Biology, the CM Way

Shoshie chose a Living Books curriculum for high school Biology. She has long been a nature lover and watcher of Animal Planet, and went to practically every class or camp that the local nature center offered. When she outgrew the camps, she became a volunteer who helped the naturalist lead the camps.

We designed the course by taking a generic high school text and listing the chapter topics. Then we looked for appropriate living books to cover the material. I also looked online for appropriate labs to include. We did labs with 5 other teens who came to our home weekly.

Her assignments varied from compositions, drawings, and regular discussions.

Some of the websites where we found labs or lesson plans that we used include

http://sciencespot.net/Pages/classbio.html

http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/natsc.fs.html

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/sci_edu/waldron/index.html#intro

http://teach.genetics.utah.edu/content/

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/Lessons/index.shtml

She also used some of the materials from HHMI, including lesson plans on

1. Adherence: What Sticks Can Make You Sick

2. Tracking the Source of Disease: Koch's Postulates, Causality, and Contemporary Epidemiology3

3. Epidemiology, Viruses, and the Scientific Method: Independent Study Assignment

4. Food Safety

5. Microbes and Mankind

6. Microbe Hunters

Books she read included

The Way Life Works: The Science Lover’s Illustrated Guide to How Life Grows, Develops, Reproduces, and Gets Along by Mahlon Hoaglund and Bert Dodson

The Human Story: Where We Come From & How We Evolved by Charles Lockwood

Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould

The Double Helix by James D. Watson

When Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, AIDS by James Cross Giblin

Invisible Allies: Microbes That Shape Our Lives by Jeanette Farrell

Diversity of Life: The Illustrated Guide to the Five Kingdoms by Lynn Margulis

The Private Life of Plants by David Attenborough

In the Shadow of Man by Jane Goodall

The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild by Craig Childs

King Solomon’s Ring: New Light on Animal Ways by Konrad Lorenz

Food and You: A Guide to Healthy Habits for Teens by Marjolijn Bijlefeld and Sharon Zoumbaris

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