Natural Selection In School

Students will develop an understanding of life science while understanding the five main topics of the disciplinary core ideas: 1) Structure and Function, 2) Inheritance and Variation of Traits, 3) Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems, 4) Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems, and 5) Natural Selection and Evolution. Students will be expected to blend the disciplinary core ideas with scientific and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts to support their knowledge that can be applied across the science disciplines. Students will be able to articulate the phenomena studied, identify and describe the evidence to construct their explanation with a variety of valid and reliable resources, and use reasoning to connect evidence along with the assumption that theories and laws which describe the natural world today as well that operate in the past and have effects in the future. Students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of how cells function together
Students will demonstrate understanding of the factors causing natural selection and the process of evolution of species over time. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the processes that change the distribution of traits in a population over time and describe extensive scientific evidence ranging from the fossil record to genetic relationships among species that support the theory of biological evolution. Students will learn to use models, apply statistics, analyze data, and produce scientific communications about evolution. Understanding of the crosscutting concepts of pattern, scale, structure and function, and cause and effect will support the development of a deeper level of understanding on this