Ohio’s Learning Standards
Pre-Kindergarten
Life Science – Explorations of Living Things
- Plants and animals have traits that improve their chances of living in different environments.
- Plants and animals that live in Ohio interact with one another for food, shelter, and nesting.
Inquiry – Science Inquiry and Application
- Make careful observations.
- Engage in simple investigations.
Kindergarten
Life Science – Physical and Behavioral Traits of Living Things
- Living things have specific characteristics and traits.
- Living things have physical traits and behaviors, which influence their survival.
Grade 1
Life Science – Basic Needs of Living things
- Living things have basic needs, which are met by obtaining materials from the physical environment.
- Living things survive only in environments that meet their needs.
Grade 2
Life Science – Interactions Within Habitats
- Living things cause changes on Earth.
- All organisms alive today result from their ancestors, some of which may be extinct. Not all kinds of organisms that lived in the past are represented by living organisms today.
Grade 3
Life Science – Behavior, Growth, and Changes
- Plants and animals have life cycles that are part of their adaptations for survival in their natural environments.
- Organisms’ physical and behavioral traits affect their ability to survive and reproduce.
- Differences in inherited traits give some individuals an advantage in surviving and/or reproducing.
Grade 4
Life Science – Earth’s Living History
- Suitable habitats depend upon a combination of biotic & abiotic factors.
- Changes in an organism’s environment are sometimes beneficial to its survival and sometimes harmful.
- Fossils can be compared to one another and to present-day organisms according to their similarities and differences.
Grade 5
Life Science – Interactions Within Ecosystems
- Organisms perform a variety of roles within an ecosystem.
- All of the processes that take place within organisms require energy.
Grade 6
Life Science – Cellular to Multicellular
- Living systems at all levels of organization demonstrate the complementary nature of structure and function.
Grade 7
Life Science – Cycles of Matter and Flow of Energy
- Energy flows and matter is transferred continuously between one organism to another and between organisms and their physical environments.
- In any particular biome, the number, growth, and survival of organisms and populations depend on biotic and abiotic factors.
Grade 8
Life Science – Species and Reproduction
- Diversity of species, a result of variation of traits, occurs through the process of evolution and extinction over many generations. The fossil records provide evidence that changes have occurred in number and types of species.
- Every organism alive today comes from a long line of ancestors who reproduced successfully every generation.
Biology: Biodiversity – Genetic diversity
- Use a model or simulation to analyze the impact of an environmental stressor on the genetic diversity and long-term survival of a population.
Biology: Biodiversity – Species diversity
- Propose and justify suggestions to increase diversity and stability of an ecosystem.
- Design, evaluate, and refine a solution to reduce the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.
Biology: Loss of diversity – Climate change
- Describe feedback loops that exist between sunlight, the ocean, the atmosphere, and the biosphere.
