Benchmarks

Science Standards 4th Edition

Knows that an organism's patterns of behavior are related to the nature of that organism's environment (e.g., kinds and numbers of other organisms present, availability of food and resources, physical characteristics of the environment)

Knows that changes in the environment can have different effects on different organisms (e.g., some organisms move in, others move out; some organisms survive and reproduce, others die)

Knows that all organisms (including humans) cause changes in their environments, and these changes can be beneficial or detrimental

Understands the principles of heredity and related concepts.

Knows that many characteristics of plants and animals are inherited from its parents (e.g., eye color in human beings, fruit or flower color in plants), and other characteristics result from an individual’s interactions with the environment (e.g., people’s table manners, ability to ride a bicycle)

Knows basic ideas related to biological evolution (e.g., diversity of species is developed through gradual processes over many generations; biological adaptations, such as changes in structure, behavior, or physiology, allow some species to enhance their reproductive success and survival in a particular environment)

Understands the concept of extinction and its importance in biological evolution (e.g., when the environment changes, the adaptive characteristics of some species are insufficient to allow their survival, extinction is common; most of the species that have lived on Earth no longer exist)

Knows evidence that supports the idea that there is unity among organisms despite the fact that some species look very different (e.g., similarity of internal structures in different organisms, similarity of chemical processes in different organisms, evidence of common ancestry)

Knows that throughout history, many scientific innovators have had difficulty breaking through accepted ideas of their time to reach conclusions that are now considered to be common knowledge.