Unity+and+Diversity+(NGSS+LS4)

=Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity= //Students will understand that. . .//
 * = ** Stage 1 – Desired Results ** ||<  ||
 * = Established Goals ||<  ||~   ||=   ||
 * = **HS-LS4-1.** ||< ** Communicate scientific information that common ancestry and biological evolution are supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence. ** [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on a conceptual understanding of the role each line of evidence has relating to common ancestry and biological evolution. Examples of evidence could include similarities in DNA sequences, anatomical structures, and order of appearance of structures in embryological development.] ||<  ||
 * ~ 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. ** [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on using evidence to explain the influence each of the four factors has on number of organisms, behaviors, morphology, or physiology in terms of ability to compete for limited resources and subsequent survival of individuals and adaptation of species. Examples of evidence could include mathematical models such as simple distribution graphs and proportional reasoning.] [//Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include other mechanisms of evolution, such as genetic drift, gene flow through migration, and co-evolution.//] ||<  ||
 * ~ 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. ** [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on analyzing shifts in numerical distribution of traits and using these shifts as evidence to support explanations.] [//Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to basic statistical and graphical analysis. Assessment does not include allele frequency calculations.//] ||<  ||
 * ~ HS-LS4-4. ||< ** Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations. ** [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on using data to provide evidence for how specific biotic and abiotic differences in ecosystems (such as ranges of seasonal temperature, long-term climate change, acidity, light, geographic barriers, or evolution of other organisms) contribute to a change in gene frequency over time, leading to adaptation of populations.] ||<  ||
 * ~ 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. ** [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on determining cause and effect relationships for how changes to the environment such as deforestation, fishing, application of fertilizers, drought, flood, and the rate of change of the environment affect distribution or disappearance of traits in species.] ||<  ||
 * ~ HS-LS4-6. ||< **Create or revise a simulation to test a solution to mitigate adverse impacts of human activity on biodiversity.*** [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on designing solutions for a proposed problem related to threatened or endangered species, or to genetic variation of organisms for multiple species.] ||<  ||=   ||
 * = ====Understandings==== ||< ====Understandings====
 * a wide variety of evidence supports our current explanations about the time-frame, scale, common ancestry, and other aspects of evolutionary change of life; among these are fossils, structural homologies, genes, biogeography, and patterns of animal embryonic development.
 * natural selection as it occurs and is observed in populations, is the primary mechanism of hereditary change.
 * New heritable characteristics can result from new combinations of existing genes or from mutations of genes in reproductive cells.
 * Heritable characteristics can be observed at molecular and whole-organism levels--in structure, chemistry, or behavior. These characteristics strongly influence what capabilities an organism will have and how it will react, and therefore influence how likely it is to survive and reproduce.
 * Offspring of advantaged individuals, in turn, are more likely than others to survive and reproduce in that environment. The proportion of individuals that have advantageous characteristics will increase.
 * When an environment, including other organisms that inhabit it changes, the survival value of inherited characteristics may change.
 * Natural selection leads to organisms that are well-suited for survival in particular environments.
 * The continuing operation of natural selection on new characteristics and in changing environments, over and over again for millions of years, has produced a succession of diverse new species.
 * Chance alone can result in the persistence of some heritable characteristics having no survival or reproductive advantage or disadvantage for the organism.
 * the earth surface, where life exists, is changed by forces such as plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanic activity, erosion, weathering, and climate change.
 * differences in environmental conditions drive the evolution of species diversity and adaptation
 * new species come about by geographic or genetic isolation followed by the development of an inherited reproductive barrier trait.
 * biodiversity provides stability to ecosystems and a genetic library from which new adaptations could arise.
 * The genetic information coded in DNA molecules is virtually the same in all life forms
 * The basic idea of biological evolution is that the Earth's present day species are descended from earlier, distinctly different species.
 * The degree of relatedness between two organism's or related species can be estimated from the similarity of their DNA sequences which often closely match their classification based on anatomical similarities.
 * Molecular evidence substantiates the anatomical evidence for evolution and provides additional detail about the sequence in which various lines of descent branched off from one another.
 * Evolution builds on what already exists so the more variety that exists the more there can be in the future. Evolution does not necessitate long term progress in some set direction. Evolutionary change appears to be like the growth of a bush: Some branches survive from the beginning with little or no change; many die out altogether; and others branch repeatedly, sometimes giving rise to more complex organisms.
 * Life on earth is thought to have begun as simple, one-celled organisms about 4 billion years ago. During the first 2 billion years, only single-cell microorganisms existed, but once cells with nuclei developed about a billion years ago, increasingly complex multicellular organisms evolved.
 * Modern ideas about evolution and heredity provide a scientific explanation for the history of life on Earth as depicted in the fossil record and in the similarities evident within the diversity of existing organisms. ||<  ||
 * = ====Essential Questions==== || ====Essential Questions====

