Grade 8, Strand 4

Life Science expands students’ biological understanding of life by focusing on the characteristics of living things, the diversity of life, and how organisms and populations change over time in terms of biological adaptation and genetics.  This understanding includes the relationship of structures to their functions and life cycles, interrelationships of matter and energy in living organisms, and the interactions of living organisms with their environment.

Concept 1:  Structure and Function in Living Systems
Understand the relationships between structures and functions of organisms.

No performance objectives at this grade level

Concept 2: Reproduction and Heredity
Understand the basic principles of heredity.

PO 1.  Explain the purposes of cell division:

Discovery Streaming: Biologix: Comparison of Mitosis and Meiosis
This video has a great overview of mitosis and meiosis including basic definitions and comparisons of the two.

Discovery Streaming: Mitosis and Meiosis
This video has a great overview of mitosis and meiosis including a description of each stage.

PO 2.  Explain the basic principles of heredity using the human examples of:

Discovery Streaming: Inherited Human Traits and Patterned Sex-Linked Inheritance
There is a segment in this video about inherited human traits and the segment includes a discussion of sex-linked traits.

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/units/basics/print-and-go/recipe.cfm
This website has a link to an awesome lesson about inherited traits.  In order to access the information it is necessary to create a user account.

PO 3.  Distinguish between the nature of dominant and recessive traits in humans.

Concept 3: Populations of Organisms in an Ecosystem
Analyze the relationships among various organisms and their environment.

No performance objectives at this grade level

Concept 4: Diversity, Adaptation, and Behavior
Identify structural and behavioral adaptations.

PO 1.  Explain how an organism’s behavior allows it to survive in an environment.

Discovery Streaming: Animal Instincts
This video has information about animal instincts and how those instincts help an animal to survive in its environment.

PO 2.  Describe how an organism can maintain a stable internal environment while living in a constantly changing external environment.

PO 3.  Determine characteristics of organisms that could change over several generations.

PO 4.  Compare the symbiotic and competitive relationships in organisms within an ecosystem (e.g., lichen, mistletoe/tree, clownfish/sea anemone, native/non-native species).

Discovery Streaming: Biologix: Interactions and Relationships among Organisms
This video does is not of the best quality, but it covers symbiotic and competitive relationships.

Discovery Streaming: Life Science: Protists and Fungi
This video has a great segment on the symbiotic relationship between leaf cutter ants and fungus.

Discovery Streaming: Oceans Alive: Life Together
This video explains what a symbiotic relationship is.  It also gives examples of symbiotic relationship in the ocean.

PO 5.  Analyze the following behavioral cycles of organisms:

Discovery Streaming: Biomes: Adapting to Deserts and Other Ecosystems
This video has a short segment on migration of the Mongolian gazelle.

Discovery Streaming: Physical Science: Magnetism
This video has a short and very interesting segment on the role of magnetism in migration.

Discovery Streaming: Animal Instincts
This video has a clip on migration as well as hibernation.

Discovery Streaming: World of Nature: Mystery of the Cranes
This video has an informative section on the migration of the cranes.

PO 6.  Describe the following factors that allow for the survival of living organisms:

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