Grades K - 4
Educational experiences in Grades K - 4 will assure that students:
- identify (in Grades K-2) external features of organisms that
help them survive in different kinds of places;
- understand (in Grades K-2) that offspring tend to resemble
their parents and that individuals of the same species have
variations;
- recognize (in Grades K-2) that some organisms are alike in
the way they look and in the things they do, and others are
very different from one another;
- recognize (in Grades K-2) that many organisms once living
on the Earth have disappeared;
- understand that organisms that are alive on the Earth today
are both similar to and different from organisms that have disappeared;
- understand that, when living things reproduce, they transfer
genetic information from one generation to the next;
- recognize that individuals of the same species differ in their
characteristics, and sometimes these differences give individuals
an advantage in surviving and reproducing; and
- describe the life cycle of familiar organisms (e.g., frog,
butterfly, cat, dandelion).
Grades 5 - 8
Educational experiences in Grades 5 - 8 will assure that students:
- understand that each organism carries a set of instructions
(genes) for specifying the components and functions of the organism;
- explain that differences between parents and offspring can
accumulate in successive generations so that descendants are
very different from their ancestors;
- recognize that individual organisms with certain traits are
more likely than others to survive and have offspring;
- understand that the extinction of a species occurs when the
environment changes and the species is not able to adapt to
the changes;
- understand that the basic idea of biological evolution is
that the Earths present-day species developed from earlier
species; and
- know that the many thousands of layers of sedimentary rock
provide evidence for the history of the Earth and its changing
life forms.
Grades 9 - 12
Educational experiences in Grades 9 - 12 will assure that students:
- recognize that changes in the types of species on Earth may
have occurred either gradually or through sudden bursts of major
change (punctuated equilibrium);
- compare and contrast Mendels laws (segregation and independent
assortment) of heredity;
- understand how fossil, anatomical, molecular and other observable
forms of evidence provide support for the theory of natural
selection;
- explain that preservation of the Earths biological diversity
is critical to the future of human beings and other living things;
- describe scientific theories for the origin of life and the
evidence to support the theories;
- explain the differences between human beings and other primates;
- describe the biological history of human beings;
- compare and contrast different types of asexual and sexual
reproduction;
- explain how new heritable characteristics can result from
new combinations of existing genes or from mutations of genes
in reproductive cells; and
- understand that modern molecular biology allows scientists
to analyze, isolate and alter genes, and this ability helps
scientists in the analysis and treatment of certain diseases.
|
The following GEMS Guides address this Standard:
Hide A Butterfly
Grades PreK-K
Ant Homes Under the Ground
Grades PreK-1
Eggs Eggs Everywhere
Grades PreK-1
Elephants and Their Young
Grades PreK-1
Ladybugs
Grades PreK-1
Mother Opossum and Her Babies
Grades PreK-1
Penguins and Their Young
Grades PreK-1
Buzzing A Hive
Grades K-3
Terrarium Habitats
Grades K-6
On Sandy Shores
Grades 2-4
Aquatic Habitats Grades 2-6
Schoolyard Ecology
Grades 3-6
Microscopic Explorations
Grades 4-8
Environmental Detectives
Grades 5-8
Life through Time
Grades 5-8
|