Biology

How many kinds of living things share Ontario with you, and how do biologists keep track of them all? In this unit you will learn to describe biodiversity at the genetic, species, structural and ecosystem levels; to name and classify organisms using taxonomic ranks, binomial nomenclature and phylogenetic trees (cladograms); and to sort life into three domains and six kingdoms. You will compare prokaryotes, eukaryotes and viruses, then take a close look at bacteria and archaea, protists, fungi, plants and animals, and trace how life's structures and functions changed from the first cells to plants and animals on land.

You will also do biology the way field biologists do: drawing proper biological diagrams, building and testing dichotomous keys, and sampling a local ecosystem with quadrats, transects, pitfall traps and mark-recapture, then calculating Simpson's diversity index. The unit ends with the big questions: why biodiversity keeps ecosystems viable, what the risks and benefits of human interventions (fish stocking, plantations, pesticides, fire suppression, biological control) are, and how climate change is reshaping the diversity of life.

Remember from earlier grades: Grade 6 Biodiversity (kingdoms, vertebrates and invertebrates, simple dichotomous keys), Grade 9 Sustainable Ecosystems and Climate Change (genetic, species and ecosystem diversity, richness and evenness, quadrats, resilience), and Grade 10 Tissues, Organs, and Systems (plant and animal cells, microscopes, field of view) and Climate Change. This unit connects to the other SBI3U units: Evolution, Genetic Processes, Animals: Structure and Function and Plants: Anatomy, Growth, and Function, and later to Grade 12 Biology (SBI4U).

Every lesson has worked examples, at least two diagrams, a hands-on activity that uses things found at home or outdoors, practice at three levels and a quiz. Safety: a grown-up should help with stoves, knives and fieldwork near water; never eat wild mushrooms or plants; never culture unknown bacteria at home; check for ticks after time outdoors.

Curriculum: The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12: Science (2008, revised), Biology, Grade 11, University Preparation (SBI3U), Strand B: Diversity of Living Things: B1.1, B1.2, B2.1 to B2.4 and B3.1 to B3.5, with Strand A skills woven through (A1.2 to A1.6, A1.8 to A1.10, A1.12, A1.13, A2.1, A2.2).

In this unit you will learn how life changes over time and how we know. You will start with the vocabulary of evolution (adaptation, niche, mimicry, fitness) and the source of all inherited differences, mutation and genetic variation. You will meet the scientists whose ideas built the theory, from Lyell, Cuvier, Lamarck and Malthus to Darwin and Wallace, and learn the logic of natural selection. You will examine the evidence: the fossil record and radiometric dating (including Canadian sites such as the Burgess Shale and Tiktaalik from Nunavut), homologous, analogous and vestigial structures, embryology, biogeography and DNA comparisons.

Then you will see evolution in action in antibiotic and pesticide resistance, run your own selection simulation, and study the mechanisms that shape populations: stabilizing, directional, disruptive and sexual selection, genetic drift (bottlenecks and founder effects) and gene flow. You will learn how new species form, the big patterns of adaptive radiation, convergence and coevolution, and the debate over gradualism and punctuated equilibrium (Eldredge and Gould). Finally you will evaluate how environmental change affects natural selection and species at risk in Canada, and analyse the economic and environmental advantages and disadvantages of artificial selection and biotechnology.

Remember from earlier grades: in Grade 4 you learned that organisms have adaptations to their habitats; in Grade 10 you learned about DNA, the cell cycle and mutations. In the Diversity of Living Things unit you classified organisms and read cladograms; this unit explains the process that produced that diversity. The Genetic Processes unit goes deeper into alleles, meiosis and inheritance. Ideas from this unit continue in Grade 12 Biology (SBI4U), especially molecular genetics and population dynamics. Every lesson has worked examples, a hands-on activity using things found at home, plenty of practice and a short quiz.

Curriculum: The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12: Science (2008, revised), Biology, Grade 11, University Preparation (SBI3U), strand C. Evolution: C1.1 and C1.2 (relating science to technology, society and the environment), C2.1 to C2.4 (developing skills of investigation and communication) and C3.1 to C3.4 (understanding basic concepts). Scientific investigation skills and career exploration (strand A) are woven through the lessons.

How can traits pass faithfully from parents to children, yet come out in a new combination in every child? This unit answers that question, from molecules to families to society.

You start with the language of heredity: DNA, genes, chromosomes and alleles, and the difference between diploid and haploid cells. Then you follow meiosis phase by phase and see how crossing over, independent assortment and random fertilization make every sibling different. With that foundation you repeat Mendel's pea experiments on paper and learn to predict offspring with Punnett squares and probability: monohybrid and dihybrid crosses, test crosses, incomplete dominance, codominance, multiple alleles (ABO blood types), sex-linked traits and pedigrees. You test real and simulated data with percent deviation and the chi-square test.

