The course map.
Eight units — four per semester — the labs that anchor them, and the two-day rhythm that runs every week of the year. This is the planner’s view — the whole course on one page.
Two days a week, and the work between them.
Every unit runs on the same rhythm: Concept Day → [student works at home] → Lab Day → [student synthesizes at home] → next Concept Day. One day forces a choice between depth and breadth; two days allow both. More than two crowds out the at-home work where integration actually happens.
Concept Day
- Arrival & warm-up — reconnect with the prior session
- Pre-lecture discussion — surface what the at-home reading raised
- Direct instruction — micro-lectures, worked problems, demonstrations
- Problem set / model work — apply the concept, solo or in pairs
- Misconception sweep & wrap-up — correct common errors, preview the lab
Guide's role: Socratic and diagnostic. Student's role: active participation; pre-reading required.
Lab Day
- Pre-lab briefing — the question, the procedure, the specimen handling
- Safety check — gloves, eye protection, sharps & specimen care; explicit, every time
- Setup — models, specimens, instruments, partner assignment
- Execution — the lab itself; the guide circulates and coaches
- Debrief & lab notebook — completed before the student leaves
- Cleanup & specimen care — to standard; non-negotiable
Guide's role: safety officer first, teacher second. Student's role: the lab notebook is THE artifact — predictions before results.
From the cell to the integrated body.
The sequence is deliberate: each unit assumes the one before it. Click any unit to open its mastery rubric — the standard a student demonstrates against to advance.
Declare the learning and assessment path before instruction. Choose Foundation, Core, or Honors by readiness and select the approved model/record alternative or a separately authorized noninvasive demonstration. No personal measurements, private health or reproductive disclosure, diagnoses, medical procedures, exercise challenges, or forced breathing are required. Supplied records do not certify equipment handling. The three existing demonstrations remain; leveled practice and transfer work are not extra required practicals. Integration is reported separately and cannot lower the science grade or block a science demonstration pass.
The sequence revisits mechanisms: cell osmosis in Unit 01 supports renal compartments in Unit 06; cardiac flow and respiratory buffering in Units 03–04 return in renal and endocrine regulation. Revisit the Unit 04 compensation model after Unit 06. Developmental material uses curated selected levels, never a learner’s personal history.
| Unit | Big ideas | Approved task / record alternative | Integrates with |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 · Cells, Tissues & the Body Plan | Cells, four tissue families, anatomical position/planes/cavities, organization; membrane transport and osmotic compartments | Prepared-slide or source-image identification; scale-bar and cell-volume models | Micrographs versus schematics; evidence history and terminology; magnification is not resolution |
| 02 · Skeletal & Muscular Systems | Axial/appendicular skeleton, joint motion, muscle types and calcium/ATP; torque, isometric force, endocrine growth/remodeling | Articulated-model identification; supplied lever and sarcomere records, no lifting challenge | Anatomical drawings versus molecular evidence; static torque assumptions and bone mineral balance |
| 03 · The Cardiovascular System | Chambers/valves/cycle, vessel structure, blood composition; stroke volume, output, oxygen content and pressure/flow limits | Heart-model defense with supplied pressure, pulse, and sound records; optional separately approved noninvasive demonstration | Circulation and Poiseuille model history; unit-bearing flow and oxygen balances; renal volume connections |
| 04 · The Respiratory System | Airways, mechanics, gas exchange/perfusion, lung volumes; dead space, bicarbonate/CO2, and bounded compensation | Supplied spirogram and gas/acid-base models; no personal spirometry or forced breathing required | Pressure and gas-law models; respiratory versus renal time scales; a normal-looking ratio can conceal changes |
| 05 · The Nervous System & Senses | Neurons, synapses, CNS/PNS, senses and reflexes; autonomic feedback, potassium gradients, segment versus whole response | Diagram defense and separately supplied timing records; no partner reflex or electrical test | Electrical evidence versus anatomy; delay cancellation, uncertainty, and limits of behavioral inference |
| 06 · The Digestive & Urinary Systems | GI digestion/absorption; renal pathways, filtration/reabsorption/secretion, countercurrent transport, clearance, ADH/aldosterone, electrolyte and acid balance | Digestive/nephron model or prepared-image defense; synthetic transport, fluid-compartment, and net-acid ledgers | Evidence and consent in physiology; distinguish concentration, volume, and amount; revisit Units 01–05 |
| 07 · The Endocrine & Reproductive Systems | Glands, receptors, feedback and decay; selected-level reproductive anatomy, meiosis/cycles, cleavage, germ layers and placenta | Curated educational diagrams and generic endocrine model; no personal reproductive or health disclosure | Limits of “master gland” and fixed-calendar metaphors; developmental renal/respiratory connections |
| 08 · The Immune & Integumentary Systems | Skin proper and hypodermis, barrier/repair, innate/adaptive defense, active memory/passive antibodies, heat and fluid regulation | Reference-image identification and synthetic immune/heat/repair records; no cultures, injuries, or exposure | Historical agglutination evidence and later antibody models; sampling limits and whole-body conservation |
Every unit carries the core spokes — History, Reading, and Writing — anchored to the story in the integration guide. The column above names each unit’s distinctive spokes; geography and soft social studies run where they fit, and students pick from elective spokes (data, ethics, economics, technology, art). An applied-math lane runs through every unit too — math used in service of the science, never as a separate program.
Where mastery gets proven in person.
Three times across the year, the student steps up to a demonstration that cannot be faked, outsourced, or generated. These are the AI-proof core of the course — understanding, shown in real time, against a rubric, in front of a guide.
Anatomy identification defense
Locate and identify structures on a model or specimen, then defend each structure–function relationship out loud, under questions.
Timed physiology case
Reason through a supplied fictional scenario — trace blood flow, follow a signal, or critique a physiological model — and justify each step without diagnosing. Publish timing, permitted references, level, and accommodations first.
Oral lab-notebook defense
Walk a guide through your own notebook: the question, the method, the data, the anomalies, the interpretation.
Assigned student learning
Open the eight learning pathways for specific reading sections, explanations, datasets, leveled practice, public practice answers (not assessment keys), and transfer evidence. Print the student unit pages alongside the separate assessment packets. Broad book recommendations do not replace the assigned sections.