Part II: Standards Alignment

NGSS standards & Cross-cutting concepts:

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 1. Patterns. Observed patterns of forms and events guide organization and classification, and they prompt questions about relationships and the factors that influence them.
 2. Cause and effect. Mechanism and explanation. Events have causes, sometimes simple, sometimes multifaceted. A major activity of science is investigating and explaining causal relationships and the mechanisms by which they are mediated. Such mechanisms can then be tested across given contexts and used to predict and explain events in new contexts. 
4. Systems and system models. Defining the system under study—specifying its boundaries and making explicit a model of that system—provides tools for understanding and testing ideas that are applicable throughout science and engineering.
6. Structure and function. The way in which an object or living thing is shaped and its substructure determines many of its properties and functions. 
7. Stability and change. For natural and built systems alike, conditions of stability, and determinants of rates of change or evolution of a system are critical elements of study. 

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LS1.A: Structure and Function 

• HS-LS1-1. I can explain using evidence how the structure of DNA determines the structure of proteins which carry out the essential functions of life through systems of specialized cells. 

• HS-LS1-2. I can develop and use a model to illustrate the complex organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms. 

AP Biology Connections

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Big Idea 3: Living systems store, retrieve, transmit and respond to information essential to life processes

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• LO 3.5 The student can justify the claim that humans can manipulate heritable information by identifying at least two commonly used technologies

• LO 3.6 The student can predict how a change in a specific DNA or RNA sequence can result in changes in gene expression

• LO 3.21 The student can use representations to describe how gene regulation influences cell products and function

• LO 3.22 The student is able to explain how signal pathways mediate gene expression, including how this process can affect protein production.

• LO 3.23 The student can use representations to describe mechanisms of the regulation of gene expression

• LO 3.29 The student is able to construct an explanation of how viruses introduce genetic variation in host organisms

• LO 3.33 The student is able to use representation(s) and appropriate models to describe features of a cell signaling pathway

• LO 3.34 The student is able to construct explanations of cell communication through cell-to-cell direct contact or through chemical signaling

• LO 3.35 The student is able to create representation(s) that depict how cell-to-cell communication occurs by direct contact or from a distance through chemical signaling

• LO 3.36 The student is able to describe a model that expresses the key elements of signal transduction pathways by which a signal is converted to a cellular response

• LO 3.37 The student is able to justify claims based on scientific evidence that changes in signal transduction pathways can alter cellular response

• LO 3.38 The student is able to describe a model that expresses key elements to show how change in signal transduction can alter cellular response

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