Longfellow Middle School

Meeting the needs of all learners

Inspiring excellence and

Environmental Science

• Content• Process Skills

Units of Study•Observing Living Things

•Heredity and Diversity

•Ecology

Observing Living Things • Students will review the

basic characteristics and needs of all living things.– Give examples of how

plants and animals meet their basic needs.

– Make detailed scientific drawings.

– List qualitative and quantitative observations of organisms.

– Determine the key components of experimental design: dependent variable, independent variable, constants, control, and repeated trials.

– Develop a clear and precise set of experimental procedures.

– Construct appropriate data tables and graphs.

• Students will plan, design, conduct, and analyze experiments.

• Students will analyze the structure and function of cells and tissues needed to conduct life processes.– Use a compound light microscope to observe a variety of

microscopic cells and tissues.– Differentiate between a plant and an animal cell.– Distinguish between cells, tissues, organs, and systems.

Using analogies to aid a high level of understanding

Give examples of how cell or tissue structure is related to its function within an organism.Describe basic life processes: growth, reproduction, movement, metabolism, response, osmosis, and diffusion.Analyze the cell cycle and compare mitosis to meiosis.

INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY IN ALL UNITS

Students will investigate the passage of hereditary information from generation to generation.

• Use Punnett squares to make predictions showing combinations of inherited factors possible among single trait crosses.

• Construct a DNA model and demonstrate its role in passing on hereditary information.

• Summarize the major contributions of Mendel, Franklin, Watson, and Crick.

• Simulate genetic replication and mutation.

• Identify the benefits and risks of genetic engineering.

Differentiating Instruction and Projects

By questioning and extensions.

• Students will cite evidence that organisms and their environment change over time.– Describe variation,

mutation, adaptation, natural selection, and extinction.

– Illustrate evidence of change over time among different species in the fossil record.

– Analyze a timeline of the four major geological eras and the characteristics of the dominant organisms in each era.

– Describe the formation of fossil fuels and limits on supplies.

– Compare primary and secondary succession.

• Students will compare the similarities among organisms from an analysis of their characteristics.– Use a classification system and a dichotomous key.– Observe and describe representatives of the six kingdoms and the major

animal phyla and plant divisions.• Students will investigate the interdependence of life in an ecosystem.

– Differentiate between populations, communities, ecosystems, and biomes.– Construct a model aquatic ecosystem.– Investigate limiting factors on a population.– Describe the processes of photosynthesis and respiration.– Trace the flow of energy from the sun through a food web.– Compare the water, carbon dioxide/oxygen, and nitrogen cycles.– Give examples of how a change in the population of one organism may affect the

population of other organisms.

• Students will evaluate the interrelationships of biotic and abiotic resources within their local ecosystem. – Examine the Chesapeake Bay as a case study of

water pollution problems and solutions.– Given a situation in which a factor is altered, predict

the expected change over time. – Conduct a variety of tests on water samples and

analyze whether living things can survive in the sample.

– Identify positive and negative influences that people have on the environment.

Analysis for All Students

Using PDF versions of GIS overlays to synthesize information

• Using Arc View GIS software

Using GIS software to develop overlays and compare GPS data

• Through inquiry• Experimental design• Analysis of real life situations and

problems• Depth and complexity for all students• Guided and independent practice