How to Make a High School Biology Curriculum
Teaching biology to high school students requires a combination of classroom experiments and traditional reading and lecturing methods. Because biology covers a wide range of topics---from cellular biology to entire ecosystems---teaching the subject requires an approach that starts with the structure of a cell and grows to encompass all living creatures.
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Instructions
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How to Make a High School Biology Curriculum
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Confer with the school administration to determine what must be included in the curriculum. The administration will be able to provide guidelines of which materials must be covered in order to meet the state requirements for education.
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Determine the topics to be covered during the course of the class and in which order they will be taught. Include time for an introduction or refresher to the scientific method. For example, one topic flow could be an introduction to scientific method followed by an investigation of cell biology, genetics, molecular biology and ecology.
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Break down the topics into small categories. For example, teaching genetics should include explanations of traits, how traits are passed on and how to use Mendel squares. Topics should begin with basic explanations and their applications to plant-life and should then progress to how these topics are applied to animals and humans.
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Expand on the categories using activities and experiments. Teaching time should be split between lectures and hands-on applications. Use microscopes and slides to have students determine cell types and label the parts of a cell. Have students choose and further investigate parts of a cell and build models that illustrate their functions.
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End each topic with a comprehensive examination that covers lessons learned. You can break these down into smaller tests given over the course of the lessons. These examinations should include sections in which students apply hands-on learning, requiring identification or---in the case of ecosystems---using their knowledge to describe the interactions between the types of living things within the system.
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