5-Evolution+&+Genetics

5.L.3.1 Explain why organisms differ from or are similar to their parents based on the characteristics of the organism. 5.L.3.2 Give examples of likenesses that are inherited and some that are not. || ===‍‍‍Literacy Standard**/Mathematical Practice(s)**===
 * ===**Essential Standard/Clarifying Objective(s)**===
 * 5.L.3 Understand why organisms differ from or are similar to their parents based on the characteristics of the organism. **
 * Math:**
 * 7. Look for and make use of structure.**
 * RI.5.7 Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer.**
 * RI.5.9 Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.** ||
 * ===‍‍‍**Information Technology Standard**===
 * 5.RP.1 Apply a research process as part of collaborative research.**
 * 5.SI.1 Apply criteria to determine appropriate information resources for specific topics and purposes.**
 * 5.TT.1 Use technology tools and skills to reinforce and extend classroom concepts and activities.** || ===‍‍‍**Revised Bloom's Level of thinking**===
 * Understand** ||

‍‍‍**I can...**

 * 5.L.3.1 I can explain why organisms differ from or are similar to their parents based on the characteristics of the organism. **


 * 5.L.3.2 I can give examples of likenesses that are inherited and some that are not. **
 * ====**explain why offspring resemble their parents. **====
 * ====**explain why offspring don't look exactly like their parents. **====
 * ====**explain how organisms change as they go through life cycles? **====
 * ====**explain how organisms of the same kind are similar, yet different. **====
 * ====**explain how organisms of the same kind are different from each other and how might this help them to survive. **====
 * ====**can give examples of likenesses that are inherited and some that are not. **====

‍‍‍**Instructional Resources**
5.L.3.1 Students know that the life processes and species characteristics that define a population will be transmitted from parent to offspring. Students also know that these processes and characteristics cover a broad range of structures, functions and behaviors that can vary substantially from individual to individual. 5.L.3.2 Students know some likenesses between parents and children are inherited. Other likenesses are learned from parents or within the community (population/culture). Students know that in order for offspring to resemble their parents there must be a reliable way to transfer genetic information from parent to offspring. Students can be encouraged to keep lists of characteristics that animals and plants acquire from their parents, things that they don't, and things that the students are not sure about either way. This is also the time to start building the notion of a population whose members are alike in many ways but show some variation. How are offspring like their parents? [] What are inherited and learned behaviors? [] Adaptations []
 * Unpacked Content **//(for students) //

‍‍‍**Notes and Additional Information**
The earth's present-day life forms appear to have evolved from common ancestors reaching back to the simplest one-cell organisms almost four billion years ago. Modern ideas of evolution provide a scientific explanation for three main sets of observable facts about life on earth: the enormous number of different life forms we see about us, the systematic similarities in anatomy and molecular chemistry we see within that diversity, and the sequence of changes in fossils found in successive layers of rock that have been formed over more than a billion years. <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">Since the beginning of the fossil record, many new life forms have appeared, and most old forms have disappeared. The many traceable sequences of changing anatomical forms, inferred from ages of rock layers, convince scientists that the accumulation of differences from one generation to the next has led eventually to species as different from one another as bacteria are from elephants. The molecular evidence substantiates the anatomical evidence from fossils and provides additional detail about the sequence in which various lines of descent branched off from one another. <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Although details of the history of life on earth are still being pieced together from the combined geological, anatomical, and molecular evidence, the main features of that history are generally agreed upon. At the very beginning, simple molecules may have formed complex molecules that eventually formed into cells capable of self-replication. Life on earth has existed for three billion years. Prior to that, simple molecules may have formed complex organic molecules that eventually formed into cells <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">capable of self-replication. During the first two billion years of life, only microorganisms existed—some of them apparently quite similar to bacteria and algae that exist today. With the development of cells with nuclei about a billion years ago, there was a great increase in the rate of evolution of increasingly complex, multicelled organisms. The rate of evolution of new species has been uneven since then, perhaps reflecting the varying rates of change in the physical environment.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">EVOLUTION OF LIFE **

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">A central concept of the theory of evolution is natural selection, which arises from three well-established observations: (1) There is some variation in heritable characteristics within every species of organism, (2) some of these characteristics will give individuals an advantage over others in surviving to maturity and reproducing, and (3) those individuals will be likely to have more offspring, which will themselves be more likely than others to survive and reproduce. The likely result is that over successive generations, the proportion of individuals that have inherited advantage-giving characteristics will tend to increase.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">Selectable characteristics can include details of biochemistry, such as the molecular structure of hormones or digestive enzymes, and anatomical features that are ultimately produced in the development of the organism, such as bone size or fur length. They can also include more subtle features determined by anatomy, such as acuity of vision or pumping efficiency of the heart. By biochemical or anatomical means, selectable characteristics may also influence behavior, such as weaving a certain shape of web, preferring certain characteristics in a mate, or being disposed to care for offspring.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">New heritable characteristics can result from new combinations of parents' genes or from mutations of them. Except for mutation of the DNA in an organism's sex cells, the characteristics that result from occurrences during the organism's lifetime cannot be biologically passed on to the next generation. Thus, for example, changes in an individual caused by use or disuse of a structure or function, or by changes in its environment, cannot be promulgated by natural selection.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">By its very nature, natural selection is likely to lead to organisms with characteristics that are well adapted to survival in particular environments. Yet chance alone, especially in small populations, can result in the spread of inherited characteristics that have no inherent survival or reproductive advantage or disadvantage. Moreover, when an environment changes (in this sense, other organisms are also part of the environment), the advantage or disadvantage of characteristics can change. So natural selection does not necessarily result in long-term progress in a set direction. Evolution builds on what already exists, so the more variety that already exists, the more there can be.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">The continuing operation of natural selection on new characteristics and in changing environments, over and over again for millions of years, has produced a succession of diverse new species. Evolution is not a ladder in which the lower forms are all replaced by superior forms, with humans finally emerging at the top as the most advanced species. Rather, it is like a bush: Many branches emerged long ago; some of those branches have died out; some have survived with apparently little or no change over time; and some have repeatedly branched, sometimes giving rise to more complex organisms.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The modern concept of evolution provides a unifying principle for understanding the history of life on earth, relationships among all living things, and the dependence of life on the physical environment. While it is still far from clear how evolution works in every detail, the concept is so well established that it provides a framework for organizing most of biological knowledge into a coherent picture.