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Standard SCI.LS1: Students use science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and an understanding of structures and processes (on a scale from molecules to organisms) to make sense of phenomena and solve problems.

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Standard SCI.LS3: Students use science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and an understanding of heredity to make sense of phenomena and solve problems.

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Standard SCI.LS2: Students use science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and an understanding of interactions, energy, and dynamics within ecosystems to make sense of phenomena and solve problems.

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SCI.LS2.A.h Ecosystems have carrying capacities resulting from biotic and abiotic factors. The fundamental tension between resource availability and organism populations affects the abundance of species in any given ecosystem. The combination of the factors that affect an organism's success can be measured as a multidimensional niche.

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HS-LS2-1. Use mathematical and computational representations to support explanations of factors that affect carrying capacity of ecosystems at different scales.

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Essential Element: EE.HS-LS2-1

Target Level: Use a graphical representation to explain changes over time in the population size of an animal species (e.g., currently on the endangered list).

Precursor Level: Use a graphical representation to show changes in population size.

Initial Level: Recognize that there was a change in the population size.

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SCI.LS2.B.h Photosynthesis and cellular respiration provide most of the energy for life processes. Only a fraction of matter consumed at the lower level of a food web is transferred up, resulting in fewer organisms at higher levels. At each link in an ecosystem, elements are combined in different ways, and matter and energy are conserved. Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are key components of the global carbon cycle.

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SCI.LS3.A.h DNA carries instructions for forming species’ characteristics. Each cell in an organism has the same genetic content, but genes expressed by cells can differ.

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HS-LS2-2. Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems of different scales.

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Essential Element: EE.HS-LS2-2

Target Level: Use a graphical representation to explain the dependence of an animal population on other organisms for food and their environment for shelter.

Precursor Level: Recognize the relationship between population size and available resources for food and shelter from a graphical representation.

Initial Level: Identify food and shelter needs for familiar wildlife.

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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.

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HS-LS2-3. Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for the cycling of matter and flow of energy in aerobic and anaerobic conditions.

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SCI.LS3.B.h The variation and distribution of traits in a population depend on genetic and environmental factors. Genetic variation can result from mutations caused by environmental factors or errors in DNA replication, or from chromosomes swapping sections during meiosis.

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HS-LS2-4. Use mathematical representations to support claims for the cycling of matter and flow of energy among organisms in an ecosystem

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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 (3) mutations caused by environmental factors.

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HS-LS2-5. Develop a model to illustrate the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of carbon among the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere.

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SCI.LS1.A.h Systems of specialized cells within organisms help perform essential functions of life. Any one system in an organism is made up of numerous parts. Feedback mechanisms maintain an organism’s internal conditions within certain limits and mediate behaviors.

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HS-LS1-1. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the structure of DNA determines the structure of proteins which carry out the essential functions of life through systems of specialized cells.

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Essential Element: EE.HS-LS1-1 Target Level: Explain how different organs of the body carry out essential functions of life. Precursor Level: Indicate the function of major organs of the body. Initial Level: Identify major organs of the body.

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HS-LS1-2. Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms.

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Essential Element: EE.HS-LS1-2

Target Level: Use a model to illustrate the organization and interaction of major organs into systems (e.g., circulatory, respiratory, digestive, sensory) in the body to provide specific functions.

Precursor Level: Identify which organs work for a specific function.

Initial Level: Recognize that different organs have different functions.

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HS-LS1-3. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that feedback mechanisms maintain homeostasis.

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Essential Element: EE.HS-LS1-3

Target Level: Collect data from an investigation to show how different organisms react to changes (e.g., heart rate increases with exercise, pupils react to light). Precursor Level: Compare before and after data on changes that occur to an organism. Initial Level: Identify changes in the data display (e.g. objects, pictures, graphs, charts, etc.).

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SCI.LS1.B.h Growth and division of cells in organisms occurs by mitosis and differentiation for specific cell types.

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SCI.LS2.C.h If a biological or physical disturbance to an ecosystem occurs, including one induced by human activity, the ecosystem may return to its more or less original state or become a very different ecosystem, depending on the complex set of interactions within the ecosystem.

