THERE WILL BE DIFFERENT SUMMER WORK FOR 2012--POSTED AT A LATER DATE.
AP Biology Summer Work for 2011
AP Lab Manual Use for required summer lab. Cost is around $18 plus shipping
can be ordered through the link on the links page.
SHORT AND SWEET: 1) Read book, 2) Buy lab manual**, 3) Do lab
**I understand that the lab manuals are on back order. I have a small number
of used ones that I can issueto students until their own personal ones come
in. If you were unable to do the puillbug lab for this reason--come with at
least a dozen pillbugs Tuesday afterschool (8/24) and we will do the lab then
and you will have data for you lab report.
LONG, DETAILED VERSION:
1) SUMMER READING LIST FOR AP BIOLOGY Each student is to pick one of
the books below to read this summer. There will be an assignment due the
first week on this reading. It is strongly recommended that brief notes be
taken on each chapter so that your memory can be refreshed. These notes are
for your use, so they may be taken in whatever format works for you. You
might consider getting a used copy that you can highlight/ write in the
margin /put sticky notes.
1. Mapping Fate by Alice Wexler
(About symptoms and discovery of the marker for Huntington’s Disease, this is
a personal perspective of a family member and researcher of this austosomal
dominant genetic disease.)
2. The Red Queen by Matt Ridley
(An exploration of why sex is is necessary from an evolutionary standpoint,
this book refers to the Lewis Caroll’s Red Queen from Through the Looking
Glass.)
3. Level 4: Virus Hunters of The CDC by Joseph McCormick and
Susan Fisher-Hock (Written by a husband and wife team working for the
Center for Disease Control, describes thoughts and knowledge gleaned from
working with the deadliest viruses—Ebola, Lassa, Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever, &
Aids.)
4. Living with Our Genes by Dean Hamer & Peter Copeland
(An exploration of the genetic component of human behavior, this book
includes such intriguing topics as thrill-seeking, aggression and addiction.
How much of our personality is Nature and how much is Nurture?)
5. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley
(An interesting approach to exploring the results of the human genome project
this book explores newly discovered genes from each of our 23 pairs of
chromosomes, and discusses the implications of our new knowledge.)
6. Handle With Care by Jodi Piccoult
(A real tear-jerker of a novel by the writer of the novel My Sister’s
Keeper. A mother is suing her doctor and best friend in a wrongful birth
case. An older sister is trying to get noticed. A father that loves his
daughter and a little girl with a tragic disease tries to make sense of it
all. Make sure you have Kleenex.)
2) PURCHASE AN AP BIOLOGY LAB MANUAL
You may order a lab manual on line at the address above 18.00. You
will need the manual to do the next item.
3) COMPLETE AN ANIMAL BEHAVIOR LAB
AP Lab 11A is on animal behavior and requires 10 live pillbugs (aka isopods,
rolly pollies). The manual describes the construction of a choice chamber
from two plastic petri dishes, but you may build a chamber from an old
shoebox or pie tin or other available container. Line the container with
paper toweling cut to fit and offer your pill bugs the choice of two
environmental conditions: light and dark, wet and dry, acid (vinegar or lemon
juice) or base (dilute household ammonia), or anything you can think of that
might influence them.
* Look for pill bugs in damp leaf mold(under rocks/between paving stones)
* Remember to return your pillbugs to the environment when you are done with
them.
* If you must keep them overnight, provide damp paper toweling for them.
* Take good data, make observations and drawings as indicated in the lab
manual.
* Figure out how to graph the data. Will this be a line of X (time) vs Y
(number of bugs in a particular chamber) or would a bar graph indicating the
average number of bugs in a particular setting make more sense?
* Answer accompanying questions directly in the lab manual.
