AP Big Ideas
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Course Description
This AP Biology course is designed to offer students a solid foundation in introductory college-level biology. The two main goals of this course are to help students develop a conceptual framework for modern biology and an appreciation of science as a process. The primary emphasis in an AP Biology course should be on developing an understanding of concepts rather than on memorizing terms and technical details. Essential to this conceptual understanding are a grasp of science as a process rather than as an accumulation of facts; personal experience in scientific inquiry; recognition of unifying themes that integrate the major topics of biology; and application of biological knowledge and critical thinking to environmental and social concerns.
By structuring the course around the four big ideas, enduring understandings, and science practices, students will develop an appreciation for the study of life, which will help them identify and understand unifying principles within a diversified biological world. What we know today about biology is a result of inquiry. Science is a way of knowing. Therefore, the process of inquiry in science and developing critical thinking skills is the most important part of this course. At the end of the course, students will have an awareness of the integration of other sciences in the study of biology, understand how the species to which we belong is similar to, yet different from, other species, and be knowledgeable and responsible citizens in understanding biological issues that could impact their lives. |