Michigan Curriculum Framework

MIDDLE SCHOOL

III: Use Scientific Knowledge from the Life Sciences

Reference Content Standards The Digital Field Trip to The Wetlands The Digital Field Trip to The Rainforest The Digital Frog 2.5
1. All students will apply an understanding of cells to the functioning of multicellular organisms; and explain how cells grow, develop and reproduce. (Cells)
1.1 Describe similarities/differences between single-celled and multicellular organisms. Use Organisms & Migration for examples Use Organisms for examples, Botany: Algae, Bacteria, Fungi  
1.2 Explain why specialized cells are needed by plants and animals. Use Organisms & Migration for examples Use Organisms for examples Use Cardiac Muscle, Smooth Muscle, Skeletal Muscle for examples
1.3 Explain how cells use food as a source of energy. Food Chains, Photosynthesis, Producers, Consumers, Decomposers    
2. All students will use classification systems to describe groups of living things; compare and contrast differences in the life cycles; investigate and explain how living things obtain and use energy; analyze how parts of living things are adapted to carry out specific functions. (Organization of Living Things)
2.1 Compare and classify organisms into major groups on the basis of their structure. Organisms & Migration include taxonomy for each organism Organism Screens  
2.2 Describe the life cycle of a flowering plant. Use Plant Organisms for examples Use Plant Organisms for examples, Botany Screens (with teacher support)  
2.3 Describe evidence that plants make and store food. Photosynthesis, Producers, Organisms: plants & algae Botany Screens: Leaves  
2.4 Explain how selected systems and processes work together in plants and animals. Food Chain, Producers, Consumers, Decomposers, Nutrient Cycles   Interacting Systems
3. All students will investigate and explain how characteristics of living things are passed on through generations; explain why organisms within a species are different from one another; and explain how new traits can be established by changing or manipulating genes. (Heredity)
3.1 Describe how the characteristics of living things are passed on through generations. Plant & Animal Adaptations, Organisms & Migration as examples Organisms, New Species, How Species Change  
3.2 Describe how heredity and environment may influence/determine characteristics of an organism. Plant & Animal Adaptations, Organisms & Migration as examples Organisms, New Species, How Species Change  
5. All students will explain how parts of an ecosystem are related and how they interact; explain how energy is distributed to living things in an ecosystem; investigate and explain how communities of living things change over a period of time; describe how materials cycle through an ecosystem and get reused in the environment; and analyze how humans and the environment interact. (Ecosystems)
5.1 Describe common patterns of relationships among populations. Producers, Consumers, Decomposers, Organisms, Migration Dependency Types, Dependency Web, Food, Habitat, Seed Dispersal, Pollination, Ant Symbiosis  
5.2 Predict the effects of changes in one population in a food web on other populations. Organisms, Migration for examples, Web Game Organisms for examples, Web Game  
5.3 Describe how all organisms in an ecosystem acquire energy directly or indirectly from sunlight. Food Chain, Food Web, Producers, Consumers, Decomposers, Web Game    
5.4 Describe the likely succession of a given ecosystem over time. Succession and Formation Succession, Tree Fall Gaps, Soils & Decomposition, Seasonality, Productivity  
5.5 Identify some common materials that cycle through the environment. Photosynthesis, Nutrient cycles: carbon, water, nitrogen, phosphorus Water Cycle, Productivity, Soils & Decomposition  
5.6 Describe ways in which humans alter the environment Conservation, Pollution Human Impact, Impact Screens, Rainforest Riches, Global Benefits Environmental Concerns
5.7 Explain how humans use and benefit from plant and animal materials. Conservation for examples Impact Screens, Rainforest Riches