AP Biology ~ 2015-2016
To all AP Biology Students and their Parents: May 19 2015Welcome to Advanced Placement Biology. I have put together this AP Biology Summer Assignment to help prepare you for what will be a very challenging, yet rewarding, course. AP Biology is an extremely self-directed class that will require time management and organizational skills from everyone. We will be covering most of the material in a college-level textbook and we will also be completing, in-depth, inquiry labs over the course of the year.
What we have ahead of us is a demanding task. The course description, as set forth in the AP course handbook states: The AP Biology course is designed to be the equivalent of a college introductory biology course taken by biology majors during their first year. As a consequence, we will be covering, on average, a chapter a week out of a college-level textbook for the entire year. The end result will be a much deeper knowledge of biology and (hopefully) a passing score on the AP Biology exam, which might lead to receiving college credit for all of your hard work.
Please understand that YOU, way more than I, will determine your success in this course. The course goes at a rapid pace for the whole year and nothing less than your full attention will be needed to keep your head above water.
I expect that all of you will have all of the required materials (see AP Biology Syllabus) on the first day of class and that these materials will be brought to class daily. You should be aware of the text book that we will be using as stated on the syllabus you can use the printed or the e-text version. You should be reading the AP Biology text book nightly.
Below you will find the AP Biology Summer Assignment. To complete this assignment, you will need access to the AP Biology textbook and MasteringBiology online component
(masteringbiology.com). The AP Biology Summer Assignment is due the first day of class. In addition to the Chapter 1, 2 and 3 written and online work, you should also review and have an understanding of the 4 Big Ideas and the 7 Science Practices on the syllabus. You should be ready to discuss the information in these chapters on the first day of class.
If you have any questions about the AP Biology course, then please come by my room (C-208) before the start of the summer, or email me at [email protected] I am grateful for the opportunity to be your instructor and am looking forward to working with each of you next year as we explore the dynamic world in which we live in. I also hope to inspire worship and awe towards our Creator as He is the author of all life – which will be the main focus of our studies.
~ Tania Peña AP Biology
Summer Assignment
The AP Biology Summer Assignment should be ORIGINAL work and may be neatly handwritten or typed for those assignments that require written work. The
MasteringBiology component is to be submitted online before the first day of class. This assignment is due at the start of class on the first day of class (Aug. 2015). Note: MasteringBiology summer assignments will be found in the study area of
Read Chapter 1 ~ Introduction: Themes in the Study of Life After you have read Chapter 1, complete the following:
o SELF-QUIZ #1-6 (MasteringBiology)
o Investigation under additional resources (Mastering Biology) --- How do environmental changes affect a population?
o SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY/Science Practice 4 #8, Focus on Big Idea 1 #9 pg. 17 textbook
Read Chapter 2 ~ The Chemistry of Life
After you have read Chapter 2, complete the following:
o SELF-QUIZ #1-8 (MasteringBiology)
o Key Concepts (MasteringBiology) --- MP3 Tutor --- The properties of water
Submit the online quiz questions 1-5
o SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY #10 Scientific Practices 3 & 4, #12 Focus on Big Idea 4 pg 39 textbook
Read Chapter 3 ~ Carbon and the Molecular Diversity of Life After you have read Chapter 3, complete the following:
o SELF-QUIZ #1-7 (MasteringBiology)
o Key Concepts (Mastering Biology) Concept 3.5 MP3 Tutor --- Protein Structure and Function
Submit the online quiz questions 1-5
o SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY/Science Practice 4 #8, Focus on Big Idea 1 #9 pg. 17 textbook
Assignment # 2 BIOLOGY COLLECTION
For this part of your summer assignment, you will be familiarizing yourself with science terms that we will be using at different points throughout the year. On the next page is the list of terms.
Each item is worth 2 points. You must earn 80 points by the Friday before school starts. You are required to post at least 5 photos every two weeks:
Earn 80 points by “collecting” 40 items from the list of terms.
When I say “collect”, I mean you should collect that item by finding it and taking a photograph (digital or paper printed) of that item. You will post your photographs with appropriate explanations / descriptions on the AP Biology Blog on Schoology course page ( More instructions to come)
1) YOU CAN BE CREATIVE: If you choose an item that is internal to a plant or animal, like the term “phloem”, you could submit a photograph of the whole organism or a close up of one part, and then explain on the blog what phloem is and specifically where phloem is in your specimen.
2) ORIGINAL PHOTOS ONLY: You cannot use an image from any publication or the Web. You must have taken the photograph yourself. The best way to prove that is to place an item in all of your photographs that only you could have added each time, something that you might usually have on you like a pen or a coin or a key or your cell phone, etc.
3) NATURAL ITEMS ONLY: All items must be from something that you have found in nature. Take a walk around your yard, neighborhood, and town. DON’T SPEND ANY MONEY! Research what the term means and in what organisms it can be found... and then go out and find an example.
4) TEAM WORK: You may work with other students in the class to complete this project, but each student must turn in his or her own project with a unique set of terms chosen. So working with other students means brainstorming, discussing, going on collecting trips together. It doesn’t mean using the same items! There are almost 100 choices... probability says there is a very slim chance that any two students will have the same items chosen for their 100 points… and I believe in the statistics!
GROUPINGS
Each specimen in a category is worth 2 points up to a total of 5 specimens in the category. Except where noted every specimen must be native to California. 1. Different biomes (only 3 must be within CA)
2. Different types of carbohydrates 3. Different classes of proteins
4. Evidence of different alleles for the same species 5. Organisms on different levels in the same food chain. 6. Organisms in the same food web.
7. Nutrients in different parts of their respective nutrient cycle (2 nutrient cycles may be collected).
INDIVIDUAL ITEMS
Each specimen is worth 2 points. You may have up to 2 examples of each item; submitting more than 2 will not add any additional points. These do not need to be native to California.
1. adaptation of an animal 44. enzyme
2. adaptation of a plant 45. epithelial tissue
3. altruistic behavior 46. ethylene
4. amniotic egg 47. eubacteria
5. analagous structures 48. eukaryote
7. Mullerian mimicry 50. connective tissue
8. mutualism 51. Krebs cycle
8. archaebacteria 52. Cuticle layer of plant
9. asexual reproduction 53. K-strategist
10. genetic variation within a population 54. succession
11. niche 55. Detirivore
12. ATP 56. lichen
13. parasitism 57. taxis
14. autotroph 58. Dominant vs. recessive phenotype
15. genetically modified organism 59. Lipid used for energy 16. auxin producing area of organism 60. Territorial behavior
17. phloem a plant 61. tropism
18. gibberellins 62. ectotherm
19. pollen 63. Unicellular organism
20. basidiomycete 64. Long-day plant
21. glycogen 65. Short-day plant
22. pollinator 66. Vestigial structures
23. Batesian mimicry 67.endotherm
24. population 68. Modified leaf of a plant
25. bilateral symmetry 69. Modified root of a plant
26. predation 70. adhesion
27. biological magnification 71. cohesion
28. prokaryote 72. flaccid plant
29. hermaphrodite 73. turgid plant
30. r-strategist 74. non-specific line of defense
32. radial symmetry (animal) 76. essential nutrient
33. homeostasis 77. non-vascular plant
34. redox reaction 78. carbon
35. Calvin cycle 79. hydrogen bonds
36. homologous structures 80. non-polar
37. rhizome 81. acid
38. hydrophilic 82. base
39. seed dispersal (animal, wind, water) 84. saturated fat
40. cellular respiration 85. unsaturated fat
41. hydrophobic 86. spore
42. coevolution 87. commensalism
