High School Block:

Biology 111/2

Biology 112 is designed to support learners who have plans for post-secondary education in areas of biology, health sciences, ecology, forestry, and environmental science. Learners can expect to participate in a variety of engaging instructional practices and group activities. To develop scientific literacy, learners require diverse learning experiences which provide opportunities to explore, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, appreciate, and understand the interrelationships among science, technology, society, and the environment that will affect their personal lives, their careers, and their future. Observations, systems thinking, and inquiry will be used as tools to study the history of the natural world from the cell to ecological systems. Topics covered during this course will include cellular organizations and processes, classification systems, evolutionary concepts, and application skills.

It is strongly recommended that learners take Science 10: Science for Sustainable Societies before taking Biology 112.

In all levels of Biology 111/2, the expectation is that educators will adjust course material in breadth, depth, and scope of inquiry dependent on the level of curriculum delivery. The goal for learners is to demonstrate critical thinking and enact skills relevant and necessary to the learning area. The level 1 course is not different in the number of skill descriptors; rather, there are increased expectations in the level 1 course in terms of depth of understanding, and learner self-efficacy. Educators should provide more opportunities in the level 1 course to participate in higher-order thinking activities.

For Educators: Biology 112/122 Companion Document

CONTEXTS AND CONCEPTS

Cell                

Cell History               

  • Cell theory               

Cell Organization                

  • Organelles               
  • Macromolecules               

Cell Processes                

Life        

Taxonomy        

  • Grouping systems               

Evolution        

  • Driving forces               
  • Life cycles               

Ecology        

  • Interactions               
  • Relationships               
Application        

Application and Practice        

  • Safety               
  • Lab skills               
  • Scientific literacy skills               
  • Biological careers               
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GRADE 11

Strand: The Cell

Big Idea: History of the Cell

Skill Descriptor: Evaluate the development of cell theory.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Discuss technological advances in viewing the natural world
  • Identify a paradigm shift in biological concepts
  • Explain the components of cell theory
  • Debate the current limitations and future implications of cell theory.

Big Idea: Organization

Skill Descriptor: Investigate how organelles support life.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Examine prokaryotic cells
  • Investigate the evolution of eukaryotic cells via endosymbiosis
  • Examine eukaryotic cell structures
  • Discuss how cellular membranes, mitochondria, and chloroplasts support cellular life

Skill Descriptor: Evaluate how macromolecules support life.

Global Competencies: CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Identify macromolecules, including monomers, by structure
  • Explain the location and function of macromolecules in the cell

Big Idea: Cell Processes

Skill Descriptor: Investigate how cell processes support life.

Global Competencies: CTPS, ICE

Achievement Indicators:

  • Explain how materials move in and out of cells via passive and active transport through a membrane
  • Examine the effect of osmosis on cells
  • Investigate how cell size and surface area are correlated
  • Examine matter transformation in photosynthesis and cellular respiration
  • Examine energy transformations in photosynthesis and cellular respiration
  • Plan and perform an experiment to investigate cellular processes

Strand: Study of Life

Big Idea: Taxonomy

Skill Descriptor: Create and justify biology grouping systems.

Global Competencies: CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Research how grouping systems continue to change over time
  • Apply the rules of binomial nomenclature for naming organisms
  • Compare characteristics across taxonomic ranks
  • Compare characteristics within a taxonomic rank
  • Identify organisms using a dichotomous key
  • Investigate morphological structures that build grouping systems
  • Create phylogenetic diagrams by interpreting data
  • Explore the contributions from scientists from various cultures and societies, including Wabanaki Peoples

Big Idea: Evolution

Skill Descriptor: Investigate and analyze driving forces of evolution.

Global Competencies: CTPS, ICE, SASM, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Research evolutionary theory from more than one historical perspective
  • Discuss the contributions of scientists in this field
  • Explain the types of scientific evidence that contribute to evolutionary theory
  • Hypothesize a driving evolutionary force over time for organisms

Skill Descriptor: Analyze advantages of various life cycles.

Global Competencies: CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Investigate how organisms from each kingdom maintain homeostasis
  • Research reproductive changes over time
  • Compare viral replication cycles to other reproductive cycles
  • Explain the influence of reproduction type on organism fitness

Big Idea: Ecology

Skill Descriptor: Analyze interactions and relationships within ecosystems.

Global Competencies: CTPS, ICE

Achievement Indicators:

  • Hypothesize how symbiotic relationships form between organisms over time
  • Investigate how relationships build ecological communities
  • Discover how ecological knowledge is carried through story
  • Examine the principles of Netukulimk and how it can benefit ecological communities
  • Model and explain loss of energy across trophic levels
  • Evaluate the impact of bioaccumulation in ecological communities

Strand: Integrated Skills/ STSE

Big Idea: Application and Practice

Skill Descriptor: Model safety practices.

Global Competencies: CL, CM, CTPS, ICE, SASM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Discuss safe handling and use of lab equipment for biological investigations
  • Discuss WHMIS-informed lab behaviours for biological investigations

Skill Descriptor: Develop lab skills.

Global Competencies: CL, CM, CTPS, ICE, SASM, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Discuss the difference between qualitative and quantitative data under biological investigations
  • Calculate field of view, actual size of a specimen, total magnification, drawing magnification
  • Create lab observations to scientific biological drawing standards
  • Perform a digital or lab dissection with appropriate care and respect
  • Prepare a wet mount slide to appropriate scientific standards

Skill Descriptor: Apply scientific literacy skills.

Global Competencies: CL, CM, CTPS, ICE, SASM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Use strategies to analyze and interpret scientific content
  • Use content area vocabulary to present, produce, and communicate ideas
  • Discuss biology-related experimental designs
  • Identify ethical considerations related to biological experimental designs
  • Compile and display evidence in a variety of formats
  • Interpret patterns and trends in data and infer or calculate linear and non-linear relationships

Skill Descriptor: Explore biological careers.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS, SASM, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Explore biology-based careers in Canada based on personal interest
  • Explore innovations from diverse groups including Wabanaki Nations, Black, and Peoples of Colour
  • Share how skills and concepts learned in biology may be transferable to a career path
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