DP Biology Introduction

This course will teach you a lot about Biology but I also aim to help you learn how to study as well. You will find that as you progress through this course you will encounter exercises which use the same techniques for querying academic content aka knowledge. The main exercises are:

• Sentence-Phrase-Word

• Connect-Extend-Challenge

• Chalk-talk

• See-think-wonder

These are tools that you can learn how to use for your own private study and they are useful routines for thinking about any topic that will serve you long after you have forgotten the details of this course.

Before this course introduction I normally give my classes a standard level paper 1. I ask them to answer any questions they can and then make a list of all the unfamiliar words. I then ask them to interrogate a textbook to see if they can answer a further set of unanswered questions.

Then I ask the class to produce a list of vocab they didn't understand in the test. This can than be a springboard into talking about keeping track of vocabulary.

This course introduction combines the following understandings and applications of of topic 1.1:

A2: Investigation of functions of life in Paramecium and one named photosynthetic unicellular organism. 

U2: Organisms consisting of only one cell carry out all functions of life in that cell.

and these from 5.3: 

U4: All organisms are classified into three domains. 

U5: The principal taxa for classifying eukaryotes are kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species. 

Exercise 1: Chalk talk "What is Biology?" 

• Write down your ideas in response to this question on the piece of paper given to you. (1 min)

• Taking your coloured pens with you, rotate to the next table, read what has been written and add any further comments and questions. (1 min per rotation)

• Repeat until back at your original table.

• Share what has been written with the rest of the class.

Exercise 3: Write a short paragraph entitled "What is life" based on your ideas from our chalk talk and sentence, phrase word. You should outline what you think it means for something to be alive.

Guidance: Students are expected to be able to name and briefly explain these functions of life: nutrition, metabolism, growth, response, excretion, homeostasis and reproduction.

A2: Investigation of functions of life in Paramecium and one named photosynthetic unicellular organism. 

U2: Organisms consisting of only one cell carry out all functions of life in that cell.

Exercise 5: Which organelles inside Paramecium help it to carry out its functions of life? Can you match an organelle to each function?

U3: Taxonomists classify species using a hierarchy of taxa. 

Exercise 6: Add the following terms to your glossary: taxonomist and taxa. Can you define them?