APBioWikiWebQuest

Introduction

The AP Biology course is designed to be the equivalent of a two-semester college introductory biology course usually taken by biology majors during their first year. After showing themselves to be qualified on the AP Examination, some students, as college freshmen, are permitted to undertake upper-level courses in biology or register for courses for which biology is a prerequisite.  Other students may have fulfilled a basic requirement for a laboratory science course and will be able to undertake other courses to pursue their majors.

AP Biology should include those topics regularly covered in a college biology course for majors.  The college course in biology differs significantly from the usual first high school course in biology with respect to the kind of textbook used, the range and depth of topics covered, the kind of laboratory work done by students, and the time and effort require of students.  The textbooks used by AP Biology should be those also used by college biology majors.  The kinds of labs done by AP students must be the equivalent of those done by college students.

The AP Biology course is designed to be taken by students after the successful completion of a first course in high school biology and one in high school chemistry as well.  It aims to provide students with the conceptual framework, factual knowledge, and analytical skills necessary to deal critically with the rapidly changing science of biology.

The two main goals of AP Biology are to help students develop a conceptual framework for modern biology and to help students gain an appreciation of science as a process.  The ongoing knowledge explosion in biology makes these goals even more challenging.  Primary emphasis in an AP Biology course should be developing an understanding of concepts rather than on memorizing terms and technical details.  Essential to this conceptual understanding are the following: a grasp of science as a process rather than 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.

What information will help you and other students develop a conceptual framework for modern biology and to help you gain an appreciation of science as a process?

You will be responsible for finding and compiling quality resources to be used by others. Focus on understanding important relationships, processes, mechanisms, and potential extensions and applications of concepts.  Less important, although still necessary, is the memorization of specialized terminology and technical details.  For example, understanding how protein structure affects enzyme action is more important than memorizing a list of enzyme names.  It is more important that you demonstrate your ability to explain, analyze, and interpret biological process and phenomena more than your ability to recall specific facts.

You are responsible for deciding what information should be put in the compilation.

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Task

During the course of the semester, you must make at least 10 substantive contributions to the APBioWiki. 

What is a "substantive" contribution? It's one that...

• is at least 2 paragraphs long, with each paragraph consisting of at least 5 sentences,

• contains at least two links to some other entry in the wiki and at least one to an external URL, and

• focuses on one important person, place, thing, event, fact, concept or principle that is squarely within the domain of this course.

Other requirements for this assignment:

• At least 2 of your ten postings must include an image file, sized no larger than 300 x 300.

• You should refine or enhance at least three postings created by others in the class.

Each of these five requirements counts for 20 of the 100 total points for this assignment. The wiki software will keep track of all contributions.

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Process

The APBioWiki is an integral part of this process. It's a place in which we will build a common knowledge base about AP Biology. Wikis are persistent, so, it's a way to pass knowledge from one year's offering of the course to the next as well as to interested viewers in the wider world outside the class.

What's a wiki? A wiki is a system for creating hyperlinked documents that are open to being revised by all participants. That might sound chaotic, but it's really a powerful idea for knowledge management. To get an idea of what a wiki is, take a look at Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia with tens of thousands of co-authors. Wikipedia has extensive coverage of biology, but essential to your conceptual understanding are the following: a grasp of science as a process rather than 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 to environmental and social concerns.

We'll be doing something similar to Wikipedia but narrowly focused on the domain of this course.

What should your contribution be about? You are the target users of this resource, so the first driver of the content should be what interests you within this domain. With any luck, the diversity of your collective interests will result in a wiki that broadly covers the field and answers the kind of questions that would result in a deeper understanding.

How do you find the data for your contribution?

1. Take a look at the Resources page on the navigation bar for the course.

2. Take a look at the themes, topics and concepts in the AP Biology Course Description.

3.  Select and read a book from the AP Biology "Great Books" List.

What kinds of entries should you make? Just to assure that there is variety in your contributions, think about the categories of things one might write about. Here are some possible categories:

• People (e.g., Charles Darwin, Rosalind Franklin)

• Themes (e.g., Science as a Process, Regulation)

• Topics (e.g., Gene Regulation, Ecology)

• Concepts (e.g.,  How does protein structure effect enzyme action? How do the unique chemical and physical properties of water make life on earth possible?

• Ethical, Legal and Social Issues (e.g., Stem Cell research, Privacy and Confidentiality of Genetic Information)

• Great Scientific Debates (e.g., How old is the earth? Lord Kelvin vs. Charles Darwin, What makes us sick? Sir Joseph Lister/ Louis Pasteur v. Bloodletting)

• Science Fiction or Non-fiction Books that I've read (e.g., Jurassic Park,The Hot Zone)

Your contributions should not all be of one of these types. Try for a variety of these.

Due Dates

October 13, 2004. By this date, make a posting to the Wiki Forum listing the names and a short description of all 10 entries you'll be making. Look at what's already posted first so that there are no duplications.

After that time, start searching the web and the library for the information you'll need to make your entries. For now, write them in single Word document. On October 3, we'll devote class time to the mechanics of actually posting them in the wiki.

December 1, 2004. On this date your contributions to the wiki will be tallied and assigned a grade.

Remember to keep track of your sources for documentation later. All research must be cited.

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Evaluation

Describe to the learners how their performance will be evaluated. Specify whether there will be a common grade for group work vs. individual grades. You may want to have separate rubrics for individual and group work.

Conclusion

With 31 courses and 34 exams across 19 subject areas, AP offers something for everyone. The only requirements are a strong curiosity about the subject you plan to study and the willingness to work hard. Here are just a few reasons to sign up:

Gain the Edge in College Preparation
*    Get a head start on exactly the sort of work you will confront in college.
*    Improve your writing skills and sharpen your problem-solving techniques.
*    Develop the study habits necessary for tackling rigorous coursework.

Stand Out in the College Admissions Process
*    Demonstrate your maturity and readiness for college.
*    Show your willingness to push yourself to the limit.
*    Emphasize your commitment to academic excellence.

Broaden Your Intellectual Horizons
*    Explore the world from a variety of perspectives, most importantly your own.
*    Study subjects in greater depth and detail.
*    Assume the responsibility of reasoning, analyzing, and understanding for yourself.

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Credits & References

This WebQuest is based on the EDTEC 670 Educational Games Wiki, an evolving micropedia about educational games and simulations. The assignment is described at http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec670/assignments/wiki.htm.

Bloks and Wikis as WebQuest tasks Thanks again, to Bernie Dodge for taking my teaching and learning one step beyond.

Wikis allow open editing. Anyone can edit anyone else's writing, or undo a previous edit. This leads to a shared ownership of the collected work. To experience this, you can add an entry to Wikipedia or set up your own free wikispace on SeedWiki. If you have sufficient geek experience you can install your own wiki software on a server running Linux or Mac OS X. Most are open source (free!).

The wiki site uses PmWiki software. Here are some pages you might find useful.

• PmWiki documentation is available at PmWiki.DocumentationIndex.

• What is the WikiWikiWeb?

• TipsForEditing and TextFormattingRules describe how to create pages in PmWiki.

• You can practice editing pages in the WikiSandbox.

As a matter of style and to keep ownership clear, all pages that you call up that are external to this site should appear in a new window outside of this frame. Add "TARGET=_BLANK" to the link to bring this about.

"We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuest. On the line after the original author's name, you may add Modified by (your name) on (date). If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL."

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