NGSS Biology

Basic Course Information

Title: NGSS Biology
Transcript abbreviations: Biology
Length of course: Full Year
Subject area: Laboratory Science ("d") / Biology / Life Sciences
Integrated (Academics / CTE)? No
UC honors designation? No
Course learning environment: Classroom Based

Course Description
Course overview:

Biology is a laboratory science designed as a college preparatory course emphasizing problem solving skills
and engineering practices in a bioscience context. Students will focus on the interplay between energy/matter
cycling in geologic processes and the living world, beginning with an understanding of ecosystems interactions
and proceeding to the effects of biotic and abiotic influences on the development of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Next, students will study evolution and the geologic record, followed by heredity. Then, students will study
homeostasis and life functions beginning with cells and expanding to include whole organ systems and
multicellular organisms. Finally, students will return to cycling matter and energy with a focus on how
humans interact with their environment in terms of climate change and conservation. Throughout the course
students will be conducting experiments, creating and testing engineering projects designed to make biology
and biodiversity relevant and accessible.

Prerequisites:
Physics
Co-requisites:
None

Course content:
Instructional segment 1: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
Description:
In this unit students will investigate the guiding questions: “What factors affect the growth and carrying
capacities of populations within an ecosystem?”. What are common threats to remaining natural ecosystems
and biodiversity and how can these threats be reduced?”. Students will explore cycling matter and energy,
quantitative analysis of population growth factors (biotic and abiotic), and the role of group behavior on
individual and species’ chances to survive and reproduce. Throughout the unit there will be special attention
on the CCCs of scale, proportion, quantity, and modeling systems.
 In this unit students will work to answer the guiding questions: "What factors affect the carrying capacity of
populations within specific ecosystems?", "What are common threats to remaining natural ecosystems and
biodiversity?" and "How can these threats be reduced?". Students will study ecosystems and their component
parts focusing on the concepts of carrying capacity, biodiversity, the cycling of matter and flow of energy, and
the role of group behavior on individual and species' chances to survive and reproduce. Throughout the unit
there will be special attention to the crosscutting concepts of cause and effect, scale, proportion and quantity,
and systems and system models.
This instructional segment builds on students middle school understanding of ecosystems by constructing
more detailed mathematical models of ecosystems, including the size of different populations. Using
mathematical modeling students will predict the effect certain interdependent factors have on the size of a
population over time.
Students will use population data to develop a conceptual model of an energy pyramid, and use their models to
explain that very large populations of producers are required to support much smaller populations of higher
order consumers for the ecosystem to remain stable. Students will develop mathematical models to utilize this
principle to predict the size of populations given the size of populations at other trophic levels.
Engineering practices are emphasized as students explain how their models account for the cycling of matter
in an ecosystem, using building blocks to show how smaller atoms are used to make bigger molecules and
these organize into a known structure.
After learning how energy and matter flow between populations in an ecosystem and how that flow helps
determine the size of a given population, students will explain how each population itself acts like a system
whose members can interact. Using data and video from several populations, students will examine the
behaviors of populations to assess their impact on survivability and gather evidence that organisms within a
population work together to survive and reproduce, using the evidence to present an argument that altruistic
behavior is an important part of survival for some populations.

Summary of a sample assignment:

After reading and completing the African Lions: Modeling Populations activity and the biological survey
readings students will have identified factors controlling population growth and decline in the lion population
of Tanzania, including living and nonliving variables. To apply this content student will examine the local high
desert chaparral or coastal sage scrub, focusing on pre and post wildfire regions to ask questions about what
could account for the frequency of native versus invasive species, as well as how certain organisms are more
prevalent during ecosystem recovery. Should wildfire zones be scarce then students will compare similar
ecosystems but with edge effects from urbanization. Students will have to conduct quantitative analysis of the
types and quantities of organisms present in their samples of mature organisms and soil, and plot their data
such that they can construct explanations for their questions and to explain how the ecosystems have changed
over time. They will present their findings to argue from evidence the need for conservation efforts to protect
chaparral and the endangered biome, coastal sage scrub.

Instructional segment 2: History of Earth’s Atmosphere: Photosynthesis and Respiration

