Context of Plant Unit
In fall 2006 I completed a full-semester internship at Riverside High School, under the direction of biology teacher Elizabeth Christenbury. Most of my time during that semester was spent working with two standard biology classes for which I designed the plant unit described below.
The following unit was part of a block schedule semester-long survey course in introductory biology. Biology is a required course for all Durham students and culminates with a cumulative end-of-course exam. This unit was designed for two standard level biology classes. One of these (2nd period) was an inclusion class with four special-needs students. Each class had 26 students. Students in both classes represented many different ethnicities. The majority of students were in the 10th grade, but some were in grades 11 or 12. A number of students were repeating the course after failing it previously.
The plant biology unit was taught over the course of 7 days during December 2006. It came near the end of the semester, after students had already been introduced to topics such as the scientific method, ecology, chemistry, cellular biology, photosynthesis/respiration, genetics, DNA, evolution, and classification. The purpose of the plant biology unit was to introduce students to the diversity of plants and to plant structure and function. The unit was focused around the North Carolina Standard Course of Study Competency Goal #4: “The learner will develop an understanding of the unity and diversity of life”. In particular, I focused on sections 4.02 and 4.03 which consider function and adaptation in living organisms. However, in teaching this unit and introducing students to new material regarding plants, I also tried to revisit topics that had been covered earlier in the semester, in particular topics such as ecology, photosynthesis, evolution and classification.