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HS-LS2-6. Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.

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HS-LS2-7. Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.

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SCI.LS2.D.h Group behavior has evolved because membership can increase the chances of survival for individuals and their genetic relatives.

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Essential Element: EE.HS-LS3-2

Target Level: Defend why reproduction may or may not result in offspring with different traits.

Precursor Level: Make a claim supported by evidence that parents and offspring may have different traits.

Initial Level: Compare traits of parents and offspring.

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

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Essential Element: EE.HS-LS1-4

Target Level: Use a model to illustrate how growth occurs when cells multiply.

Precursor Level: Use a model to relate the number of cells to the size of a body.

Initial Level: Recognize that organisms are composed of cells.

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SCI.LS1.C.h The molecules produced through photosynthesis are used to make amino acids and other molecules that can be assembled into proteins or DNA. Through cellular respiration, matter and energy flow through different organizational levels of an organism as elements are recombined to form different products and transfer energy.

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HS-LS1-5. Use a model to illustrate how photosynthesis transforms light energy into stored chemical energy.

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SCI.LS1.D.h Organisms can process and store a variety of information through specific chemicals and interconnected networks.

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HS-LS1-6. Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for how carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen from sugar molecules may combine with other elements to form amino acids and other large carbon-based molecules.

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HS-LS1-7. Use a model to illustrate that cellular respiration is a chemical process whereby the bonds of food molecules and oxygen molecules are broken and the bonds in new compounds are formed resulting in a net transfer of energy.

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HS-LS2-8. Evaluate the evidence for the role of group behavior on individual and species’ chances to survive and reproduce.

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

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Standard SCI.LS4: Students use science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and an understanding of biological evolution to make sense of phenomena and solve problems.

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SCI.LS4.A.h The ongoing branching that produces multiple lines of descent can be inferred by comparing DNA sequences, amino acid sequences, and anatomical and embryological evidence of different organisms.

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

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SCI.LS4.B.h Natural selection occurs only if there is variation in the genes and traits between organisms in a population. Traits that positively affect survival can become more common in a population.

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SCI.LS4.C.h Evolution results primarily from genetic variation of individuals in a species, competition for resources, and proliferation of organisms better able to survive and reproduce. Adaptation means that the distribution of traits in a population, as well as species expansion, emergence, or extinction, can change when conditions change.

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HS-LS4-2. Construct an explanation based on evidence that the process of evolution primarily results from four factors: (1) the potential for a species to increase in number, (2) the heritable genetic variation of individuals in a species due to mutation and sexual reproduction, (3) competition for limited resources, and (4) the proliferation of those organisms that are better able to survive and reproduce in the environment.

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Essential Element: EE.HS-LS4-2

Target Level: Explain how the traits of particular species that allow them to survive in their specific environments.

Precursor Level: Identify factors in an environment that require special traits to survive.

Initial Level: Match particular species to their various environments.

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HS-LS4-3. Apply concepts of statistics and probability to support explanations that organisms with an advantageous heritable trait tend to increase in proportion to organisms lacking this trait.

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Essential Element: EE.HS-LS4-3 Target Level: Interpret data sets to identify an advantageous heritable trait. Precursor Level: Using data sets, identify organisms that would survive better in certain environment. Initial Level: Recognize that some organisms survive better in certain environments.

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HS-LS4-4. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations.

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SCI.LS4.D.h Biodiversity is increased by formation of new species and reduced by extinction. Humans depend on biodiversity but also have adverse impacts on it. Sustaining biodiversity is essential to supporting life on Earth.

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HS-LS4-5. Evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental conditions may result in: (1) increases in the number of individuals of some species, (2) the emergence of new species over time, and (3) the extinction of other species.

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HS-LS4-6. Create or revise a simulation to test a solution to mitigate adverse impacts of human activity on biodiversity.

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Essential Element: EE.HS-LS4-6 Target Level: Evaluate a strategy to protect a species. Precursor Level: Using a mathematical model, determine which human actions help or harm a species. Initial Level: Identify a human activity that has an effect on a species.