SCI-MS.LS2
DCI Life Science LS2
Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
Performance Expectations
LS2 help student's formulate an answer to the question, “How does a system of living and non-living things operate to meet the needs of the organisms in an ecosystem?”
The LS2 Disciplinary Core Idea is divided into three sub-ideas: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems; Cycles of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems; and Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience . Students can analyze and interpret data, develop models, and construct arguments and demonstrate a deeper understanding of resources and the cycling of matter and the flow of energy in ecosystems. They can also study patterns of the interactions among organisms within an ecosystem. They consider biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem and the effects these factors have on population. They evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Calculation Method for DCI
Disciplinary Core Ideas are larger groups of related Performance Expectations. So the Disciplinary Core Idea Grade is a calculation of all the related Performance Expectations. So click on the Performance Expectation name below each Disciplinary Core Idea to access the learning targets and proficiency scales for each Disciplinary Core Idea's related Performance Expectations. |
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SCI-MS.LS2.01
 7th Grade (SCI) Life Science Standards
[LS2] Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
SCI-MS.LS2.01 Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource
availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on cause and effect relationships between resources and growth of individual organisms and
the numbers of organisms in ecosystems during periods of abundant and scarce resources.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in
Ecosystems
Organisms, and populations of organisms, are
dependent on their environmental
interactions both with other living things and
with nonliving factors. In any ecosystem,
organisms and populations with similar
requirements for food, water, oxygen, or
other resources may compete with each other
for limited resources, access to which
consequently constrains their growth and
reproduction. Growth of organisms and
population increases are limited by access to
resources.
Student Learning Targets:
Knowledge Targets
Reasoning Targets
Skills (Performance) Targets
Product Targets
Proficiency Scale
The Student can ...
1 Beginning
... with help, demonstrate a partial understanding of some of the simpler details and processes (Score 2.0 content) and some of the more complex ideas and processes (Score 3.0 content).
2 Developing
... demonstrate no major errors or omissions regarding the simpler details and processes but exhibits major errors or omissions regarding the more complex ideas and processes (Score 3.0 content).
3 Proficient
“The Standard.”... demonstrate no major errors or omissions regarding any of the information and processes that were end of instruction expectations.
4 Advanced
... demonstrate in-depth inferences and applications regarding more complex material that go beyond end of instruction expectations.
Resources
Websites
- Title of website with a URL to open in a new window
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SCI-MS.LS2.02
7th Grade (SCI) Life Science Standards
[LS2] Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
SCI-MS.LS2.02 Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among
organisms across multiple ecosystems.
Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on predicting consistent patterns of interactions in different ecosystems in terms of the
relationships among and between organisms and abiotic components of ecosystems. Examples of types of
interactions could include competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in
Ecosystems
Similarly, predatory interactions may reduce
the number of organisms or eliminate whole
populations of organisms. Mutually beneficial
interactions, in contrast, may become so
interdependent that each organism requires
the other for survival. Although the species
involved in these competitive, predatory, and
mutually beneficial interactions vary across
ecosystems, the patterns of interactions of
organisms with their environments, both living
and nonliving, are shared.
Student Learning Targets:
Knowledge Targets
- I can recognize or recall specific terminology (predator/prey, producer/consumer, symbiotic relationships, biotic and abiotic factors, habitat and niche, competition, levels of organization in the ecosystem: species, population, community, ecosystem).
- I can identify symbiotic relationships.
Reasoning Targets
- I can predict what would happen to an ecosystem with changing ratios of producers, consumers, or decomposers.
- I can compare and contrast habitat and niche.
- I can differentiate symbiotic relationships.
Skills (Performance) Targets
Product Targets
Proficiency Scale
The Student can ...
1 Beginning
... with help, demonstrate a partial understanding of some of the simpler details and processes (Score 2.0 content) and some of the more complex ideas and processes (Score 3.0 content).
2 Developing
... demonstrate no major errors or omissions regarding the simpler details and processes but exhibits major errors or omissions regarding the more complex ideas and processes (Score 3.0 content).- recognize or recall specific terminology.
- identify symbiotic relationships
Vocabulary: predator/prey, producer/consumer, symbiotic relationships, biotic and abiotic factors, habitat and niche, competition, levels of organization in the ecosystem: species, population, community, ecosystem.
3 Proficient
“The Standard.”... demonstrate no major errors or omissions regarding any of the information and processes that were end of instruction expectations.- predict what would happen to an ecosystem with changing ratios of producers, consumers, or decomposers.
- compare and contrast habitat and niche.
- differentiate symbiotic relationships
- relate competition in across and within ecosystems to resource availability.
- explain predator/prey interactions
Sample Activity:
Good buddies symbiosis game
Ecosystem interactions research project
Predator/Prey online simulations and labs
Analyzing predator/prey population graphs
Relates resource available to the type of organisms found in an ecosystem and recognizes the adaptations of those organisms to the environment.
4 Advanced
... demonstrate in-depth inferences and applications regarding more complex material that go beyond end of instruction expectations.
Click Here to view the Proficiency Scale.
