Tennessee Science Curriculum Standards
—State Performance Indicators

Fifth Grade—The student is able to:

• 5.2.spi.1. Identify environmental changes caused by living things.
• 5.2.spi.2. Determine various types of plant and animal relationships within an ecosystem.
• 5.2.spi.3. Predict the effects of human actions and/or natural disasters on the environment.
• 5.4.spi.1. Compare the traits of parents and their offspring.
• 5.4.spi.2. Infer the importance of reproduction in the survival of a species.
• 5.5.spi.1. Compare how organisms adapt to different environments.
• 5.5.spi.2. Match the form with the function of structures in living things.
• 5.5.spi.3. Identify characteristics that enhance the survival of organisms in an environment.
• 5.5.spi.4. Determine which organisms are likely to survive in a particular environment.

Sixth Grade—The student is able to:

• 6.2.spi.1. Recognize how animals and plants are interdependent.
• 6.2.spi.2. Distinguish between commensalism, parasitism and mutualism.
• 6.2.spi.3. Predict whether an organism can survive in a particular ecosystem.
• 6.3.spi.1. Identify how organisms obtain food for energy.
• 6.3.spi.2. Classify organisms as producers, consumers or decomposers in a food chain or food web.
• 6.3.spi.3. Infer the consequences of a change in the population size of an organism in a food chain or food web.
• 6.5.spi.1. Identify adaptations that enhance the survival of organisms in an environment.
• 6.5.spi.2. Determine which organisms are likely to survive in a particular environment.
• 6.5.spi.3. Classify plants and animals into groups according to their features.

Seventh Grade—The student is able to:

• 7.3.spi.3. Select the structures that animals use to obtain oxygen.
• 7.3.so.4. Classify animals according to their means of obtaining oxygen.

Eighth Grade—The student is able to:

• 8.2.spi.2. Identify the earth's major biomes.
• 8.2.spi.3. Choose the appropriate biome for an organism, given a description.
• 8.2.spi.4. Identify biotic and abiotic factors in a biome.
• 8.5.spi.1. Identify similarities and differences among organisms.
• 8.5.spi.2. Classify plants and animals into groups according to their features.
• 8.5.spi.3. Infer the relatedness of different organisms.
• 8.5.spi.4. Use a simple classification key to identify an unknown organism.
• 8.5.spi.5. Determine the genus and species of an organism using a dichotomous key.
• 8.1 0.spi.5. Infer that human activities may be helpful or harmful to the environment.

Ninth through Twelfth Grade—The student is able to:

LIFE SCIENCE
• Distinguish among populations, communities and ecosystems, given examples.
• Classify organisms as producers, consumers and decomposers, given their behavior and environment.
• Infer how human activities can affect the balance of an ecosystem.
• Infer the need for a biological classification system.
• Infer animals and plants indigenous to an environment, given pictures or diagrams of organisms and a description of the environment.

BIOLOGY 1
• Classify organisms as producers, consumers and decomposers, given their behavior and environment.
• Determine the effects of human activities on ecosystems, given a scenario.
• Infer animals and plants indigenous to an environment, given pictures or diagrams of organisms and a description of the environment.
• Infer the biome in which an animal or plant lives, given a description of the organism and pictures of various biomes.

   Tennessee Science Curriculum Standards
   —State Performance Indicators

   Ninth through Twelfth Grade (continued)

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
• Categorize organisms as producers, consumers or decomposers, given a description of their environment.
• Draw a food web, given organisms and their role in the environment.
• Select animals or plants indigenous to an environment by examining pictures or scenarios.
• Determine the biome in which an animal or plant lives, given a description.
• Trace the flow of energy and the cycling of matter between living systems and the physical environment.
• Explore the biodiversity of various biomes.
• Analyze the relationship of habitat changes to plant and animal population density.
• Construct food webs for organisms in an ecoregion of Tennessee.

ECOLOGY
• Draw a food web, given organisms and their role in the environment.
• Explore the biodiversity of various biomes.
• Analyze the relationship of habitat change to plant and animal population density.
• Construct food webs for organisms in an ecoregion of Tennessee.
• Explain how variations within a species affect the likelihood of survival.
• Illustrate that the abundance and distribution of living organisms are limited by available energy and certain forms of matter.

   Georgia Science Performance Standards

   Kindergarten through Second Grade:

• Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly.
  (K-2)
• Students will sort living organisms and non living materials into groups by observable physical attributes. (K)
• Students will compare the similarities and differences in groups of organisms. (K)
• Students will investigate the characteristics and basic needs of plants and animals. (1)
• Students will investigate the life cycles of different living organisms. (2)

   Third through Fifth Grade:

• Students will investigate the habitats of different organisms and the dependence of organisms on their habitat. (3)
• Students will recognize the effects of pollution and humans on the environment. (3)
• Students will describe the roles of organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem. (4)
• Students will identify factors that affect the survival or extinction of organisms such as adaptation, variation of behaviors (hibernation) and external features (camouflage and protection). (4)
• Students will classify organisms into groups and relate how they determined the groups with how and why scientists use classification. (5)

   Sixth through Eighth Grade

• Students will use the ideas of system, model, change and scale in exploring scientific and technological matters. (6-8)
• Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly.
  (6-8)
• Students will investigate the diversity of living organisms and how they can be compared scientifically. (7)
• Students will examine the dependence of organisms on one another and their environments. (7)

   Ninth through Twelfth Grade

• Students will identify and investigate problems scientifically.
• Students will derive the relationship between single celled and multi celled organisms and the increasing complexity of systems.
• Students will assess the dependence of all organisms on one another and the flow of energy and matter within their ecosystems.