The second half turns to health and technology: chromosomal disorders caused by non-disjunction, single-gene disorders caused by mutations, reproductive technologies (artificial insemination, IVF, cloning, recombinant DNA) and what they mean for genetic diversity in farm animals and crops, recent advances such as the discovery of the cystic fibrosis gene in Toronto, plant-made insulin and CRISPR gene editing, and the social and ethical questions raised by genetic screening, gene therapy and IVF.

Remember from Grade 10: in Tissues, Organs, and Systems of Living Things you learned the cell cycle and mitosis, that human body cells have 46 chromosomes in 23 pairs, and that meiosis would come in Grade 11. That is where this unit begins. Ideas about mutation, variation and selection connect directly to the Evolution unit, and the classification of living things is in Diversity of Living Things. Molecular genetics (how DNA is copied and how genes make proteins) goes much deeper in Grade 12 Biology (SBI4U).

Curriculum: The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12: Science (2008), Biology, Grade 11, University Preparation (SBI3U), strand D. Genetic Processes: D1.1 to D1.2 (relating science to technology, society and the environment), D2.1 to D2.4 (developing skills of investigation and communication) and D3.1 to D3.5 (understanding basic concepts). Strand A (Scientific Investigation Skills and Career Exploration) is woven through the lessons. Every lesson has worked examples, a hands-on activity, lots of practice and a short quiz.

How does a sandwich become the energy that moves your legs? How does oxygen get from the air outside your window to a mitochondrion in your toe? In this unit you will study the anatomy (structure) and physiology (function) of three animal systems that work as a team: the digestive, respiratory and circulatory systems.

You will start with the physics of diffusion and surface area, then follow food through the digestive tract, from the chemistry of nutrients and enzymes to absorption and the hormones that coordinate digestion. You will explain breathing with Boyle's law, read spirograms, use partial pressures and the oxygen–hemoglobin curve, and take the heart apart: its valves, the cardiac cycle, its electrical system and ECGs. You will measure blood pressure, explain capillary exchange, and learn what blood is made of and why blood type matters. You will design your own exercise investigation, explore dissection and comparative anatomy, describe disorders such as asthma, emphysema, ulcers, colitis, arteriosclerosis and cardiac arrest, and assess the technologies (including Canadian contributions) and societal needs that shape how we study and treat these systems.

This unit covers Strand E (E1 to E3) of the Ontario Grade 11 Biology, University Preparation course (SBI3U, The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12: Science, 2008), with the scientific investigation skills and career exploration of Strand A woven throughout. It builds on Grade 10 Tissues, Organs, and Systems (SNC2D). It connects to the other SBI3U units, especially Genetic Processes (cystic fibrosis and hemophilia) and Plants: Anatomy, Growth and Function (transport in plants), and prepares you for Grade 12 Biology (SBI4U).

Plants feed us, build our homes, hold our soil in place, clean our air and fill our parks with colour every fall. In this unit you will look at plants the way a botanist does: from the tissues inside a root, stem and leaf, to the way water climbs a 30 m maple without a pump, to the hormones that tell a seedling which way is up.

What you will learn

• Why plants matter to Canadian society, including food, medicine, forestry, erosion control, recreation and the knowledge of First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities (Lesson 1).
• The structure of roots, stems and leaves and their specialized tissues, including xylem, phloem, mesophyll, stomata and aerenchyma, and how to observe and draw them with a microscope (Lessons 2 to 5).
• How plants transport materials: osmosis, root pressure, transpiration and translocation (Lessons 6 and 7).
• How monocots and dicots differ in seeds, roots, stems, leaves and flowers, and how they are related (Lesson 8).
• Sexual reproduction (flowers, pollination, fertilization, seeds, fruits, germination) and asexual reproduction and propagation (cuttings, layering, grafting, tissue culture) (Lessons 9 to 11).
• What controls growth: plant hormones, tropisms, light, water, nutrients, temperature and soil pH, and how to design your own growth inquiry (Lessons 12 to 15).
• Sustainable use of plants (crop rotation, seed saving, the Three Sisters) and the role of plants in succession and biodiversity (Lessons 16 and 17).

Building on earlier grades: In Grade 9 you studied photosynthesis, cellular respiration and succession. In Grade 10 (Tissues, Organs, and Systems of Living Things) you met the plant tissue types, meristems, leaf structure, the chloroplast, transpiration and sources and sinks. This unit goes deeper into how and why, at the level you will need for Grade 12 Biology (SBI4U). It also links to the other units of this course: plant classification in Diversity of Living Things, and the transport and gas-exchange systems of animals in Animals: Structure and Function.

You will need: a few seeds (beans, radishes or peas), some houseplants or garden plants, clear cups or jars, paper towels, a ruler and a notebook. A microscope is helpful but not required: every lesson gives a home alternative. Activities with knives, heat or soil from outdoors include a note for a grown-up.