B.1: Cellular Structure and Function

B.1.1: Compare and contrast the shape and function of the essential biological macromolecules (i.e. carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids), as well as, how chemical elements (i.e. carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur) can combine to form these biomolecules.

RNA and Protein Synthesis

B.1.4: Develop and use models to illustrate how specialized structures within cells (i.e. nuclei, ribosomes, Golgi, endoplasmic reticulum) interact to produce, modify, and transport proteins.

Cell Structure
RNA and Protein Synthesis

B.2: Matter Cycles and Energy Transfer

B.2.1: Use a model to illustrate how photosynthesis transforms light energy into stored chemical energy.

Cell Energy Cycle
Photosynthesis Lab

B.2.2: Use a model to illustrate that cellular respiration is a chemical process whereby the bonds of food molecules and oxygen molecules are broken and the bonds in new compounds are formed resulting in a net transfer of energy.

Cell Energy Cycle

B.2.3: Use mathematical and/or computational representations to support claims for the cycling of matter and flow of energy among organisms in an ecosystem.

Food Chain

B.2.4: Develop a model to illustrate the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of carbon among the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere.

Carbon Cycle
Cell Energy Cycle
Photosynthesis Lab

B.3: Interdependence

B.3.1: Use mathematical and/or computational representation to explain why the carrying capacity ecosystems can support is limited by the available energy, water, oxygen, and minerals and by the ability of ecosystems to recycle the remains of dead organisms.

Food Chain

B.4: Inheritance and Variation in Traits

B.4.1: Develop and revise a model that clarifies the relationship between DNA and chromosomes in coding the instructions for characteristic traits passed from parents to offspring.

Human Karyotyping

B.4.3: Construct a model to explain that the unique shape and function of each protein is determined by the sequence of its amino acids, and thus is determined by the sequence of the DNA that codes for this protein.

RNA and Protein Synthesis

B.4.6: Apply concepts of statistics and probability to explain the variation and distribution of expressed traits in a population.

Microevolution

B.5: Evolution

B.5.1: Evaluate anatomical and molecular evidence to provide an explanation of how organisms are classified and named based on their evolutionary relationships into taxonomic categories.

Dichotomous Keys
Human Evolution - Skull Analysis

B.5.2: Communicate scientific information that common ancestry and biological evolution are supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence including both anatomical and molecular evidence.

Human Evolution - Skull Analysis

B.5.3: Apply concepts of statistics and probability to support a claim that organisms with an advantageous heritable trait tend to increase in proportion to organisms lacking this trait.

Microevolution

B.5.6: Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record and molecular data that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.

Human Evolution - Skull Analysis