Resources
Vocabulary
- predator/prey
- producer/consumer
- symbiotic relationships
- biotic and abiotic factors
- habitat and niche
- carrying capacity
- limiting factors
- cooperation and competition
- trophic levels
- levels of the ecosystem
Websites
- Ecosystems
- Symbiosis
- Chapter 25 of Life Science textbook
- Title of website with a URL to open in a new window
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SCI-MS.LS2.03
7th Grade (SCI) Life Science Standards
[LS2] Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
SCI-MS.LS2.03 Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy
among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on describing the conservation of matter and flow of energy into and out of various
ecosystems, and on defining the boundaries of the system.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
LS2.B: Cycle of Matter and Energy Transfer in
Ecosystems
Food webs are models that demonstrate how
matter and energy is transferred between
producers, consumers, and decomposers as the
three groups interact within an ecosystem.
Transfers of matter into and out of the physical
environment occur at every level. Decomposers
recycle nutrients from dead plant or animal
matter back to the soil in terrestrial
environments or to the water in aquatic
environments. The atoms that make up the
organisms in an ecosystem are cycled repeatedly
between the living and nonliving parts of the
ecosystem.
Student Learning Targets:
Knowledge Targets
- I can recognize or recall specific terminology (carrying capacity, limiting factors, food chain, food web, energy pyramid, abiotic and biotic factors, trophic levels (decomposer, producer, and consumer).
- I can identify a food chain or food web.
- I can identify the producer, consumer, and decomposer.
Reasoning Targets
- I can explain the importance of producers to an ecosystem.
- Skills (Performance) Targets
- I can trace the flow of energy through a system.
Skills (Performance) Targets
Product Targets
- I can construct a food chain and/or a food web.
Proficiency Scale
The Student can ...
1 Beginning
... with help, demonstrate a partial understanding of some of the simpler details and processes (Score 2.0 content) and some of the more complex ideas and processes (Score 3.0 content).
2 Developing
... demonstrate no major errors or omissions regarding the simpler details and processes but exhibits major errors or omissions regarding the more complex ideas and processes (Score 3.0 content).- recognize or recall specific terminology.
- identifiy a food chain or food web.
- identify the producer, consumer, and decomposer.
Vocabulary: carrying capacity, limiting factors, food chain, food web, energy pyramid, abiotic and biotic factors, trophic levels (decomposer, producer, and consumer)
3 Proficient
“The Standard.”... demonstrate no major errors or omissions regarding any of the information and processes that were end of instruction expectations.- explain the importance of producers to an ecosystem
- trace the flow of energy through a system.
- explain how matter and energy are conserved
- identify the cycling of matter between living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem
Sample Activity:
constructs a food web for a specific ecosystem
interprets an energy pyramid and relates the population size to the available producers
4 Advanced
... demonstrate in-depth inferences and applications regarding more complex material that go beyond end of instruction expectations.
Resources
Vocabulary
- carrying capacity
- limiting factors
- food chain
- food web
- energy pyramid
- abiotic and biotic factors
- trophic levels
(decomposer, producer, and consumer)
Websites
- Cycling of Matter
- Chapter 24 of Life Science textbook
- Title of website with a URL to open in a new window
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SCI-MS.LS2.04
7th Grade (SCI) Life Science Standards
[LS2] Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
SCI-MS.LS2.04 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to
physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on recognizing patterns in data and making warranted inferences about changes in
populations, and on evaluating empirical evidence supporting arguments about changes to ecosystems.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and
Resilience
Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their
characteristics can vary over time. Disruptions to
any physical or biological component of an
ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its
populations.
Student Learning Targets:
Knowledge Targets
Reasoning Targets
Skills (Performance) Targets
Product Targets
Proficiency Scale
The Student can ...
1 Beginning
... with help, demonstrate a partial understanding of some of the simpler details and processes (Score 2.0 content) and some of the more complex ideas and processes (Score 3.0 content).
2 Developing
... demonstrate no major errors or omissions regarding the simpler details and processes but exhibits major errors or omissions regarding the more complex ideas and processes (Score 3.0 content).
3 Proficient
“The Standard.”... demonstrate no major errors or omissions regarding any of the information and processes that were end of instruction expectations.
4 Advanced
... demonstrate in-depth inferences and applications regarding more complex material that go beyond end of instruction expectations.
Resources
Websites
- Title of website with a URL to open in a new window
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SCI-MS.LS2.05
7th Grade (SCI) Life Science Standards
[LS2] Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
SCI-MS.LS2.05 Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and
ecosystem services.
Clarification Statement: Examples of ecosystem services could include water purification, nutrient recycling, and prevention
of soil erosion. Examples of design solution constraints could include scientific, economic, and social
considerations.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and
Resilience
Biodiversity describes the variety of species found in
Earth’s terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems. The
completeness or integrity of an ecosystem’s
biodiversity is often used as a measure of its health.
LS4.D: Biodiversity and Humans
Changes in biodiversity can influence humans’
resources, such as food, energy, and medicines, as
well as ecosystem services that humans rely on—for
example, water purification and recycling
(secondary)
Student Learning Targets:
Knowledge Targets
Reasoning Targets
Skills (Performance) Targets
Product Targets
Proficiency Scale
The Student can ...
1 Beginning
... with help, demonstrate a partial understanding of some of the simpler details and processes (Score 2.0 content) and some of the more complex ideas and processes (Score 3.0 content).
2 Developing
... demonstrate no major errors or omissions regarding the simpler details and processes but exhibits major errors or omissions regarding the more complex ideas and processes (Score 3.0 content).
3 Proficient
“The Standard.”... demonstrate no major errors or omissions regarding any of the information and processes that were end of instruction expectations.
4 Advanced
... demonstrate in-depth inferences and applications regarding more complex material that go beyond end of instruction expectations.
Resources
Websites
- Title of website with a URL to open in a new window
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