Tom Willis

Event 1 June 20-23 Tuesday through Friday

  • Due to the Juneteenth Holiday on Monday, the 2023 Online Walton APSI Event 1 will run Tuesday through Friday, June 20-23, 2023.

Event 2 June 26-29 Monday through Thursday

Meet your APSI Consultant for AP Biology:  Tom Willis has been teaching high school science for 30 years, in both public and private institutions. Tom has taught AP Biology for 26 of those years and served as an AP reader and table leader for 20 years, as well as teaching regular and honors Biology, Ecology, Anatomy, Marine Biology, Astronomy, and Psychology. Tom has been a College Board consultant for Biology for 10 years and has run biology workshops around the world. Tom is the founder of Biology  Magnets LLC, developing teaching tools for biology educators. Tom has a B.S. in Applied Biology from Georgia Tech and a M.Ed. in Science Education from Georgia Southern University.

Tom is currently teaching at Frederica Academy on St. Simons Island and is the science department chair. Tom is also the golf coach at Frederica Academy.

During this week, participants will explore the many components of AP Biology including the curriculum framework, new labs, exam, grading procedures, textbook selection, and syllabus. Emphasis will be placed on the inquiry lab approach and methods of teaching a college level class. We will discuss labs in the College Board AP Biology Lab Manual and demo many of the labs at the institute.  We will also cover in depth all of the new mathematics required for the AP Biology test.  Participants will be given an opportunity to become familiar with biotechnology techniques and the use of probe ware and computers in the classroom. A significant amount of time will be allotted to syllabus development for next year.  Participants should have a calculator and laptop computer.

General daily schedule:

  • 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM Synchronous
  • 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Lunch
  • 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM: Synchronous
  • 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM: Asynchronous; Office Hours/Extra help

 

  • Day 1 – CED, Textbooks, Syllabus
    • Opening Statistics Lab
    • Review CED (Course and Exam Description)
    • Review shared files from the google drive
    • Lunch
    • Textbooks, Syllabus, Labs
    • AP Classroom
    • Setup Lab 11
    • Online Resources – AP Central, AP Biology Teacher Community, AP Biology Facebook Group
  • Day 2 – The Exam; Units 1 and 2
    • Chi Square
    • Units 1-2 Content
    • Take Practice Exam
    • Lab 4
    • Lunch
    • Grading Sample FRQs
    • Water potential problems, syllabus work
    • Lab 4 results
  • Day 3 – Units 3-6
    • Units 3, 4 Content
    • Enzyme Lab
    • Photosynthesis/Respiration Lab
    • Lunch
    • Unit 5,6 Content
    • Lab 7 Mitosis/Meiosis
    • Lab 8 Transformation
    • Lab 9 Restriction Enzymes
  • Day 4- Units 7-8
    • Unit 7,8 Content
    • Finish Lab 11 Transpiration
    • Hardy Weinberg math
    • Hardy Weinberg Lab
    • Lunch
    • Simpson’s Diversity Math
    • BLAST Lab
    • Behavior Lab
    • Evaluations

 This schedule is tentative and will be adjusted as time allows per day.  We will interweave pedagogy into all of our discussion and work.

Questions are encouraged for clarification.