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| Curriculum Development > High School 9-12 > Comprehensive Programs > BSCS Biology: A Human Approach | |||||||||||||||||
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 BSCS Biology: A Human Approach3rd Edition, 2006 Kendall/Hunt Publishing BSCS Biology: A Human Approach is a standards-based, introductory biology program appropriate for students of all abilities. Developed with a grant from the National Science Foundation, the program involves students in conceptual biology by using a human perspective, organizes content around six unifying themes and teaches through inquiry, hands-on activities and an explicit 5-E learning cycle. The thematic approach encourages depth of coverage rather than breadth and, with its emphasis on humans, the text presents biology in a context that will be relevant to students' lifelong learning. In one controlled study that assessed biological knowledge with an independent, objective exam, students using A Human Approach outperformed those using a traditional curriculum. With A Human Approach, BSCS has demonstrated that it is possible to shift from an encyclopedic curriculum to one in which biological concepts are presented in a unified format. For students who may never take another science course, A Human Approach highlights the role of science in their own lives (e.g., nutrition, reproduction and medicine). For students interested in a career in science, the text's flexible instructional model supports self-pacing and opportunities for additional content and enrichment. Six key features of the program help explain why we think this program is better. We describe each feature below. Unifying Themes We organized the program into three sections and six core units. The three sections are the Engage, Explain, and Evaluate Sections. They come at the beginning, middle, and end of the program and are described under the Instructional Model heading.We organized the six core units around six major biological concepts. These concepts are recurring themes that unify all of biology. Although you will see these themes in every unit, we focus on one theme in each unit. Subthemes Two subthemes, or background ideas, are woven through the entire program. They help to establish connections between biology and your life. They improve your reasoning ability. The Science as Inquiry subtheme refers to the discovery process by which information is obtained and evaluated. It also refers to the changing body of knowledge that characterizes scientific understanding.This theme systematically exposes you to the processes of science. This includes making observations, making inferences, assembling evidence, developing hypotheses, designing experiments, collecting data, analyzing and presenting results, and communicating and evaluating conclusions. The Science and Humanity subtheme makes your study of biology more relevant and approachable. It does this by incorporating the critical elements of human culture; the history of science; the place of ethics, ethical analysis, and decision making in today’s controversial science world; and the importance of human technology as a way of adapting. We define technology as the use of knowledge to achieve a practical solution to a perceived problem.We also recognize that the ultimate effects of the technological process or product on society and the biosphere may extend beyond the intended effects. Instructional Model We organized the instruction of major concepts in this book around a model of learning that recognizes how individuals build or construct new ideas.We call this type of instructional model the “5Es.” The program is organized around five phases of learning that we best can describe using words that begin with E: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. You will get an overview of the program by completing the Engage Section. Units 1 to 3 let you explore the big ideas of scientific inquiry. The Explain Section then sets you up to conduct your own scientific inquiry. Units 4 to 6 are designed to help you elaborate your understanding of the processes of science. The Evaluate Section provides several opportunities for you to evaluate your progress in learning biology. Cooperative Learning Cooperative learning is an educational strategy that helps you increase your responsibility for your own learning. Cooperative learning also models the processes that scientists use when collaborating. It helps you develop the working relationship skills necessary for today’s workforce. Assessment Assessment opportunities allow you to evaluate your progress. These activities are embedded throughout the program, and the assessments themselves are learning experiences. The following assessment strategies are included in the program:
Educational technology is integral to the program. It is used as a tool to enhance learning and understanding. The program includes the following major electronic technologies:
The Biological Sciences Curriculum Study has developed BSCS Biology: A Human Approach, an innovative, activity-driven biology program that is appropriate for all high school students. It is a sequential, full-year, general biology curriculum that makes frequent use of human examples to engage 9th- and 10th-grade students in the fundamental concepts of biology. Student Book The student book contains activities and essays. The activities are the core of the program, and they drive the conceptual learning. Activities involve hands-on/minds-on manipulation, laboratory activities, paper-and-pencil inquiries, computer simulations, video learning, and other activities. The essays introduce, formalize, or elaborate concepts; provide historical insights; provide cultural, social, technological, and ethical perspectives; and reveal the nature of science. The essays, which follow each unit, are organized in a magazine format that appeals to most students. Each essay is self-contained, that is, essays do not generally have transitions connecting one to the next as do standard texts. Teacher Guide The teacher guide includes overviews of the activities, materials lists, preparations, strategies for guiding learners, assessment strategies (noted by icons), flowcharts for chapter implementation, appropriate uses for educational technologies (video activities noted by DVD icons), and student responses to procedural and Analysis questions. Teacher Resource CD The Teacher Resource CD (TRCD) contains the following:
Guide to Assessment CD The Guide to Assessment CD (GACD) contains:
The program includes a DVD that contains motion sequences and still pictures. Students will work with the DVD videos in large groups, small groups, or individually. We organized this program into three sections and six core units. The three sections are the Engage, Explain, and Evaluate Sections. They come at the beginning, middle, and end of the program and are described in the following pages as part of the description of the instructional model. The six core units are (1) Evolution: Patterns and Products of Change in Living Systems, (2) Homeostasis: Maintaining Dynamic Equilibrium in Living Systems, (3) Energy, Matter, and Organization: Relationships in Living Systems, (4) Continuity: Reproduction and Inheritance in Living Systems, (5) Development: Growth and Differentiation in Living Systems, and (6) Ecology: Interaction and Interdependence in Living Systems. Foremost among the program’s innovative features is a comprehensive emphasis on the unifying concepts of biology and less emphasis on vocabulary and the memorization of disconnected facts. Instead of the typical encyclopedic approach to biology, broad concepts and the factual content that elaborates those concepts are presented in ways that demonstrate biological interconnections, permit an in-depth exploration of life, and establish a relevance to students’ lives. Such an approach necessarily means that certain topics often covered in survey courses must be omitted. In deciding what content to retain, we relied on the recommendations of the impressive group of scientists and educators who developed the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996) and Developing Biological Literacy (BSCS, 1993). Complementing the conceptual approach to biology is the program’s explicit instruction model, which is based on the constructivist philosophy of learning. BSCS Biology: A Human Approach also strongly emphasizes the development of students’ problem-solving, critical-thinking, and inquiry skills. This curriculum allows learners to conduct investigations that are meaningful to them and that highlight experimental design, analysis, and the application of concepts, rather than the perfunctory verification of processes about which students already have learned. And to accommodate the demand that students be able to apply their understanding of biology to the personal, social, and ethical demands of scientific literacy, this program uses real-world connections and thematic approaches that bridge the gap between familiar student experiences and more abstract biology theories. Before beginning the development of BSCS Biology: A Human Approach, BSCS conducted a design study to determine what biological concepts and principles are critical to the study of biology at the high school level. The subsequent report, Developing Biological Literacy, published by BSCS in 1993, listed six unifying principles or themes that we have used for the conceptual organization of the program. The National Science Education Standards, published by the National Research Council in 1996, also identify six broad conceptual themes in the life sciences, five of which correlate directly with the themes used to organize the units in BSCS Biology: A Human Approach, thus reinforcing the wisdom of this program’s organization. (The sixth theme in the standards, Behavior, does not serve as the focal point for any single unit, but instead is discussed in the context of several other unifying themes, including Development.) For ordering information, click here. Field Test Teachers click here. This project was developed with funds from the National Science Foundation
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