Standards
The curriculum unit is intended for 11th and 12th grade Anatomy and Physiology students who may or may not have previously completed a high school biology course, and still lack mastery of some foundational concepts from biology. The curriculum unit incorporates Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for High School Life Sciences (HS-LS1: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes and HS-LS3: Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits) and specifically emphasize the associated Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI) (LS1.A: Structure and Function, LS1.B: Growth and Development of Organisms, LS3.A: Inheritance of Traits, and LS3.B: Variation of Traits).
The performance expectations in HS-LS1 are intended to help students formulate an answer to the question, “How do organisms live and grow?” The content of the curriculum unit addresses whole-body effects of the muscular system and the roles it plays in sustaining the human organism (i.e. the primary functions of the muscular system presented previously) as well as the requirements needed to maintain life at the level of the cell. Students are able to draw a direct line from a protein (dystrophin) and the specific role it plays (maintaining the structural integrity of individual muscle cells) through to the organ system (skeletal muscles) and the variety of functions they perform (e.g. generating movement).
The performance expectations in HS-LS3 are intended to help students formulate answers to the questions, “How are characteristics of one generation passed to the next? How can individuals of the same species and even siblings have different characteristics?” The fact that DMD results from gene mutations provides the avenue to address genetic variation in the population and the location of the dystrophin gene on the X-chromosome allows for the opportunity to address differential modes of inheritance and gene expression.
The curriculum unit necessarily also incorporates NGSS Science & Engineering Practices (SEP); 1 - asking questions (science) and defining problems (engineering), 2 - developing and using models, 3 - planning and carrying out investigations, 4 - analyzing and interpreting data, 5 - using mathematics and computational thinking, 6 - constructing explanations (science) and designing solutions (engineering), 7 - engaging in argument from evidence, 8 - obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information.
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