Honors Anatomy and Physiology

This section contains specific course information about Honors Anatomy and Physiology. This will include what to expect in this class and what makes this class different from a standard level science course. If you have any questions, please contact the course teacher.

Curriculum Content

Honors Human Anatomy and Physiology is a laboratory based college preparatory course designed for students with a solid foundation in biology and chemistry. Anatomy is the study of structures of an organism which will be taught in conjunction with physiology, the study of the function of structure. Course emphasis will be on anatomical vocabulary, the organization of the body, specimen dissection, and laboratory investigations.

Both chemistry and biology are prerequisites for this class. Students must have received an A in Biology and Chemistry. If they took Honors Biology or Honors Chemistry they must have received a B or above. Honors Anatomy and Physiology vertically aligns the most with Biology, specifically in the unit on body systems. However, students also use other prerequisite knowledge learned in honors biology including biochemistry, cell differentiation, cell transport, respiration, and energy. Topics learned in chemistry, such as pH, diffusion, and buffers will be applied to the human physiology.

Curriculum Plan

Course syllabus, expectations, and outline are found on teacher home page.

Click here to access the Parent Curriculum Documents

Instructional Materials and Methods

Human Anatomy and Physiology is only offered at the Honors Level at Cox Mill. The nature of the subject itself is challenging and rigorous. This course covers a lot of content and requires a fair amount of memorization.  However, students will also be asked to think critically and learn complex information. For example, students will use problem solving when analyzing case studies, perform lab skills in dissections of specimens, and be asked to understand physiological processes.

Honors Anatomy and Physiology supports both college and career readiness. This is accomplished through varied instructional methods. In college, students are expected to perform in a variety of settings. They will be required to gain understanding in a lecture style setting, work collaboratively with classmates, and demonstrate their knowledge independently. In Human Anatomy and Physiology, all of these instructional methods will be used, giving students a chance to grow in each of these areas. In this class students will spend some time being taught together as a whole class, some time working collaboratively in groups, and some time working independently. Collaboratively, students will work in groups to do anything from practicing vocabulary to performing dissections of specimens. Students will work independently to acquire background information, practice problem solving, etc.

Assessment 

Students will be assessed through classwork assignments, homework, quizzes, tests, projects, and performance-based assessments. While there is no state level assessment for this course, there will be a comprehensive final counting for 25% of the course grade. For more information on grading, please see the course syllabus.