Biology

Grade 11 Biology (SBI3U in Ontario, Biology 20 in Alberta, Biology 11 in British Columbia) is the first year Canadian students study biology as a subject in its own right, after two years of integrated science. It is a university-preparation course and a prerequisite for the Grade 12 course that health-science and life-science programmes require.

The syllabus works upward through levels of organisation: diversity of living things and taxonomy, evolution, genetic processes, plant structure and function, and animal anatomy and physiology. Assessment leans on laboratory and dissection work alongside written tests, and students are expected to communicate using correct scientific terminology rather than everyday description.