Listed below are the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI) for Life Science and bullet points for their specific grade band progression.
- Sometimes the differences in characteristics between individuals of the same species provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing.
- Natural selection leads to the predominance of certain traits in a population, and the suppression of others.
- In artificial selection, humans have the capacity to influence certain characteristics of organisms by selective breeding. One can choose desired parental traits determined by genes, which are then passed on to offspring.
- Natural selection occurs only if there is both (1) variation in the genetic information between organisms in a population and (2) variation in the expression of that genetic information—that is, trait variation—that leads to differences in performance among individuals.
- The traits that positively affect survival are more likely to be reproduced, and thus are more common in the population.
This is a table of the Disciplinary Core Ideas
of Life Science. If
coming from a Standard the specific bullet point used is highlighted
and additional performance Expectations that make use of the
Disciplinary Core Idea can be found below the table.
To see all Disciplinary Core Ideas, click on the title "Disciplinary Core Ideas."
Other Standards That Use This Disciplinary Core Idea: