cells heredity- north east independent school district（细胞遗传——东北独立学区）（11页）.docVIP

CELLS AND HEREDITY In this 6th grade unit, students will be exposed to a study of cells for the first time. Students need to build a strong knowledge base on cells in the 6th grade since this information will not be revisited in 7th or 8th grade and may appear on the TAKS test. Students are not required to learn all of the organelles of a cell as this will be covered in high school biology. They do learn some basic organelles and should be able to differentiate between animal and plant cells. All 6th grade students should be exposed to examination of cells through use of a microscope. The relationship between structure and function is a unifying concept in science. Throughout this unit, there should be an emphasis on this relationship. Structure is the shape or material something is made of, and the function is the job that it does. Students may need to be exposed to concrete examples when first learning this concept. For example, the shape of the ear is shaped to collect and funnel sound and a hummingbird’s beak is shaped to reach nectar within a flower. The emphasis on the relationship between structure and function should continue as students examine the different levels of organization of living things. The 6th grade student will also study heredity as a part of this unit. They are to identify some changes in traits that can occur over several generations through natural occurrence and selective breeding. They should also be able to identify cells as structures containing genetic material and interpret the role of genes in inheritance. In previous grades, students learned that heredity is the study of how parents pass their traits to offspring. The elementary student also differentiated between inherited traits and learned characteristics. Life Processes The cell is the basic unit of living things that carries on functions to sustain life. These functions are referred to as the basic life processes, and all living things carry them