Description:
In this unit students will work to answer the guiding questions: "How do living things acquire energy for life?",
"How are photosynthesis and cellular respiration connected?", "What components are necessary to build more
complex molecules?", and "How is the cycling of matter linked to the formation of and history of Earth?".
Students will explore photosynthesis and respiration, focusing on evidence for the biochemical construction
and decomposition of organic molecules, use of models to illustrate energy release and matter transformation,
construction of explanations based on evidence for the cycling of matter in aerobic and anaerobic conditions,
developing quantitative models to illustrate the role of photosynthesis and respiration in the carbon cycle,
using evidence and scientific reasoning to construct explanations and evaluate arguments about the
evolution of earth's atmosphere and the coevolution of life on earth.
Students begin by constructing a simple model showing how an autotrophic organism transforms sunlight into
useable forms of chemical energy for living organisms. They will revise and expand their model as they gather
new evidence about photosynthesis and respiration through various laboratory investigations using potted
plants, leaf disks, aquatic plants, and computer simulations. Having established evidence for the central role of
glucose in both processes, students will next, take the physical components of glucose (carbon, oxygen and
hydrogen, the matter) and explore how to build a glucose model, how to split it up, and explain how energy
flows into the system when glucose is formed and out of the system when it is processed into water and carbon
dioxide in respiration, using the model to develop a mathematical representation of the reactions.

Students must use evidence from data sets of the concentration of CO2 and O2 in Earth’s atmosphere over its
history to construct an argument that life has been an important influence on other components of the Earth
system. Students will conclude the unit by using computer models to illustrate the relationships between
different Earth systems and how those systems are being modified due to human activities and then construct
arguments from evidence about the relationship between past life, oil formation, and current changes on the
planet.

Summary of a sample assignment:

In this lesson sequence, students will design and refine an engineering solution to be able to grow potatoes on
Mars. Through a series of student-conducted experiments and teacher-demonstrations with plants, students
will make observations, collect and analyze data, and plan a further investigation of a selected variable to
construct an explanation of how sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water are utilized during photosynthesis and
develop an equation for the rate of the reaction under standard conditions. Their explorations serve as the
evidence for revising their design solution and for incorporating a mathematical model for the rate of the
reaction of photosynthesis under Martian atmospheric conditions. The project will culminate with students
presenting their designs for how to grow the most potatoes on Mars with the least amount of materials and
costs and evaluating each other’s presentations with a rubric and attention to how groups maximized the rate of
photosynthesis.

Instructional segment 3: Evidence of Evolution

Description:

In this unit students will work to answer the guiding questions: "Why are there layers of earth and why are
fossils found in these?", "Why do we see fossils of the same kind across the world from each other but living
organisms that are very different from each other in the same places?", "What lines of evidence support the
theory of evolution?", and "What does common ancestry mean and how can we show what this looks like with
phylogenetic trees?".
Students will begin this unit by planning and conducting an investigation using a stream table to explore the
properties of water and its effects on Earth materials and surface processes relating to fossilization,
sedimentation, and erosion to build their familiarity with the time, scale, and scope of earth's history and how
important lines of evidence for evolution have developed.
Next students examine multiple lines of empirical evidence that support common ancestry and biological
evolution, construct explanations based on evidence for Darwin's postulates and natural selection and how it
leads to adaptation of populations. Then students will evaluate the evidence that changes in environmental
conditions have resulted in the increase of some species, speciation, and extinction, and evaluate evidence of
the past and current movements of continental and oceanic crust and how the theory of plate tectonics helps
explain the ages of crustal rock.
Students will move into examining skeletons of vertebrates with representatives from the major classes and
identify patterns in both the placement and usage of forelimbs or hind limbs so that they can make connections
to homologous and analogous structures.
To elucidate more evidence supporting evolution students will identify commonalities found in all living
organisms and communicate this evidence both graphically and in writing using terms like DNA, RNA,
ribosomes, ATP, macromolecules, ability to use energy, cell division etc.
Students will collect data on individuals in a population and look for the patterns that are present by measuring
individual shells, noting the frequency of particular variations and then use data sets that extend from
generation to generation to mathematically analyze and construct an explanation of the how the frequency
of the variations change over time. Next students will analyze generations that survived after a change in their
environment and argue from evidence how the changes in the frequency of variations relates to the changes in
the environment.
To conclude this unit students will evaluate the evidence for well-known species that spanned across
continents around the same time (i.e., Mesosaurus, Cynognathus, Lystrosaurus, etc.) and explain how the
evidence supports the claim that none of these examples existed as the same species on two different
continents after the age data shows that the continents broke apart.

Summary of a sample assignment:

Using 6 types of beans to represent diversity in a population of prey species, and plastic cups, spoons, knives,
and forks to represent variation in predator mouth parts, students will simulate Darwin's "Survival of the
Fittest". The beans are spread out around the grassy high school quad and students are given a set amount of
time to represent the "feeding season" to gather a minimum of 6 beans needed to survive and reproduce. After
one season, students return to class and share the data with the class to create an "ecosystem-wide" data set that
can be used to understand which variations were better able to survive and which were less well suited to the
grassy environment. Students afterwards calculate the survival rate for each variation and analyze and
interpret the data as they relate to Darwin's ideas, sharing their findings orally and in writing and use their
findings to create hypotheses about future rounds of the game.

