What is it?

Life science is the study of livings things, their processes and life cycles, and their needs. Life science focuses on, “…patterns, processes, and relationships of living organisms. Life is self-contained, self-sustaining, self-replicating, and evolving, operating according to laws of the physical world, as well as genetic programming” (p. 139, NGSS). There are four core ideas within life science that span the K-12 grade range, appearing in different grades at different levels. These are:

• Structures and processes in organisms
• Ecology
• Heredity
• Evolution

Explore each of these further to learn more about what they mean, to what extent they are emphasized in a given grade range in your state, and how the concepts build on one another across the grades. In this chapter, we will give you an example of a set of learning experiences with life science at the core, as the anchoring standard. In this example, areas across math, engineering and technology, social studies, and literacy are covered.