Biology/Life Sciences -
Grades Nine through Twelve
California
Science Content Standards. |
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Standards that all
students are expected to achieve in the course of their studies are unmarked. Cell Biology
1. The fundamental life
processes of plants and animals depend on a variety of chemical reactions
that occur in specialized areas of the organism's cells. As a basis for
understanding this concept: a. Students know cells are enclosed
within semipermeable
membranes that regulate their interaction with their
surroundings. b. Students know enzymes are proteins that catalyze biochemical reactions without altering the reaction equilibrium
and the activities
of enzymes depend on the temperature, ionic conditions,
and the pH of the surroundings. c. Students know how prokaryotic
cells, eukaryotic cells (including those from plants and animals), and viruses differ in complexity and general structure. d. Students know the central
dogma of molecular biology outlines the flow of information from transcription of
ribonucleic acid (RNA) in the nucleus to translation of proteins on ribosomes
in the cytoplasm. e. Students know the role of the
endoplasmic
reticulum and Golgi apparatus in the secretion of proteins. f. Students know usable energy is
captured from sunlight by chloroplasts and is stored through the synthesis
of sugar from carbon dioxide. g. Students know the role of the
mitochondria in making stored chemical-bond energy available to cells by
completing the breakdown
of glucose to carbon dioxide. h. Students know most macromolecules (polysaccharides, nucleic acids, proteins, lipids) in cells and organisms are
synthesized from a small collection of simple precursors. i. * Students know how chemiosmotic
gradients in the mitochondria and chloroplast store energy for ATP
production. j. * Students know how
eukaryotic cells are given shape and internal organization by a cytoskeleton
or cell wall or both. Genetics
2. Mutation and sexual
reproduction lead to genetic variation in a population. As a basis for
understanding this concept: a. Students know meiosis is an early
step in sexual reproduction in which the pairs of chromosomes separate and
segregate randomly during cell division to produce gametes containing one
chromosome of each type. b. Students know only certain cells in
a multicellular organism undergo meiosis. c. Students know how random chromosome
segregation explains the probability that a particular allele will be in a
gamete. d. Students know new combinations of
alleles may be generated in a zygote through the fusion of male and female
gametes (fertilization). e. Students know why approximately half
of an individual's DNA sequence comes from each parent. f. Students know the role of
chromosomes in determining an individual's sex. g. Students know how to predict
possible combinations of alleles in a zygote from the genetic makeup of the
parents. 3. A multicellular
organism develops from a single zygote, and its phenotype depends on its
genotype, which is established at fertilization. As a basis for understanding
this concept: a. Students know how to predict the
probable outcome of phenotypes in a genetic cross from the genotypes of the
parents and mode of inheritance (autosomal or X-linked, dominant or
recessive). b. Students know the genetic basis for
Mendel's laws of segregation and independent assortment. c. * Students know how to predict the
probable mode of inheritance from a pedigree diagram showing phenotypes. d. * Students know
how to use data on frequency of recombination at meiosis to estimate genetic
distances between loci and to interpret genetic maps of chromosomes. 4. Genes are a set of
instructions encoded in the DNA sequence of each organism that specify the
sequence of amino acids in proteins characteristic of that organism. As a
basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know the general pathway by
which ribosomes synthesize proteins, using tRNAs to translate genetic information
in mRNA. b. Students know how to apply the
genetic coding rules to predict the sequence of amino acids from a sequence
of codons in RNA. c. Students know how mutations in the
DNA sequence of a gene may or may not affect the expression of the gene or the
sequence of amino acids in an encoded protein. d. Students know specialization of
cells in multicellular organisms is usually due to different patterns of gene
expression rather than to differences of the genes themselves. e. Students know proteins can differ
from one another in the number and sequence of amino acids. f. * Students know why proteins having
different amino acid sequences typically have different shapes and chemical
properties. 5. The genetic composition
of cells can be altered by incorporation of exogenous DNA into the cells. As
a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know the general structures
and functions of DNA, RNA, and protein. b. Students know how to apply
base-pairing rules to explain precise copying of DNA during semiconservative
replication and transcription of information from DNA into mRNA. c. Students know how genetic engineering
(biotechnology) is used to produce novel biomedical and agricultural
products. d. * Students know how basic DNA
technology (restriction digestion by endonucleases, gel electrophoresis,
ligation, and transformation) is used to construct recombinant DNA molecules.
