Biology

In Cambridge, most students take biology as juniors. Two overarching essential questions frame the course:

  • How does our biological understanding help us make informed decisions that impact the environment and human health
  • How can we use evidence to understand the biological world?

In Grade 11 Biology, instructional time should focus on three areas:

  1. Evolution;
  2. Energy; and
  3. Genetics
Unit Essential Questions
Evolution (an introduction) and Life
  • How does natural selection drive past and present evolutionary processes?
  • How do we know if an ecosystem is balanced?
Energy
  • How is energy transferred through living things and systems?
  • How do processes that happen at a cellular level influence the structure, function and behavior at the level of tissues, organs, organ systems, or entire organisms?
  • How do we know if an ecosystem is balanced?
Genetics
  • How do processes that happen at a cellular level influence the structure, function and behavior at the level of tissues, organs, organ systems, or entire organisms?
  • How does DNA determine survival, inheritance, evolution, and diversity of living things?
Evolution (micro view)
  • How does natural selection drive past and present evolutionary processes?
  • How does DNA determine survival, inheritance, evolution, and diversity of living things?
  • How can we use evidence to evaluate the evolutionary relationship between organisms?
Department Information

Elementary Science

Middle School Science

High School Science

Contact Us
Janet MacNeil, JK-12 Science Coordinator
Allan Gehant, Dean of Curriculum, CRLS
Patty McGaffigan, District Science Coach (6-8)
Susan Agger, Maynard Ecology Center Director
Donna Pereira, Science Materials Manager

Science Department
359 Broadway, Cambridge
617.349.3012 
Website by SchoolMessenger Presence. © 2023 Intrado Corporation. All rights reserved.