Areas of Study

Students differentiate between structure and function in animal and plant cell organelles and compare levels of organization in living organisms. Students further develop the concept that all living things are composed of cells and cells carry on similar functions. Additionally, students communicate and discuss their observations, and record and organize data in their notebooks. Furthermore, students analyze and interpret information to construct reasonable explanations based on evidence from their investigations and communicate valid conclusions (supported by collected data).

Students study human body systems for the first time, including the circulatory, respiratory, skeletal, muscular, digestive, excretory, reproductive, integumentary, nervous, and endocrine systems. They identify the main functions of the systems of the human organism and they apply their knowledge of the levels of organization in animals including cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, and organisms. They apply their knowledge from the previous unit to compare the functions of a cell to the functions of organisms. Students use scientific practices and tools to investigate how organisms respond to external stimuli found in the environment such as fight or flight, as well as internal stimuli such as fever or vomiting in animals that allow them to maintain balance. Finally, they distinguish between the physical and chemical changes in matter within the digestive system.

Students study human body systems for the first time, including the circulatory, respiratory, Students use scientific practices and tools to investigate how organisms respond to external stimuli found in the environment such as phototropism. From previous units, students apply their knowledge of plant cells’ structures and functions, homeostasis, and organisms’ responses to internal stimuli to plant systems in order to describe and relate responses in organisms that may result from internal stimuli such as wilting in plants that allow them to maintain balance. Additionally, students apply their prior knowledge of how forces affect the emergence of seedlings, turgor pressure, and geotropism. Additionally, students communicate and discuss their observations, and record and organize data in their notebooks.

Students continue to develop their understanding that traits may be physical (e.g., hair color) or behavioral (e.g., birds nesting). They define heredity as the passage of genetic instructions from one generation to the next generation. Students use scientific practices and tools to investigate and compare the results of uniform or diverse offspring from sexual or asexual reproduction. Additionally, students recognize that inherited traits of individuals are governed in the genetic material found in the genes within chromosomes in the nucleus.

Students use scientific practices and tools to investigate and explain how internal structures of organisms have adaptations that allow specific functions to occur. They explain variation within a population or species by comparing external features, behaviors, or physiology of organisms that enhance their survival. Students also identify changes in genetic traits that have occurred over several generations through natural selection and selective breeding. Moreover, students examine organisms or their structures and use dichotomous keys for identification. They also continue to identify levels of organization in the context of this unit.

This unit is about interactions between matter and energy in living systems. Students use scientific practices and tools to investigate how radiant energy from the Sun is transformed into chemical energy through the process of photosynthesis. They diagram the flow of energy through living systems in food chains, food webs, and energy pyramids. Students also illustrate the transformation of energy within an organism, such as the transfer from chemical energy to thermal energy. They continue to identify levels of organization in the context of this unit.

This unit addresses the relationship between organisms and the environment. Students use scientific practices and tools to investigate and describe how biodiversity contributes to the sustainability of an ecosystem, including how changes to the ecosystem can increase or decrease biodiversity. They observe and describe how different environments, including microhabitats in schoolyards and biomes, support different varieties of organisms. Students also observe, record, and describe the role of ecological succession.

This unit relates how natural events and human activity can impact Earth systems. Students use scientific practices and a variety of tools to investigate and analyze the effects of weathering, erosion, and deposition on the environment in ecoregions of Texas. They also predict and describe how catastrophic events such as floods, hurricanes, or tornadoes impact ecosystems. Students model the effects of human activity on groundwater and surface water in a watershed. They identify changes as physical or chemical.

This unit addresses the characteristics of our solar system that support life and accommodations humans need for space travel. Students use scientific practices and a variety of tools to investigate and analyze the characteristics of the objects in our solar system that allow life to exist such as the proximity of the Sun, presence of water, and composition of the atmosphere. They also consider the characteristics of our solar system in order to identify accommodations that enabled manned space exploration.