MS Life: Bundle 1: Structure, Function, and Information Processing
Description:
Students will create a preparedness plan for a family backpacking through the Grand Canyon.
Anchoring Phenomena:
How does an organism survive in an unfamiliar environment?
Guiding Questions
What are living things made of?
What does a cell need to live?
How do body systems work together?
How do organisms respond to stimuli?
Description:
Students will design a compost and garden for a large company wanting to become more environmentally friendly.
Anchoring Phenomena:
How can we promote the growth and development of plants and animals?
Guiding Questions
What characteristics do plants and animals have to increase reproduction?
What factors can affect the growth of a plant?
How do plants create their own food?
How does energy move through organisms?
MS Life: Bundle2: Growth and Development of Organisms
Description:
Students observe an Anchoring Phenomenon Event to activate prior knowledge to guide them to the Anchoring Phenomena Driving Question and Mission Performance Task.
Anchoring Phenomena Event:
Students interact with a video of strawberries decomposing.
Guiding Questions
What characteristics do plants and animals have to increase reproduction?
What factors can affect the growth of a plant?
How do plants create their own food?
How does energy move through organisms?
MS Life: Bundle 3: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
Description:
Students will create a report that maps out the benefits and risks of building an oil pipeline through Yosemite National Park.
Anchoring Phenomena:
How can changes in ecosystems affect interacting relationships among organisms in an area?
Guiding Questions
What factors can influence an organism’s survival in an ecosystem?
What are some limited resources that can affect an organism’s growth or population increase?
How can competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial relationships affect organisms?
What do food webs demonstrate?
How do disruptions to components of ecosystems affect populations?
How can changes in biodiversity influence humans?
MS Life: Bundle 4: Inheritance and Variation of Traits
Description:
Students analyze the blood work of veterinary patients and write a lab report for the lead veterinarian about whether the animals have a genetic disorder or viral infection.
Anchoring Phenomena:
Can harmful mutations be passed on to future offspring?
Guiding Questions:
What causes mutations?
How are traits passed to offspring?
Are all illnesses genetically linked?
What are examples of beneficial mutations?
MS Life: Bundle 5: Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity
Description:
Students write a press release defending the accuracy of the fossil exhibit at the Natural Science Museum by citing evidence from the fossil record, evolutionary relationships, and embryonic similarities.
Anchoring Phenomena:
How do we know that organisms existed millions of years ago?
Guiding Questions
What layer of Earth would you find the oldest fossils?
How do the skeletons of modern animals compare to the skeletons of their extinct ancestors?
Why do many animals look so similar as developing embryos?
How can scientists document the change of a species over time?
MS Life: Bundle 6: Changes in Organisms Over Time
Description:
Students will write a proposal to the FDA asking permission to create a new crop after their fields were destroyed by a tornado.
Anchoring Phenomena:
How can organisms be bred for specific purposes?
Guiding Questions
How do populations change over time?
How do adaptations relate to natural selection?
What is different between natural selection and artificial selection?
What types of people can selectively breed organisms?