1. What I SHOULD Have Learned in Life Science Class

2. Energy Transfers
Describe that thermal (heat) energy transfers from warmer objects to cooler ones until the objects reach the same temperature.

3. Water Cycle Describe the role of the Sun in the water cycle.
Describe processes involved in the water cycle and where they happen

4. Cells Identify that all organisms are composed of at least one cell.
Describe functions performed by cells to sustain an organism (i.e., division to produce more cells, taking in nutrients, using energy, releasing waste, producing materials the cell needs).

5. More Cells
Describe how the structure of a specialized cell relates to the function that cell, tissue, or organ performs (e.g., a nerve cell is very long to carry signals to other nerve cells).

6. More Cells
Describe whether a given cell structure belongs to a plant and/or to an animal
Identify and describe the function of a cell structure in a given plant or animal cell.

7. Organization of Cells
Describe the relationship(s) among cells, tissues, organs, and/or organ systems (e.g., valves in the heart control blood flow; air sacs in the lungs maximize the surface area for transfer of gases).
Describe the components and/or functions of the digestive, circulatory, or respiratory systems in animals.

8. Classification
Use a classification key to identify one or more given organisms based on internal and/or external structures and/or behaviors.

9. Ecosystems
Describe an ecosystem as a defined area that contains populations of organisms and nonliving factors.
Describe the boundaries and/or contents of a given ecosystem (e.g., Olympic National Forest, Puget Sound, one square foot of lawn).

10. Ecosystems
Describe the flow of energy from producers to consumers to decomposers given a description of an ecosystem or a food web.
Arrows go in the direction of energy flow

11. Changes in Ecosystems
Predict or describe the effect on an ecosystem of a change in a living (l) OR nonliving (nl) factor
introduction of a new species (l)
changes in a population (l)
Predation (l)
amount of light (nl)
range of temperatures (nl)
presence of water (nl)
habitat destruction (nl)
human use of resources (l)

12. More Ecosystems
Describe potential risks and/or benefits of a solution(s) given a common environmental issue, possible causative factors, and a possible solution(s).

13. More Ecosystems
Identify resource uses that reduce the capacity of an ecosystem to support various populations (e.g., use of pesticides, construction).

14. Producers
Describe that producers transform light energy from the Sun into chemical energy in food through photosynthesis. Note: On the science assessments, the term ‘mineral nutrient’ will be used to describe the matter plants generally get from soil. Mineral nutrients are not food for plants. Plants make their food (energy-rich molecules) with light energy and matter from air, water, and mineral nutrients.

15. Producers
Describe that producers are organisms that make their own chemical energy and/or that animals get chemical energy by eating producers or other animals that eat producers.

16. More Producers
Explain that chemical energy (food) from producers is used by nearly all organisms to carry on life processes.

17. Evolution

18. Evolution
Describe that biological evolution accounts for the diversity of life on Earth (not just cartoon characters).

19. Evolution

20. Evolution
Describe scientific evidence that supports the theory of evolution (e.g., fossil evidence, comparative anatomy, patterns of development, cellular/molecular, distribution in time and space).

21. Evolution
Describe how biological evolution accounts for similarities and differences among and between plant and/or animal species (e.g., chemical, cellular, molecular, structural).

22. Genes
Describe that location of genes is within chromosomes in the nucleus of a cell.

23. Genes
Describe the function of genes in an organism as containing the genetic information to specify the organism’s traits.

24. Genes
Describe that genes are passed from parent to offspring during reproduction.
Identify reproduction as essential for a species to continue to exist.

25. Reproduction
Identify most plants and animals as organisms which reproduce sexually while some plants can also reproduce asexually.

26. Sexual Reproduction
Describe that sexual reproduction leads to greater diversity of characteristics in the offspring than does asexual reproduction.
Describe that offspring produced during sexual reproduction are similar, but not identical to, either parent because the offspring receive genetic information from both parents.

27. Asexual Reproduction
Describe that offspring produced during asexual reproduction are very nearly identical to the parent because the offspring receives genetic information from a single parent.

28. Reproduction
Predict the outcome of a given genetic cross involving one characteristic using the principles of Mendelian genetics.
Explain how the variation produced by sexual reproduction helps species survive.

29. Environmental Factors
Describe an inherited adaptation which would enhance the ability of an organism to survive and/or reproduce in a particular environment.

30. Environmental Factors
Predict which populations and/or organisms might be unable to survive given a change to an ecosystem and descriptions of the populations and/or organisms in that ecosystem.

31. Environmental Factors
Describe an environment and/or an environmental change in which a given animal and/or plant characteristic could confer a survival and/or reproductive advantage (e.g., during dry weather a snail prevents drying out by sealing itself inside the shell).

32. Environmental Factors
Describe a change to the environment that could lead to the extinction of a population given an ecosystem and descriptions of the populations in that ecosystem.

33. Relatedness
Explain how given anatomical structures, cell structures, and/or patterns of development of two or more species provide evidence of their degree of relatedness.

34. Relatedness
Infer the degree of relatedness given diagrams or descriptions of anatomical features of different species (e.g., chicken wing, whale flipper, human hand, bee leg).