e. * Students know how exogenous DNA can
be inserted into bacterial cells to alter their genetic makeup and support
expression of new protein products. Ecology
6. Stability in an
ecosystem is a balance between competing effects. As a basis for
understanding this concept: a. Students know biodiversity is the sum
total of different kinds of organisms and is affected by alterations of
habitats. b. Students know how to analyze changes
in an ecosystem resulting from changes in climate, human activity,
introduction of nonnative species, or changes in population size. c. Students know how fluctuations in
population size in an ecosystem are determined by the relative rates of
birth, immigration, emigration, and death. d. Students know how water, carbon, and
nitrogen cycle between abiotic resources and organic matter in the ecosystem
and how oxygen cycles through photosynthesis and respiration. e. Students know a vital part of an
ecosystem is the stability of its producers and decomposers. f. Students know at each link in a food
web some energy is stored in newly made structures but much energy is
dissipated into the environment as heat. This dissipation may be represented
in an energy pyramid. g. * Students know how
to distinguish between the accommodation of an individual organism to its
environment and the gradual adaptation of a lineage of organisms through
genetic change. Evolution
7. The frequency of an
allele in a gene pool of a population depends on many factors and may be
stable or unstable over time. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know why natural selection
acts on the phenotype rather than the genotype of an organism. b. Students know why alleles that are
lethal in a homozygous individual may be carried in a heterozygote and thus
maintained in a gene pool. c. Students know new mutations are
constantly being generated in a gene pool. d. Students know variation within a
species increases the likelihood that at least some members of a species will
survive under changed environmental conditions. e. * Students know the conditions for
Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in a population and why these conditions are not
likely to appear in nature. f. * Students know how to solve the
Hardy-Weinberg equation to predict the frequency of genotypes in a
population, given the frequency of phenotypes. 8. Evolution is the result
of genetic changes that occur in constantly changing environments. As a basis
for understanding this concept: a. Students know how natural selection
determines the differential survival of groups of organisms. b. Students know a great diversity of
species increases the chance that at least some organisms survive major
changes in the environment. c. Students know the effects of genetic
drift on the diversity of organisms in a population. d. Students know reproductive or
geographic isolation affects speciation. e. Students know how to analyze fossil
evidence with regard to biological diversity, episodic speciation, and mass extinction.
f. * Students know how to use comparative
embryology, DNA or protein sequence comparisons, and other independent
sources of data to create a branching diagram (cladogram) that shows probable
evolutionary relationships. g. * Students know how several
independent molecular clocks, calibrated against each other and combined with
evidence from the fossil record, can help to estimate how long ago various
groups of organisms diverged evolutionarily from one another. Physiology
9. As a result of the
coordinated structures and functions of organ systems, the internal
environment of the human body remains relatively stable (homeostatic) despite
changes in the outside environment. As a basis for understanding this
concept: a. Students know how the complementary
activity of major body systems provides cells with oxygen and nutrients and
removes toxic waste products such as carbon dioxide. b. Students know how the nervous system
mediates communication between different parts of the body and the body's
interactions with the environment. c. Students know how feedback loops in
the nervous and endocrine systems regulate conditions in the body. d. Students know the functions of the
nervous system and the role of neurons in transmitting electrochemical
impulses. e. Students know the roles of sensory
neurons, interneurons, and motor neurons in sensation, thought, and response.
f. * Students know the individual
functions and sites of secretion of digestive enzymes (amylases, proteases,
nucleases, lipases), stomach acid, and bile salts. g. * Students know the homeostatic role
of the kidneys in the removal of nitrogenous wastes and the role of the liver
in blood detoxification and glucose balance. h. * Students know the cellular and
molecular basis of muscle contraction, including the roles of actin, myosin,
Ca+2 , and ATP. i. * Students know how hormones
(including digestive, reproductive, osmoregulatory) provide internal feedback
mechanisms for homeostasis at the cellular level and in whole organisms. 10. Organisms have a
variety of mechanisms to combat disease. As a basis for under-standing the
human immune response: a. Students know the role of the skin
in providing nonspecific defenses against infection. b. Students know the role of antibodies
in the body's response to infection. c. Students know how vaccination
protects an individual from infectious diseases. d. Students know there are important
differences between bacteria and viruses with respect to their requirements
for growth and replication, the body's primary defenses against bacterial and
viral infections, and effective treatments of these infections. e. Students know why an individual with
a compromised immune system (for example, a person with AIDS) may be unable
to fight off and survive infections by microorganisms that are usually
benign. f. * Students know the roles of
phagocytes, B-lymphocytes, and T-lymphocytes in the immune system. |
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