This resource has 60 correlations with the National Standards.  
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• Life Science
  • The characteristics of organisms
    • Organisms have basic needs. For example, animals need air, water, and food; plants require air, water, nutrients, and light. (K-4)
    • Organisms can survive only in environments in which their needs can be met. (K-4)
    • Each plant or animal has different structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction. For example, humans have distinct body structures for walking, holding, seeing, and talking. (K-4)
  • Life cycles of organisms
    • Plants and animals have life cycles that include being born, developing into adults, reproducing, and eventually dying. The details of this life cycle are different for different organisms. (K-4)
    • Plants and animals closely resemble their parents. (K-4)
    • Many characteristics of an organism are inherited from the parents of the organism, but other characteristics result from an individual's interactions with the environment. Inherited characteristics include the color of flowers and the number of limbs of an animal. (K-4)
  • Structure and function in living systems
    • Living systems at all levels of organization demonstrate the complementary nature of structure and function (5-8)
    • Important levels of organization for structure and function include cells, organs, tissues, organ systems, whole organisms, and ecosystems (5-8)
    • All organisms are composed of cells--the fundamental unit of life (5-8)
    • Most organisms are single cells; other organisms, including humans, are multicellular. (5-8)
    • Cells carry on the many functions needed to sustain life. They grow and divide, thereby producing more cells. (5-8)
    • This requires that cells take in nutrients, which they use to provide energy for the work that cells do and to make the materials that a cell or an organism needs. (5-8)
    • Specialized cells perform specialized functions in multicellular organisms. (5-8)
    • Groups of specialized cells cooperate to form a tissue, such as a muscle. (5-8)
    • Different tissues are in turn grouped together to form larger functional units, called organs. (5-8)
    • Each type of cell, tissue, and organ has a distinct structure and set of functions that serve the organism as a whole. (5-8)
    • The human organism has systems for digestion, respiration, reproduction, circulation, excretion, movement, control, and coordination, and for protection from disease. These systems interact with one another. (5-8)
    • Disease is a breakdown in structures or functions of an organism. Some diseases are the result of intrinsic failures of the system. Others are the result of damage by infection by other organisms. (5-8)
  • Reproduction and heredity
    • Every organism requires a set of instructions for specifying its traits (5-8)
    • Heredity is the passage of these instructions from one generation to another. (5-8)
    • A human cell contains many thousands of different genes. (5-8)
    • Each gene carries a single unit of information. (5-8)
    • An inherited trait of an individual can be determined by one or by many genes, and a single gene can influence more than one trait. (5-8)
    • Hereditary information is contained in genes, located in the chromosomes of each cell. (5-8)
    • The characteristics of an organism can be described in terms of a combination of traits. (5-8)
    • Some traits are inherited and others result from interactions with the environment. (5-8)
  • Regulation and behavior
    • All organisms must be able to obtain and use resources, grow, reproduce, and maintain stable internal conditions while living in a constantly changing external environment. (5-8)
    • Regulation of an organism's internal environment involves sensing the internal environment and changing physiological activities to keep conditions within the range required to survive (homeostasis). (5-8)
    • Behavior is one kind of response an organism can make to an internal or environmental stimulus. (5-8)
    • A behavioral response requires coordination and communication at many levels, including cells, organ systems, and whole organisms.
    • Behavioral response is a set of actions determined in part by heredity and in part from experience. (5-8)
    • An organism's behavior evolves through adaptation to its environment. (5-8)
    • How a species moves, obtains food, reproduces, and responds to danger are based in the species' evolutionary history (5-8)
  • Populations and ecosystems
    • A population consists of all individuals of a species that occur together at a given place and time. (5-8)
    • All populations living together and the physical factors with which they interact compose an ecosystem. (5-8)
    • Populations of organisms can be categorized by the function they serve in an ecosystem. (5-8)
    • Plants and some micro-organisms are producers--they make their own food. (5-8)
    • All animals, including humans, are consumers, which obtain food by eating other organisms. (5-8)
    • Decomposers, primarily bacteria and fungi, are consumers that use waste materials and dead organisms for food. (5-8)
    • Food webs identify the relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem. (5-8)
    • Energy passes from organism to organism in food webs (5-8)
    • Biotic parts of an ecosystem include animals, plants, and microorganisms. (5-8)
    • The number of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the resources available and abiotic factors, such as quantity of light and water, range of temperatures, and soil composition.
    • Given adequate biotic and abiotic resources and no disease or predators, populations (including humans) increase at rapid rates. (5-8)
  • Diversity and adaptations of organisms
    • Millions of species of animals, plants, and microorganisms are alive today. (5-8)
    • Although different species might look dissimilar, the unity among organisms becomes apparent from an analysis of internal structures, the similarity of their chemical processes, and the evidence of common ancestry. (5-8)
    • Biological evolution accounts for the diversity of species developed through gradual processes over many generations (5-8)
    • Species acquire many of their unique characteristics through biological adaptation, which involves the selection of naturally occurring variations in populations. (5-8)
    • Biological adaptations include changes in structures, behaviors, or physiology that enhance survival and reproductive success in a particular environment (5-8)

• Science as Inquiry
  • Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
    • Use data to construct a reasonable explanation.
    • Communicate investigations and explanations.
    • Think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence and explanations.
  • Understandings about scientific inquiry
    • Types of investigations include describing objects, events, and organisms; classifying them; and doing a fair test (experimenting).
    • Scientists develop explanations using observations (evidence) and what they already know about the world (scientific knowledge). Good explanations are based on evidence from investigations. (K-4)

• Process Standards for Professional Development
  • Research-Based
    • Connect and integrate all pertinent aspects of science and science education. (NSES)
  • Design
    • Uses learning strategies appropriate to the intended goal. (NSDC)

• Teaching Standards
  • Teachers of science plan an inquiry-based science program for their students.
    • Select science content and adapt and design curricula to meet the interests, knowledge, understanding, abilities, and experiences of students.
    • Select teaching and assessment strategies that support the development of student understanding and nurture a community of science learners.
  • Teachers provide students with the time, space, and resources needed to learn science.
    • Create a setting for student work that is flexible and supportive of science inquiry.
    • Make the available science tools, materials, media, and technological resources accessible to students.