Project BioEYES: Advanced (High school)

HS-LS1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

Students who demonstrate an understanding can:

• HS-LS1-4. Use a model to illustrate the role of cellular division (mitosis) and differentiation in producing and maintaining complex organisms.

Science and Engineering Practices:

• Developing and Using Models

• Modeling in 9–12 builds on K–8 experiences and progresses to using, synthesizing, and developing models to predict and show relationships among variables between systems and their components in the natural and designed worlds.

  • Use a model based on evidence to illustrate the relationship between systems or between components of a system. (HS-LS1-4)

Disciplinary Core Ideas:

• LS1.B: Growth and Development of Organisms

  • In multicellular organisms individual cells grow and then divide via a process called mitosis, thereby allowing the organism to grow. The organism begins as a single cell (fertilized egg) that divides successively to produce many cells, with each parent cell passing identical genetic material (two variants of each chromosome pair) to both daughter cells. Cellular division and differentiation produce and maintain a complex organism, composed of systems of tissues and organs that work together to meet the needs of the whole organism. (HS-LS1-4)

Crosscutting Concepts:

• Systems and System Models

  • Models (e.g., physical, mathematical, computer models) can be used to simulate systems and interactions—including energy, matter and information flows—within and between systems at different scales. (HS-LS1-4)

HS-LS3 Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

Students who demonstrate an understanding can:

• HS-LS3-1. Ask questions to clarify relationships about the role of DNA and chromosomes in coding the instructions for characteristic traits passed from parents to offspring.

• HS-LS3-2. Make and defend a claim based on evidence that inheritable genetic variations may result from: (1) new genetic combinations through meiosis, (2) viable errors occurring during replication, and/or (3) mutations caused by environmental factors.

• HS-LS3-3. Apply concepts of statistics and probability to explain the variation and distribution of expressed traits in a population.

Science and Engineering Practices:

• Asking Questions and Defining Problems

• Asking questions and defining problems in 9-12 builds on K-8 experiences and progresses to formulating, refining, and evaluating empirically testable questions and design problems using models and simulations.

  • Ask questions that arise from examining models or a theory to clarify relationships. (HS-LS3-1)

• Engaging in Argument from Evidence

• Engaging in argument from evidence in 9-12 builds on K-8 experiences and progresses to using appropriate and sufficient evidence and scientific reasoning to defend and critique claims and explanations about the natural and designed world(s). Arguments may also come from current scientific or historical episodes in science.

  • Make and defend a claim based on evidence about the natural world that reflects scientific knowledge, and student-generated evidence. (HS-LS3-2)

Disciplinary Core Ideas:

• LS1.A: Structure and Function

  • All cells contain genetic information in the form of DNA molecules. Genes are regions in the DNA that contain the instructions that code for the formation of proteins. (secondary to HS-LS3-1)(Note: This Disciplinary Core Idea is also addressed by HS-LS1-1)

• LS3.A: Inheritance of Traits

  • Each chromosome consists of a single very long DNA molecule, and each gene on the chromosome is a particular segment of that DNA. The instructions for forming species’ characteristics are carried in DNA. All cells in an organism have the same genetic content, but the genes used (expressed) by the cell may be regulated in different ways. Not all DNA codes for a protein; some segments of DNA are involved in regulatory or structural functions, and some have no as-yet known function. (HS-LS3-1)

• LS3.B: Variation of Traits

  • In sexual reproduction, chromosomes can sometimes swap sections during the process of meiosis (cell division), thereby creating new genetic combinations and thus more genetic variation. Although DNA replication is tightly regulated and remarkably accurate, errors do occur and result in mutations, which are also a source of genetic variation. Environmental factors can also cause mutations in genes, and viable mutations are inherited. (HS-LS3-2)

  • Environmental factors also affect expression of traits, and hence affect the probability of occurrences of traits in a population. Thus the variation and distribution of traits observed depends on both genetic and environmental factors. (HS-LS3-2),(HS-LS3-3)

Crosscutting Concepts:

• Cause and Effect

  • Empirical evidence is required to differentiate between cause and correlation and make claims about specific causes and effects. (HS-LS3-1),(HS-LS3-2)

HS-LS4 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

Students who demonstrate an understanding can:

• HS-LS4-1. Communicate scientific information that common ancestry and biological evolution are supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence.

Science and Engineering Practices:

• Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

• Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information in 9–12 builds on K–8 experiences and progresses to evaluating the validity and reliability of the claims, methods, and designs.

  • Communicate scientific information (e.g., about phenomena and/or the process of development and the design and performance of a proposed process or system) in multiple formats (including orally, graphically, textually, and mathematically). (HS-LS4-1)

Disciplinary Core Ideas:

• LS4.A: Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity

  • Genetic information, like the fossil record, provides evidence of evolution. DNA sequences vary among species, but there are many overlaps; in fact, the ongoing branching that produces multiple lines of descent can be inferred by comparing the DNA sequences of different organisms. Such information is also derivable from the similarities and differences in amino acid sequences and from anatomical and embryological evidence. (HS-LS4-1)

Crosscutting Concepts:

• Patterns

  • Different patterns may be observed at each of the scales at which a system is studied and can provide evidence for causality in explanations of phenomena. (HS-LS4-1)