Description

The Senses and Survival Module provides students with firsthand and media experiences with three kinds of general biological systems in animals and plants—sensory systems, skeletal and muscle systems, and transport systems. These systems allow animals to sense and respond to danger in their environment; to obtain food and water; to find mates; and to avoid predators. In addition, they let both plants and animals grow and develop.

Students’ engagement with these ideas is driven by four anchor phenomenon that drive them to investigate each system, first by focusing on the systems in humans and then comparing the structures in other organisms that perform similar functions. Students investigate these phenomenon:

• Anchor phenomenon 1—Animals using their senses
• Anchor phenomenon 2—A broken arm
• Anchor phenomenon 3—A scraped knee bleeds
• Anchor phenomenon 4—A wilted plant survives

Students plan and carry out investigations with stimulus and response to gather data to develop models and construct explanations. Students design physical models to understand how structures in a system function together to provide information and resources to organisms to support survival. Students gain experiences that will contribute to the understanding of these crosscutting concepts: cause and effect; systems and system models; and structure and function.