Next Generation Science Standards - Middle School Life Science

In middle school life science, students should develop an understanding of the nature of cells and the cellular organization of living things; the process of photosynthesis as the basis for energy flow through food webs; how changes in the physical and biological components of ecosystems, including resource availability, affect populations and biodiversity; how the structures, behaviors, and other traits of living things impact reproductive success; the environmental, human technological, and genetic factors, including mutations, that influence the growth, development, and survival of organisms; the difference between asexual and sexual reproduction and how each relates to the inheritance of specific traits; the use of fossils for determining the history of living things and the connection between extinct and modern organisms; how similarities in embryonic development can reveal relationships between species; and the process of natural selection and its role in the increase or decrease of certain traits within a population.