Transitioning From the Old Frameworks to New NGSS Inspired Standards: Modeling

The public school teachers of Massachusetts are to consider new Science Technology/Engineering Standards come fall 2015.  These new standards grow out of United States national Next Generation Science Standards.  These standards in turn complement the United States national Common Core Standards for math and English language arts.

Keeping up with developing national resources is facilitated by an official monthly newsletter.  The timeline for implementation of the new state standards has yet to be determined. The formal public comment and board consideration is scheduled to take place fall 2015.

Among other things, the new standards ask us to have students develop and use models.
At the University of Texas there is a course for non-science majors called Biology for Business, Law and Liberal Arts. They have developed a course text in which models are addressed in chapters Four and Five. The material found there may be used to prepare lessons introducing models to students. Here are more resources that exist at this time to assist in lesson planning. They are matched with the old and new goals.  One way to transition to the new standards is to compare them to the current ones one makes lesson plans based on.  Looking through the lenses of both helps select resources that meet the demands of both.  Choosing from existing lesson plans ones which inherently incorporate the new standards and finding new resources becomes easier.  Additionally, one can be confident in preparing students for existing assessments such as MCAS since one does not abandon the current standards with this method.

Current Massachusetts Biology Framework Content	New Massachusetts Biology Standard	Modeling Resources to Support Outcomes
3. Genetics Central Concepts: Genes allow for the storage and transmission of genetic information. They are a set of instructions encoded in the nucleotide sequence of each organism. Genes code for the specific sequences of amino acids that comprise the proteins characteristic to that organism.  3.2 Describe the basic process of DNA replication and how it relates to the transmission and conservation of the genetic code. Explain the basic processes of transcription and translation, and how they result in the expression of genes.	From Molecules to Organisms:  Structures and Processes HS-LS1-1. Explain that genes are regions in the DNA that code for proteins, which carry out the essential functions of life. Construct a model of transcription and translation to explain the roles of DNA and RNA in coding the instructions for polypeptides, which make up proteins.  Explain that different classes of proteins regulate and carry out the essential functions of life.	From Gene to Protein A didactic and through activity that culminates in an application of understanding to sickle cell anemia.  Evaluation of the models is included in lesson. One commenter had students record the model creation process through video apps on their smartphones. DNA Learning Center Lego Curriculum Another scripted curriculum.  Unfortunately the sets are not currently available.  The supporting curriculum materials are available on the site.  Using different building blocks students made a stop action movie of DNA replication. Inductive Modeling via Discovery/Introduction/Application Model Rather than making literal models of the molecules and processes one might offer a parallel model.  Focus on transcription and translation.  The ultimate goal is the production of specific proteins.  Presenting a similar goal to students, that of producing bracelets with a particular sequence of beads, would allow them to experience the process directly.  Discovery: One might freely supply stretchy thread and beads of several colors.  The constraints to drive the model are that the instructions for the bracelets (length and sequence) are restricted to one location in the room. Challenge students to make enough bracelets for each student in the room.  Students will eventually come up with methods of copying the information from the restricted site. Allow the students to leave with a bracelet. Introduction: Subsequently, assign reading in a text or watching a video that describes the actual processes of transcription and translation.  Ask students to compare the bracelet model with the actual processes by responding to questions such as: -What represented the nucleus, the cell, extracellular space, the ribosomes, DNA, mRNA, tRNA, amino acids and proteins in the classroom model? -What are the limits of the model? -What assumptions were made? -Why not use the DNA template directly to produce proteins? -What happens to the proteins? Application: Have students write job descriptions for DNA, mRNA, and tRNA.  In a classroom with six groups each molecule might be described by two groups.  Peer review of rough drafts from the other molecule assigned groups ensures learning of all material by all students.

Cu     Current Massachusetts Biology Framework Content	New Massachusetts Biology Standard	Modeling Resources to Support Outcomes
2.  Cell Biology                  Central Concepts: Cells have specific structures and functions that make them distinctive. Processes in a cell can be classified broadly as growth, maintenance, and reproduction. 2.4 Identify the reactants, products, and basic purposes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration. Explain the interrelated nature of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cells of photosynthetic organisms.	From Molecules to Organisms:  Structures and Processes HS-LS1-5. Use a model to illustrate how photosynthesis uses light energy to transform carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and chemical energy stored in the bonds of glucose and other carbohydrates.   HS-LS1-7. Use a model to illustrate that aerobic cellular respiration is a chemical process whereby the bonds of food molecules and oxygen molecules are broken and new bonds form resulting in new compounds and a net transfer of energy. Contrast this process to anaerobic cellular respiration and compare the amount of energy released in each process.	Using Legos to Model Photosynthesis Pogil Activities for High School Biology by Flinn Science Photosynthesis:  What’s in a Leaf? pgs. 89-96 and Cellular Respiration, pgs. 97-104.

Current Massachusetts Biology Framework Content	New Massachusetts Biology Standard	Modeling Resources to Support Outcomes
6. Ecology Central Concept: Ecology is the interaction among organisms and between organisms and their environment. 6.3 Use a food web to identify and distinguish producers, consumers, and decomposers, and explain the transfer of energy through trophic levels. Describe how relationships among organisms (predation, parasitism, competition, commensalism, mutualism) add to the complexity of biological communities.	Ecosystems:  Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics HS-LS2-4. Use a mathematical model to describe the transfer of energy from one trophic level to another. Explain how the inefficiency of energy transfer between trophic levels affects the relative number of organisms that can be supported at each trophic level and necessitates a constant input of energy from sunlight or inorganic compounds from the environment. Explain that atoms, including elements of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, are conserved even as matter is broken down, recombined, and recycled by organisms in ecosystems.	Pogil Activities for High School Biology Ecological Pyramids, pgs. 205-212. Student worksheet, teacher key and support materials.  Data is provided from which the development of a mathematical model is explicitly developed in a supported and step-wise fashion.

Current Massachusetts Biology Framework Content	New Massachusetts Biology Standard	Modeling Resources to Support Outcomes
6. Ecology                  Central Concept: Ecology is the interaction among organisms and between organisms and their environment. 6.4 Explain how water, carbon, and nitrogen cycle(s) between abiotic resources and organic matter in an ecosystem, and how oxygen cycles through photosynthesis and respiration. 2. Cell Biology                  Central Concepts: Cells have specific structures and functions that make them distinctive. Processes in a cell can be classified broadly as growth, maintenance, and reproduction. 2.4 Identify the reactants, products, and basic purposes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration. Explain the interrelated nature of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cells of photosynthetic organisms.	Ecosystems:  Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics HS-LS2-5. Use a model that illustrates the roles of photosynthesis, cellular respiration, decomposition, and combustion to explain the cycling of carbon in its various forms among the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere.	POGIL Activities for High School Biology by Flinn Photosynthesis and Respiration, pg. 105-112.