STANDARD 5.5 (Characteristics of Life) — All students will gain an understanding of the structure, characteristics, and basic needs of organisms and will investigate the diversity of life.

DESCRIPTIVE STATEMENT: The study of science must include the diversity, complexity, and interdependence of life on earth. Students should know how organisms evolve, reproduce, and adapt to their environments.

CUMULATIVE PROGRESS INDICATORS: Building upon knowledge and skills gained in the preceding grades, by the end of Grade 12, students will...

1. Matter, Energy and Organization in Living Systems
   1. Relate the structure of molecules to their function in cellular structure and metabolism.
   2. Explain how plants convert light energy to chemical energy.
   3. Describe how plants produce substances high in energy content that become the primary source of energy for life.
   4. Relate disease in humans and other organisms to infections or intrinsic failures of system.
2. Diversity and Biological Evolution
   1. Explain that through evolution the Earth's present species developed from earlier distinctly different species.
   2. Explain how the theory of natural selection accounts for extinction as well as an increase in the proportion of individuals with advantageous characteristics within a species.
3. Reproduction and Heredity
   1. Describe how information is encoded and transmitted in genetic material.
   2. Explain how genetic material can be altered by natural and/or artificial means; mutations and new gene combinations may have positive, negative, or no effect on organisms or species.
   3. Assess the impact of current and emerging technologies on our understanding of inherited human characteristics.