Alternate Assessment Standards for Students with Severe Disabilities
The Living Environment

Standard 4:

Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living environment and recognize the historical development of ideas in science.

Key Ideas & Performance Indicators:

Key Idea 1: Living things are both similar to and different from each other and nonliving things.

Performance Indicators--Students:

• explore the characteristics of and differences between living and nonliving things
• identify simple life processes common to all living things

Key Idea 2: Individual organisms and species change over time.

Performance Indicators--Students:

• explore how living things change over their lifetime
• observe that differences within a species may give individuals an advantage in surviving

Key Idea 3: The continuity of life is sustained through reproduction and development.

Performance Indicators--Students:

• observe the major stages in the life cycles of selected plants and animals.
• observe evidence of growth, repair, and maintenance, such as nails, hair and bone, and the healing of cuts and bruises

Key Idea 4: Organisms maintain a dynamic equilibrium that sustains life.

Performance Indicators--Students:

• identify a few basic life functions of common living specimens (guppy, mealworm, gerbil). • identify some survival behaviors of common living specimens
• participate in activities that help promote good health and growth in humans

Key Idea 5: Plants and animals depend on each other and their physical environment.

Performance Indicators--Students:

• participate in activities that demonstrate how plants and animals, including humans, depend upon each other and the nonliving environment
• participate in activities that demonstrate the relationship of the sun as an energy source for living and nonliving cycles

Key Idea 6: Human decisions and activities have had a profound impact on the physical and living environment.

Performance Indicators--Students:

• participate in activities which show how humans have changed their environment and the effects of those changes