Structures of Life

Structures of Life


Students engage in science and engineering practices to investigate structures and behaviors of the organisms and learn how some of the structures function in growth and survival. Students learn the difference between inherited traits and acquired traits. They learn that animals have adaptations that help them survive in certain climates.

Curriculum Map

Unit: Adaptations and Climate


State Standards

3-LS3-1. Provide evidence, including through the analysis of data, that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exist in a group of similar organisms.

3-LS3-2. Distinguish between inherited characteristics and those characteristics that result from a direct interaction with the environment. Give examples of characteristics of living organisms that are influenced by both inheritance and the environment.

3-LS4-1. Use fossils to describe types of organisms and their environments that existed long ago and compare those to living organisms and their environments. Recognize that most kinds of plants and animals that once lived on Earth are no longer found anywhere.

3-LS4-2. Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals within the same species may provide advantages to these individuals in their survival and reproduction.

3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular environment some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive.

3-LS4-4. Analyze and interpret given data about changes in a habitat and describe how the changes may affect the ability of organisms that live in that habitat to survive and reproduce.

3-LS4-5(MA). Provide evidence to support a claim that the survival of a population is dependent upon reproduction.


Essential Questions

  • How do adaptations help an animal survive?

  • How do animals survive in other climates?

  • Can the environment affect the traits of an organism?

  • What happens when the environment changes?

  • How do organisms live, grow, respond to their environment, and reproduce?

  • How are the characteristics of one generation passed to the next?

  • How can individuals of the same species and even siblings have different characteristics?


Students will...

  • Ask questions and defining problems

  • Developing and use models

  • Plan and carrying out investigations

  • Analyze and interpret data

  • Construct explanations and design solutions

  • Engage in an argument from evidence

  • Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information