Michigan Curriculum Framework

HIGH 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 Classify cells/organisms on the basis of organelle and/or cell types. Organisms & Migration for examples Organisms for examples Smooth muscle, Cardiac Muscle, Skeletal Muscle
1.3 Explain why specialized cells are needed by plants and animals. Organisms & Migration for examples Organisms for examples Smooth muscle, Cardiac Muscle, Skeletal Muscle
1.4 Compare and contrast the chemical composition of selected cell types.     Use Respiration, Neurotransmitter, Creating Impulses, Reflex Arc, Synapse for examples
1.5 Compare the transformations of matter and energy during photosynthesis and respiration. Photosynthesis   Respiration
1.6 Explain how essential materials move into cells and how waste and other materials get out.     Respiration
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 Classify major groups of organisms on the basis of the five-kingdom system. Organisms and Migration include taxonomy Use Organisms for examples  
2.2 Describe the life cycle of a flowering plant. Use plant Organism Screens for examples Use plant Organism Screens for examples, Botany Screens  
2.3 Describe evidence that plants make and store food. Photosynthesis, Producers, Organisms: plants, algae Botany Screens: leaves, algae  
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 Explain how characteristics of living things are passed on from generation to generation. Adaptations, use Organisms & Migration for examples Use Organisms for examples, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Screens  
3.2 Describe how genetic material is passed from parent to young during sexual and asexual reproduction Use Organisms & Migration for examples Use Organisms for examples  
3.3 Explain how new traits may be established in individuals/populations through changes in genetic material   Biodiversity Screens: Species, Species Change  
4. All students will explain how scientists construct and scientifically test theories concerning the origin of life and evolution of species; compare ways that living organisms are adapted to survive and reproduce in their environments; and analyze how species change through time. (Evolution)
4.1 Describe what biologists consider to be evidence for human evolutionary relationships to selected animal groups     Human comparison screens can be found throughout the anatomy section
4.2 Explain how a new species or variety may originate through the evolutionary process of natural selection Use Organisms & Migration for examples Use Organisms for examples, Biodiversity Screens: Species, Species Change  
4.3 Explain how new traits might arise and become established in a population   Use Organisms for examples, Biodiversity Screens: Species, 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 ecological relationships among species Food Chain, Food Web, Web Game, Producers, Consumers, Decomposers Dependency Web, Food, Habitat, Seed Dispersal, Pollination, Web Game  
5.2 Explain how energy flows through familiar ecosystems Food Chain, Food Web, Web Game, Producers, Consumers, Decomposers    
5.3 Describe general factors regulating population size in ecosystems Habitat, Organisms & Migration for examples Organisms for examples, Food, Habitat  
5.4 Describe responses of an ecosystem to events that cause it to change Wetlands Mechanisms Rainforest Mechanisms  
5.5 Describe how water, carbon dioxide, and soil nutrients cycle through selected ecosystems Nutrient Cycles Soils & Decomposition, Water Cycle, Productivity  
5.6 Explain the effects of agriculture and other human activities on selected ecosystems Conservation, Pollution Human Impact, Impact Screens, Rainforest Riches Environmental Concerns, Adopt-a-Pond