Digital Frog International educational software &
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Science

(a) Introduction.

4. (B) Matter and energy are conserved throughout living systems. Radiant energy from the Sun drives much of the flow of energy throughout living systems due to the process of photosynthesis in organisms described as producers. Most consumers then depend on producers to meet their energy needs. Decomposers play an important role in recycling matter…

 Food Web screens

Refer to Dependency Web screens

Refer to Build-A- Desert screens

4. (C)… Weathering, erosion, and deposition occur in environments due to the forces of gravity, wind, ice, and water.

Landscape Formation screens

4 (E) (i) Students will understand the relationship between living organisms and their environment. Different environments support different living organisms that are adapted to that region of Earth. Organisms are living systems that maintain a steady state with that environment and whose balance may be disrupted by internal and external stimuli. External stimuli include human activity or the environment. Successful organisms can reestablish a balance through different processes such as a feedback mechanism. Ecological succession can be seen on a broad or small scale.

Study section; Endangered Wetlands section

Study section; Endangered Rainforests section

Desert Study section; Human Impact section

Ecology section; Anatomy section

4. (E) (ii) Students learn that all organisms obtain energy, get rid of wastes, grow, and reproduce. During both sexual and asexual reproduction, traits are passed onto the next generation. These traits are contained in genetic material that is found on genes within a chromosome from the parent. Changes in traits sometimes occur in a population over many generations. One of the ways a change can occur is through the process of natural selection. Students extend their understanding of structures in living systems from a previous focus on external structures to an understanding of internal structures and functions within living things.

Anatomy section

Refer to Cellular level

4.(E) (iii) All living organisms are made up of smaller units called cells. All cells use energy, get rid of wastes, and contain genetic material. Students will compare plant and animal cells and understand the internal structures within them that allow them to obtain energy, get rid of wastes, grow, and reproduce in different ways. Cells can organize into tissues, tissues into organs, and organs into organ systems. Students will learn the major functions of human body systems …

Refer to Anatomy section– see human links

Cell Structure and Function

(b) Knowledge and skills.

5. (A) recognize that radiant energy from the Sun is transformed into chemical energy through the process of photosynthesis;

Food screens: Photosynthesis screens

5. (B) demonstrate and explain the cycling of matter within living systems such as in the decay of biomass in a compost bin; and

Nutrient Cycle screens: Carbon, Water, Nitrogen, Phosphorus

Mechanisms: Soils and Decomposition, Water Cycle, Productivity

5. (C) diagram the flow of energy through living systems, including food chains, food webs, and energy pyramids.

Food Web screens: Web Energy

Refer to Web Game

Refer to Build-A- Desert

6. A) identify that organic compounds contain carbon and other elements such as hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, nitrogen, or sulfur;

Refer to nutrient cycles

6. (B) distinguish between physical and chemical changes in matter in the digestive system; and

Refer to:

Anatomy: Digestive System

8. (B) analyze the effects of weathering, erosion, and deposition on the environment in ecoregions of Texas

Mechanisms (Chihuanhuan Desert)

10. (A) observe and describe how different environments, including microhabitats in schoolyards and biomes, support different varieties of organisms;

Refer to Web Game

Refer to Web Game

Refer to Build-A- Desert Game

10. (B) describe how biodiversity contributes to the sustainability of an ecosystem; and

Biodiversity screens

10. (C) observe, record, and describe the role of ecological succession such as in a microhabitat of a garden with weeds.

Mechanisms: Succession

11. (A) examine organisms or their structures such as insects or leaves and use dichotomous keys for identification

Refer to Organism screens

Refer to Organism screens

Refer to Organism screens

11. (B) explain variation within a population or species by comparing external features, behaviors, or physiology of organisms that enhance their survival such as migration, hibernation, or storage of food in a bulb; and

Biodiversity screens

Adaptations

11. (C) identify some changes in genetic traits that have occurred over several generations through natural selection and selective breeding…

Biodiversity screens

Refer to Adaptations

12. (A) investigate and explain how internal structures of organisms have adaptations that allow [are adapted to perform] specific functions such as gills in fish, hollow bones in birds, or xylem in plants;

Adaptations; Refer to Organism screens

Study screens: Refer to Organism screens

Study screens: Adaptations, Refer to Organism screens

12. (B) identify the main functions of the systems of the human organism, including the circulatory, respiratory, skeletal, muscular, digestive, excretory, reproductive, integumentary, nervous, and endocrine systems;

Refer to Anatomy section – see human links

12. (C) recognize levels of organization in plants and animals, including cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, and organisms;

Refer to Anatomy

Cell Structure and Function

12. (D) differentiate between structure and function in plant and animal cell organelles, including cell membrane, cell wall, nucleus, cytoplasm, mitochondrion, chloroplast, and vacuole;

Cell Structure and Function

12. (E) compare the functions of a cell to the functions of organisms such as waste removal; and

Refer to Anatomy

Cell Structure and Function

12. (F) recognize that according to cell theory all organisms are composed of cells and cells carry on similar functions such as extracting energy from food to sustain life.

Refer to Cell Structure and Function

13. (A) investigate how organisms respond to external stimuli found in the environment such as phototropism and fight or flight; and

Refer to Organism screens

Study screens: Refer to Organism screens

Study screens: Refer to Organism screens

13. (B) describe and relate responses in organisms that may result from internal stimuli such as wilting in plants and fever or vomiting in animals that allow them to maintain balance.

Adaptations

Study section

Homeostasis screens, Adaptations screens

14. (A) define heredity as the passage of genetic instructions from one generation to the next generation;

Biodiversity

What is an adaptation

Refer to genetic material

14. (C) recognize that inherited traits of individuals are governed in the genetic material found in the genes within chromosomes in the nucleus .

Refer to genetic material