plant growth?

Please identify the following in your personally designed experiment:

|Hypothesis – |

| |

|Independent Variable |

| |

|Dependent Variable (include a data table) |

| |

|Constants |

| |

|Experimental Conditions or Groups |

| |

|Control Condition or Group |

| |

If you have any questions, email me at kmitchell.oh@oxford.k12.al.us - See you in August (

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