This is based on California’s Grades 9-12 The Living Earth Storyline . This pacing guide is still largely a work-in-progress, but feel free to use it to navigate some of my high school curriculum.
First Weeks
Week 1: Letter to Me , Mystery Bag Challenge
Week 2: Integrating Mindfulness Within the Classroom , The Science Behind a Growth Mindset
Week 3: Science Fact or Fiction? , Metric Conversions
Week 4: Interpreting Graphs
Week 5: Experimental Design & Lab Conclusions, Marshmallow Towers
Instructional Segment 1: Ecosystem Interactions & Energy
Week 1: Substituted Sammy, Intro to Ecology Notes
Week 2: Climographs, Food Webs, Types of Symbiosis WS
Week 3: Population Ecology, As World’s Population Booms Article , People Paradox
Week 4: Population Pyramids, Fishing Lab (Tragedy of the Commons)
Week 5: Wolves of Yellowstone | Videos & WS
Week 6: Energy Flow Through Ecosystems, Biome Project
Instructional Segment 2: History of Earth’s Atmosphere: Photosynthesis & Respiration
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Week 5:
Week 6: Understanding Scale: How to Visualize One Billion
Instructional Segment 3: Evidence of Evolution
Week 1: Geologic Time Period Travel Brochures , Index Fossils
Week 2: Relative and Absolute Dating, The Half-Life of Pennies Lab
Week 3: Relative and Absolute Dating Quiz, The Great Fossil Find
Week 4: How Fossils Form, Extinctions
Week 5: Adaptation Lab, Bird Beaks Lab
Week 6: Natural Selection Notes, Darwin Natural Selection Game
Week 7: Design Your Own Animal, Is It Natural Selection?
Week 8: Fish or Mammals (Evidence of Evolution), Types of Evolution Worksheet
Instructional Segment 4: Inheritance of Traits
Week 1: DNA Transcription and Translation Notes, Punnett Squares WS
Week 2: Genetic Traits in Harry Potter | Notes & WS
Week 3: Introduction to Pedigrees Packet , Crime Mystery Lab
Week 4: Pigeonetics , NOVA Evolution Lab
Week 5: “Making Babies” Activity, Genetic Disorders Project
Week 6: Socratic Seminars on Genetic Engineering, Gattaca (Movie)
Instructional Segment 5: Structure, Function and Growth (from cells to organisms)
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Week 2:
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Week 5:
Week 6:
Instructional Segment 6: Ecosystem Stability & the Response to Climate Change
Week 1: The Story of Stuff, Ecological Footprint Calculator
Week 2: Vanishing: The 6th Mass Extinction Video Notes , The Story of Cosmetics Video WS
Weeks 3-5: Mars Project, The Martian (Movie)