School Without Walls Biology

Labs and Field Trips

• Taxonomy Lab
  • We will use the whale data to construct cladograms.
  • We will be analyzing Tree Thinking since Darwin using The Tree Thinking Challenge. Credit Kim Foglia.
  • Click here for the online taxonomy lab. Credit Kim Foglia.
• Yogurt Lab
  • Click for the yogurt_procedure we did in class. Original credit to Kim Foglia.
• Parade of the Kingdoms and Who Am I? Review Sheet
  • We will be using a “Parade of the Kingdoms” review sheet, particularly in looking at animal phyla and diversity. Credit Kim Foglia.
  • We will be using Kim Foglia’s “Who Am I?” review sheet as a way to review the diversity of life.
• Supplementary Reading
  • “Foraging” chapter from The Omnivore’s Dilemma

Videos Watched in Class

• Video

Unit Objectives

• History of Life on Earth
  • Describe the major events of the geologic timescale including the Pre-Cambrian era, Cambrian explosion, and major extinction events.
  • Describe Oparin’s hypothesis and the conditions necessary for the Miller-Urey experiments through a virtual lab.
  • Describe conditions necessary for abiogenesis and connect cell theory to experimental evidence through a lab.
• Cladistics
  • List the attributes of the three major domains of life, as well as major kingdoms and phyla/divisions of each and, if given a description of an organism, place it in the appropriate taxon.
  • Construct a cladogram for a set of organisms based on morphological and genetic data.
• Prokaryotes
  • Describe a generalized features of eubacteria and archaea
  • Distinguish between archaea, eubacteria, and cyanobacteria on the basis of respiration and nutrituion.
  • Identify common bacterial morphology and describe the differences between gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria through a modeling activity and a lab.
• Protists
  • Identify common protists in pond-water samples and through microscopy.
  • Distinguish among plant-like, animal-like, and fungus-like protists.
  • Sequence the life cycle of Plasmodium.
• Fungi
  • Describe the general characteristics of fungi through a mushroom dissection.
  • Describe animal-fungus and plant-fungus interactions.
  • Describe and sequence the fungal life cycle through a video and mushroom dissection.