Instructional segment 4: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

Description:
In this unit students will work to answer the guiding questions: "How are characteristics of one generation
passed to the next?", "What allows traits to be transmitted from parents to offspring?", and "How does
variation affect a population under selective pressures?".
Students will take an historical approach to uncovering the mechanisms of inheritance with an emphasis on use
of math to describe the probability of inheritance and asking questions to clarify how traits are passed on.
Students will examine, make predictions about, and analyze the results of the experiments of Mendel, Griffith,
Avery, Hershey and Chase, and Chargaff, examine the work of Rosalind Franklin and Watson and Crick, and
construct an explanation as to why DNA is the molecule of heredity. Students will use the data from these
experiments to build their own models of DNA and use their models to make predictions about protein
structure and the outcome of mutations.
Students will next explore RNA and its role in transcription and translation to gain an understanding that genes
result in proteins and create models to demonstrate the relationship between DNA, RNA, and proteins in cells.
As students explore genetics, they will examine the similarities and differences within a population of
organisms recognizing this as variation and construct explanations from evidence for how this variation is the
result of mutation and recombination events that happen at the genetic level. Students will use three
dimensional models of chromosomes to demonstrate the how the processes of meiosis and fertilization result in
genotypically and phenotypically unique offspring.
Once students understand how variation can occur, they will use math to predict what combinations are
possible in offspring using Punnett squares, the product rule, and the sum rule of probabilities. Students will
also analyze and interpret pedigree data to solve possible combinations and predict the chance of traits
appearing in combinations of an individual offspring.

Students will next mathematically model how allele frequencies change over time and construct
explanations for how their new understanding of genetics connects to the process of natural selection and
biological evolution.

Summary of a sample assignment:

In this lesson students will start by reading the Popular Science article, “USDA Aims to USDA Aims To Grow
White Rice With All The Nutrients Of Brown Rice,” and are asked “How is it possible to develop a new strain
of rice with specific traits? And students will need to develop a question for an experiment about the
inheritance of traits keyed to mineral enrichment. To build their understanding of inheritance, students next
explore inheritance of one of several physical traits present in Drosophila melanogaster(fruit flies) using an
online simulator and record their observations through iterative experimentation. Then students will explore
the research and findings of Gregor Mendel to draw comparisons between his work and the work of modern
agricultural scientists, emphasizing the study of phenotypes over successive generations and proofing the
genetic line through carefully monitored breeding. To conclude the lesson, students draw from their
experiences, data collection, and readings to return to their original explanations of the new mineral-rich rice
cultivars to argue from evidence how the trait is inherited and to devise a plan to efficiently develop this
strain from existing cultivars.

Instructional segment 5: Structure, Function and Growth (from cells to organisms)

Description:
In this unit students will work to answer the guiding questions: "How do we know that DNA codes for proteins
that actually do things in cells?", "How do systems work in a multi-celled organism and what happens if there
is a change in the system?", "How do organism survive even when there are changes in their environment?",
and "How do cells reproduce?".
In this unit students will explain the role of genes and how mutations can cause a change in the proteins a cell
constructs. To do this students will build on the idea that DNA holds the information necessary for all
phenotypes of the organism and construct analogies to help explain how DNA codes for certain proteins in
certain cells.
Students will examine genetic diseases and gather evidence to create an explanation for the importance of the
connection between DNA and proteins and how it connects to the physical features of an organism. Their
examination of genetic diseases will focus on the relationship between gene expression in particular cells and
the function of the cell within the context of the tissues, organ, organ system, and organism.
Students will model the steps of mitotic cell division in a three dimensional format (using snap-lock beads)
and then create a movie out of the steps to show the continuous nature of mitosis and are expected to
understand how the process works and allows cells to make exact copies of themselves. After observing
mitosis, students will construct an explanation for how the copies of DNA contained in the chromosomes are
passed to the daughter cells through this process of cell division.
This unit culminates with students researching and constructing an explanation on the cascade effect of
interdependent systems in the human body that occur in select diseases, like ALS.

Summary of a sample assignment:

Students will be asked to consider the question, “What causes Sickle cell anemia?” and then draw a model for
how oxygen is delivered to cells in the body for respiration. Students will next explore a series of stations
where they will examine normal red blood cells and sickle cells under a microscope, watch a video, examine
graphs, charts, and diagrams to gather more information about hemoglobin, red blood cells, and how oxygen is
delivered, and then collaborate to revise their models. Students present their models to the class along with a
claim, evidence, and reasoning for what causes sickle cell anemia and respond to other groups questions,
counter-claims, and arguments from unexplained evidence. Using directions that they write, students next build
physical models to show the relationship between the genetic code, the final protein structure and function, and
how changes to the code, like in the sickle cell gene, cause changes or loss in protein function.

