Into the Strenuous Briefness

Right now it looks like this:
Quarter 1: What is science and why is it important? (nature of science & research)
Quarter 2: How do living things interact with one another and the environment? (ecology)
Quarter 3: What are living things made of? (cells, basic biochemistry, genetics)
Quarter 4: How do ecosystems change over time? (evolution, ecological succession, climate change, human impact)

I’m not happy with it. I don’t think it makes sense to go from ecology to cell bio to evolution. Biologically speaking, it would make more sense to begin with cell bio (swap Q2 and Q3). But then I don’t even introduce ecology in my ecology class until February (though we’ll do some ecology in Q1 [not that anyone cares what I do with this class]).

Alternatively, I could swap Q3 and Q4. I’m hesitant to do that because I like covering genetics before evolution. On the other hand, Darwin did evolution without genetics. I could use the climate change bit to integrate some basic chemistry before starting to talk about cells and macromolecules. And genetics is high interest, so doing that in May/June is probably a good choice. But from a biologist’s perspective, I’m not sure that following evolution/succession with cell bio makes a lot of sense.

Decisions. I hate them. Anyone want to throw in their two cents?