Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Transitioning from the Old Frameworks to the New NGSS Inspired Standards: Argumentation

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 engage in argument from evidence.  Here are some 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
Argumentation
   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.
6.4 Explain how water, carbon, and nitrogen cycle 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.





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. [Clarification Statement: The model should illustrate the “10% rule” of energy transfer and show approximate amounts of available energy at each trophic level in an ecosystem (up to five trophic levels.)]

Surviving Winter in the Dust Bowl
(Food Chains and Trophic Levels)




         Current Massachusetts Biology Framework Content
New Massachusetts Biology Standard
Argumentation Resources to Support Outcomes
6.        6.  Ecology
          Central Concept: Ecology is the interaction among organisms and between organisms and their environment.
6.1 Explain how birth, death, immigration, and emigration influence population size. 
6.2 Analyze changes in population size and biodiversity (speciation and extinction) that result from the following: natural causes, changes in climate, human activity, and the introduction of invasive, non-native species
HS-LS2-6. Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that in stable conditions the dynamic interactions within an ecosystem tend to maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms even when small changes in conditions occur but that extreme fluctuations in conditions may result in a new ecosystem. Analyze data to provide evidence that ecosystems with greater biodiversity tend to have greater resistance and resilience to change. [Clarification Statement:  Examples of changes in ecosystem conditions could include modest biological or physical changes, such as moderate hunting or a seasonal flood; and, extreme changes, such as volcanic eruption, fires, climate changes, ocean acidification, or sea level rise.]


Based on actual events in an ecosystem in Guatemala, this lesson casts students as members of the community deciding whether or not to introduce a non-native species of fish in order to improve the local economy.


         Current Massachusetts Biology Framework Content
New Massachusetts Biology Standard
Argumentation 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.
3.3 Explain how mutations in the DNA sequence of a gene may or may not result in phenotypic change in an organism. Explain how mutations in gametes may result in phenotypic changes in offspring.
2.7 Describe how the process of meiosis results in the formation of haploid cells. Explain the importance of this process in sexual reproduction, and how gametes form diploid zygotes in the process of fertilization.
           4. Anatomy and Physiology
Central Concepts: There is a relationship between the organization of cells into tissues and the organization of tissues into organs. The structures and functions of organs determine their relationships within body systems of an organism. Homeostasis allows the body to perform its normal functions.
4.6 Recognize that the sexual reproductive system allows organisms to produce offspring that receive half of their genetic information from their mother and half from their father, and that sexually produced offspring resemble, but are not identical to, either of their parents.



HS-LS3-2. Make and defend a claim based on evidence that inheritable genetic variations may result from:  a. new genetic combinations through meiosis; b. mutations that occur during replication; and/or c. mutations caused by environmental factors. Recognize that in general, only mutations that occur in gametes can be passed to offspring. [Clarification Statement:  New genetic combinations through meiosis occur via the processes of crossing over and random segregation of chromosomes.]

Chromosomes and Karyotypes:  How Do Two Physically Healthy Parents Produce One child With down Syndrome and a Second Child with Cri Du Chat Syndrome?



         Current Massachusetts Biology Framework Content
New Massachusetts Biology Standard
Argumentation Resources to Support Outcomes
5            5. Evolution and Biodiversity
Central Concepts: Evolution is the result of genetic changes that occur in constantly changing environments. Over many generations, changes in the genetic make-up of populations may affect biodiversity through speciation and extinction.
5.1 Explain how evolution is demonstrated by evidence from the fossil record, comparative anatomy, genetics, molecular biology, and examples of natural selection
5            5.3 Explain how evolution through natural selection can result in changes in biodiversity through the increase or decrease of genetic diversity within a population.

HS-LS4-2. Construct an explanation based on evidence that the process of evolution by natural selection occurs in a population when the following conditions are met:  (1) more offspring are produced than can be supported by the environment, (2) there is heritable variation among individuals, and (3) some of these variations lead to differential fitness among individuals as some individuals are better able to compete for limited resources than others. The result is the proliferation of those individuals with advantageous heritable traits that are better able to survive and reproduce in the environment.



             5. Evolution and Biodiversity Central Concepts: Evolution is the result of genetic changes that occur in constantly changing environments. Over many generations, changes in the genetic make-up of populations may affect biodiversity through speciation and extinction.
HS-LS4-3. Explain based on evidence how coevolution and sexual selection can lead to individuals with behavioral, anatomical, and physiological adaptations in a population.


5.           5. Evolution and Biodiversity Central Concepts: Evolution is the result of genetic changes that occur in constantly changing environments. Over many generations, changes in the genetic make-up of populations may affect biodiversity through speciation and extinction.
         5.3 Explain how evolution through natural selection can result in changes in biodiversity through the increase or decrease of genetic diversity within a population.
6.             6. Ecology
         Central    Concept: Ecology is the interaction among organisms and between organisms and their environment.
6.2 Analyze changes in population size and biodiversity (speciation and extinction) that result from the following: natural causes, changes in climate, human activity, and the introduction of invasive, non-native species.

HS-LS4-4. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how genetic drift and gene flow together with natural selection lead to populations that have more individuals with behavioral, anatomical, and physiological adaptations.


Lab 22 Biodiversity and the Fossil Record:  How Has Biodiversity on Earth Changed Over Time?
Lab 23 Mechanisms of Evolution: Why Will the Characteristics of a Bug Population Change in different Ways in Response to Different Types of Predation?
Lab 25 Mechanisms of Speciation: Why does Geographic Isolation Lead to the Formation of a New Species?


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