Instructional segment 6: Ecosystem Stability & the Response to Climate Change

Description:
In this unit students will work to answer the guiding questions: "What effects changes in ecosystems that
ultimately effect populations?", "What are the changes that are happening in the climate and what effects are
those having on life?", "How are human activities impacting Earth’s systems and how does that affect life on
Earth?", and "What can humans do to mitigate their negative impact on the environment?".
To answer these questions students will study the effects of natural and human induced changes on ecosystems,
and relate these changes to the effects they have on population interactions. Students will make a conceptual
model of Earth’s energy budget, creating analogies to other types of budgets and describing and predicting
what happens when in-flows and out-flows change.
Students will next employ simple computational simulations to explore real-world population impacts
including an examination of sea stars in California’s coastal tide pools and report observations of afflicted
organisms to a long-term monitoring project online.
Students will also design a computer model by looking up laboratory experiments on bacteria growth and have
their model mimic bacterial growth in ocean water temperatures that match climate forecasts and their models
will have to account for the impact on coastal tide pool populations that can be infected by the bacteria.
Students will finally be presented with a challenge to evaluate several possible plans for a wildlife corridor
beneath a freeway and the possible expansion of a protected open space, which would allow them to use
engineering design practices to solve a real-world problem in an ecosystem using the tools and strategies of
conservation biology.
The course will include a culminating design project in which students will investigate how organisms
maintain life, how life relates to the rest of Earth’s systems, and how humans can slow down or reverse some
of the damage they have done by changing those systems. The students will use evidence for their explanations
and arguments, and include designing solutions. They will research the impacts on a specific organism and
compare different organisms using multiple resources and multiple ways of presenting explanations.
Summary of a sample assignment:

After learning about ecosystem components, interactions, features, and human impacts, students will research
on their own to investigate a threatened or endangered species using resources such as the NOAA, National
Marine Fisheries Service, Fish and Wildlife, or other academically vetted publication. Using the data, maps,
and description of threats to their chosen threatened or endangered species, students will create and present for
peer review and discussion an action plan to protect and improve the organism’s population in its native
habitat. Students will be encouraged to focus on species local to their school and homes with specific
references to nearby resources as well as on a greater scale.

Course Materials
Textbooks

Title Author Publisher Edition Website Primary

Biology: Campbell, Pearson 8th https://www.pearson.com/ Yes
Concepts and Reece, Taylor, us/higher-
Connections Simon, Dickey education/program/Reece
and Hogan -Campbell-Biology-
Concepts-Connections-
Plus-Mastering-Biology-
with-e-Text-Access-Card-
Package-8th-
Edition/PGM214195.html
Earth Science Allison, Holt, Harcourt 2008 http://www.hmhco.com/s No
DeGaetano, hop/k12/Holt-Earth-
Pasachoff Science/9780030366987

Periodicals

Periodical
Article title title Authors Date Website
USDA Aims Popular Francie June http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-
To Grow Science Diep 2013 05/usda-looking-grow-white-rice-same-minerals-
White Rice brown
With All The
Nutrients Of
Brown Rice
Websites
 Affiliated
Author(s)/Editor(s)/Compil Institution or
Title er(s) Organization URL
African Lions: The Concord Consortium The Concord https://concord.org/stem-
Modeling Consortium resources/african-lions-modeling-
Populations populations
Biological Torsten Bernhardt Redpath http://redpath-
Surveys Museum at museum.mcgill.ca/Qbp/2.About
McGill, Quebec %20Biodiversity/surveys.htm

National National Center for Case University at http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/

Center for Study Teaching in Science, Buffalo, NSF
Case Study University at Buffalo
Teaching in
Science
Learn Genetics The Genetic Science The University http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/
Learning Center at The of Utah
University of Utah
Gene Wisconsin Fast Plants University of https://fastplants.org/resources/gene_si
Inheritance Wisconsin- mulations.php
Computer Madison
Simulations
Classical Classical Genetics Simulator CGS Lab http://www.cgslab.com/phenotypes/
Genetics
Simulator
USDA Aims Francie Diep Popular Science http://www.popsci.com/science/article/
To Grow 2013-05/usda-looking-grow-white-
White Rice rice-same-minerals-brown
With All The
Nutrients Of
Brown Rice
University of University of California University of http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/
California Museum of Paleontology California
Museum of Berkeley
Paleontology
Teacher
Resources and
Online
Exhibits
HHMI HHMI Howard Hughes http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/ev
Biointeractive Medical olution-collection
Evolution Institute
Other

Course
Title Authors Date material type Website
California California Environmental 2010 Supplemental http://www.californiaeei.org/
Education and Protection Agency Curricular
the Environment California Natural Resource
Initiative (EEI) Resources Agency
Curriculum California State Board of
Education California
Department of Education
Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery
(CalRecycle)