A student expectation is directly related to the knowledge and skills statement, is more specific about how students demonstrate their learning, and always begins with a verb. Student expectations are further broken down into their component parts, often referred to as “breakouts.”
Vertical alignment shows student expectations in the same subject area at different grade levels that are related to or build upon one another.
identify and illustrate how living organisms depend on each other through food chains.
create and describe food chains identifying producers and consumers to demonstrate how animals depend on other living things; and
identify and describe the flow of energy in a food chain and predict how changes in a food chain such as removal of frogs from a pond or bees from a field affect the ecosystem;
describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy through food webs, including the roles of the Sun, producers, consumers, and decomposers; and
Patterns are regular sequences that can be found throughout nature.
Food webs model the patterns of producer-consumer and predator-prey relationships in an ecosystem. To predict how disruptions will affect the ecosystem, students must understand the patterns of matter cycling and energy flow in a food web.
Cause-and-effect relationships are relationships between two or more variables or phenomena whereby one variable or event leads to a predictable response. Events have causes—sometimes simple, sometimes multi-faceted.
Disruptions in an ecosystem (cause) can increase or decrease the transfer of energy or cause the energy to follow different pathways through the ecosystem (effects).
A system is a whole made of parts that work together. It has components and boundaries. It can interact with or be part of other systems.
The arrows in a food web communicate the relationships among organisms (parts) and how energy flows through the ecosystem. Changes to the ecosystem can disrupt those relationships, affecting the transfer of energy through the ecosystem.
Matter and energy are conserved, changing forms but maintaining quantities. Energy flows within a system or between systems through transfers and transformations. Matter is cycled within systems through physical and chemical processes.
A food web models how energy flows between and among the organisms in an ecosystem. Disruptions (change) to the ecosystem such as an increase in the population of a predator impact the food web by changing the balance of organisms, thereby altering the flow of energy through the ecosystem.
Stability describes a system that does not change at the observed scale. In a stable system, a small disturbance will die out and the system will return to a stable state. Change in the system can come from modifying a factor or condition.
A healthy and sustainable ecosystem is stable. Minor disruptions (changes) that alter the transfer of energy through an ecosystem can be overcome, but larger disruptions can lead to ecosystem instability and eventual collapse of the food web.
Math.8.11.A construct a scatterplot and describe the observed data to address questions of association such as linear, non-linear, and no association between bivariate data
Math.8.11.C simulate generating random samples of the same size from a population with known characteristics to develop the notion of a random sample being representative of the population from which it was selected
SS.8.11.A analyze how physical characteristics of the environment influenced population distribution, settlement patterns, and economic activities in the United States
ELAR.8.5.C make and correct or confirm predictions using text features, characteristics of genre, and structures
ELAR.8.5.E make connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society
ELAR.8.5.F make inferences and use evidence to support understanding