Themed AP Lang and Comp: Biology

The Advanced Placement English Language and Composition exam is focused on analysis and argument based on nonfiction texts, which means there's a lot of opportunity to theme the readings for a course that prepares students for the exam. I'll write about a few different themes; this post focuses on a biology theme.

The key components of a class preparing students for the AP Lang & Comp exam are:

• writing narrative, expository, analytical, and argumentative essays
• writing multiple drafts of essays
• some informal writing (journaling, etc.)
• writing assignments based on a variety of prose styles & genres
• nonfiction readings of a variety of types (essays, journalism, political writing, science or nature writing, biography, diaries, history, criticism, etc.)
• graphic/visual image analysis
• citing sources

With those components in mind, here is an example set of readings for a biology themed class. I tried to assemble a set of readings that could fit together coherently while covering different types of writing and fields within biology.
The Double Helix by James Watson. This is a memoir about the discovery of DNA's structure. There's a lot to discuss here in terms of how Watson views science and his discovery but also in terms of his treatment of and attitude towards Rosalind Franklin.

Regenesis by George Church and Ed Regis discusses synthetic biology and the possibilities that the development of this field allows us. It would be interesting to look at how negatively or positively these possible futures are portrayed and why.

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston focuses on viral hemorrhagic fevers -- their origins, research about them, future epidemics, and the interaction of research with law. This definitely should be classified as a thriller, so the writing style itself is very interesting to look at.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. This book tells the story of a black woman whose cells were taken without her knowledge in the 1950s; these cells then became enormously important in medicine and medical research.

Medical Apartheid by Harriet Washington focuses on the history of medical experimentation on black Americans. This book could be paired well with The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks to discuss racism and medicine and bioethics more generally (perhaps tying in all the above books with the bioethics discussion).

Charles Darwin's diaries and The Origin of Species. I'd recommend excerpts of these and would strongly recommend reading from his diaries!

Summer for the Gods by Edward Larson, which discusses the Scopes Trial. This might be more meaningful after reading/watching Inherit the Wind, a play then made into a movie about the trial. (Note: Inherit the Wind is also using the Scopes Trial to talk about McCarthyism, so one could go in a number of directions from there not related to biology).

King Solomon's Ring by Konrad Lorenz was published in 1949 and is about zoology and animal psychology. Its audience was non-scientific, and the book did an excellent job of reaching that audience.

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan focuses on plants and our selective breeding, growing, and modification of them. It could be interesting to tie this back to Regenesis as well as reading it in an evolution context.

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. This book was incredibly influential, highlighting the environmental problems caused by over use of pesticides. It uses some really interesting techniques, particularly in early chapters.

Edward Wilson's Letters to a Young Scientist could be placed anywhere in the course. It is in some ways a memoir but also explicitly offers advice to the audience.

Throughout the class, students should read biology-related blogs (examples below). I also think reading some biologists' Twitter feeds could be interesting; that very short form is quite different to analyze, and pairing Twitter with blogs and short articles/press releases could lead to rich discussions around science communication. In addition, students should read biology-related Science Daily articles (or similar) and occasionally follow the links to full papers. Looking at the full papers could be a good opportunity to look at graphics and figures and how these contribute to biology communication.

Blog and Twitter examples:
BioMedCentral blogs
Eye on DNA by Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei
Gwen Pearson's blog on entomology, mostly
Public Library of Science blogs
Maryn McKenna's blog about public health and diseases
Myles Lab Twitter feed about food
Leonid Kruglyak's Twitter feed; his background is in genetics
Laurie Garrett's Twitter feed and Helen Branswell's, tweeting about infectious diseases
Jonathan Eisen tweeting about microbial diversity
Daniel MacArthur tweeting about genomics
Oh, Yeah, Developmental Biology!
Samantha Craven's marine biology blog