**Is biodiversity and evolution having an impact on my life today? **
||  || > [|Analyzing data in 9–12 builds on K–8 experiences and progresses to introducing more detailed statistical analysis, the comparison of data sets for consistency, and the use of models to generate and analyze data.] > > ===[|Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking]=== > [|Mathematical and computational thinking in 9-12 builds on K-8 experiences and progresses to using algebraic thinking and analysis, a range of linear and nonlinear functions including trigonometric functions, exponentials and logarithms, and computational tools for statistical analysis to analyze, represent, and model data. Simple computational simulations are created and used based on mathematical models of basic assumptions.] > > ===[|Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions]=== > [|Constructing explanations and designing solutions in 9–12 builds on K–8 experiences and progresses to explanations and designs that are supported by multiple and independent student-generated sources of evidence consistent with scientific ideas, principles, and theories.] > > ===[|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 or historical episodes in science.] > > ===[|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.] > ===Science Models, Laws, Mechanisms, and Theories Explain Natural Phenomena===
 * = ====Knowledge==== ||< ====//Students should know . . .//====
 * how fossils form
 * that the age of a fossil can be determined by radioisotope dating of volcanic rock and from reference to layering of sedimentary rock
 * the scale for evolutionary change (3.5 billion years)
 * inherited traits are passed on from parents to offspring, coded for in genes.
 * species produce many offspring; far more than simply enough to replace the previous generation
 * many offspring in a generation will die, without reproducing, due to competition for limited resources, predation, disease, and other environmental features
 * variation occurs among members of a species regarding inherited traits
 * mutations and sexual reproduction introduce and maintain inherited variation ||<  ||
 * = ====Science Practices==== || ====//Students will be skilled at . . .//====
 * ===[|Analyzing and Interpreting Data]===
 * [|Apply concepts of statistics and probability (including determining function fits to data, slope, intercept, and correlation coefficient for linear fits) to scientific and engineering questions and problems, using digital tools when feasible. (HS-LS4-3)]
 * making and recording scientific observations
 * [|Create or revise a simulation of a phenomenon, designed device, process, or system. (HS-LS4-6)]
 * [|Construct an explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations, models, theories, simulations, peer review) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future. (HS-LS4-2),(HS-LS4-4)]
 * [|Evaluate the evidence behind currently accepted explanations or solutions to determine the merits of arguments. (HS-LS4-5)]
 * [|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)]
 * ===//Connections to Nature of Science//===
 * A scientific theory is a substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment and the science community validates each theory before it is accepted. If new evidence is discovered that the theory does not accommodate, the theory is generally modified in light of this new evidence. (HS-LS4-1) ||  ||
 * 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)]

[|Scale, Proportion, and Quantity]

 * [|Algebraic thinking is used to examine scientific data and predict the effect of a change in one variable on another (e.g., linear growth vs. exponential growth). (HS-LS3-3)]

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Science is a Human Endeavor

 * Technological advances have influenced the progress of science and science has influenced advances in technology. (HS-LS3-3)
 * Science and engineering are influenced by society and society is influenced by science and engineering. (HS-LS3-3) ||  ||
 * = ** Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence ** ||<  ||
 * = Performance Tasks: ||< We have two major Summative Assessments that we use in our course, a Performance Task or project and a Unit Exam. Below are our 2013-2014 Assessments and an evaluation of them using the EQuIP rubric.

Evolution and Biodiversity Unit Exam 2014


Evaluation of the Performance Task and Unit Exam using the EQuIP rubric:

Summary of Recommendations for better incorporation of NGSS into Assessments ||<  ||
 * = Other Evidence ||  ||   ||
 * = ** Stage 3 – Learning Plans ** ||<  ||
 * = Learning Activities ||<  ||