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.
| Unit | Big ideas | Anchor lab(s) | Integrates with |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 · Cells, Tissues & the Body Plan | The cell, the four basic tissues, anatomical position, planes & directional terms, levels of organization | Tissue identification under the microscope (histology) | Vesalius & the birth of evidence-based anatomy (history, reading); microscopy; anatomical terminology |
| 02 · Skeletal & Muscular Systems | Bones, joints & the axial/appendicular skeleton; muscle types, antagonistic pairs & how muscles pull | Skeletal & muscular model identification | Vesalius' bone plates & the correction of Galen (history, writing); model-building; leverage & motion |
| 03 · The Cardiovascular System | Heart chambers & valves, the cardiac cycle, blood vessels, blood flow & pressure, blood composition | Blood-pressure, pulse & heart-sound measurement | William Harvey & the circulation of blood (history); data: charting pulse & pressure |
| 04 · The Respiratory System | Airways & alveoli, gas exchange, breathing mechanics, lung volumes, oxygen transport | Lung-volume / spirometry measurement | Lavoisier & respiration as slow combustion (history); physics of pressure; plotting spirometry data |
| 05 · The Nervous System & Senses | Neurons & the electrochemical signal, brain & spinal cord, reflex arcs, the special senses | Reflex & sensory-response testing | Galvani & Ramón y Cajal, the neuron doctrine (history, writing); reaction-time data |
| 06 · The Digestive & Urinary Systems | The GI tract, enzymes & chemical digestion, absorption; the kidney, filtration & fluid balance | Digestive enzyme / model study | Beaumont & the study of digestion (history); biology of enzymes; measuring reaction rates |
| 07 · The Endocrine & Reproductive Systems | Hormones & feedback loops, major glands, homeostatic set points; reproductive anatomy & development | Endocrine feedback modeling | Banting & Best and the discovery of insulin (history, ethics); systems thinking; feedback math |
| 08 · The Immune & Integumentary Systems | Skin as barrier & organ, innate & adaptive immunity, inflammation, the body's integrated defense | Skin & immune-response case studies | Jenner, Pasteur & germ theory (history, technology, writing); case-based reasoning; epidemiology data |
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
Work a physiology scenario under time — trace blood flow, follow a nerve signal, diagnose a failing system — and justify each step.
Oral lab-notebook defense
Walk a guide through your own notebook: the question, the method, the data, the anomalies, the interpretation.