Plague Simulation: CA Standards
California Science Standards (6-12)
note that this plague simulation may also meet Social Science Standards for middle school grades, either 6th or 7th. The below standards are a preliminary list. In essence, one of the weakest areas of the new Science Standards is in the area of viruses, protists and monera, and their devastating affect upon populations. The important impact of epidemics on human population fairly fits into the study of environmental and ecological science. (this is an unpaid political statement!)
Ecology (Life Science)6:
5. Organisms in ecosystems exchange energy and nutrients among themselves and with the environment. As a basis for understanding this concept, students know:
- a. energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis, and then from organism to organism in food webs.
- b. over time, matter is transferred from one organism to others in the food web, and between organisms and the physical environment.
- c. populations of organisms can be categorized by the functions they serve in an ecosystem.
- d. different kinds of organisms may play similar ecological roles in similar biomes.
- e. the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the resources available and abiotic factors, such as quantity of light and water, range of temperatures, and soil composition.
Ecology, Grades 9-12:
6. Stability in an ecosystem is a balance between competing effects. As a basis for understanding this concept, students know:
- a. biodiversity is the sum total of different kinds of organisms, and is affected by alterations of habitats.
- b. how to analyze changes in an ecosystem resulting from changes in climate, human activity, introduction of non-native species, or changes
in population size.
- c. how fluctuations in population size in an ecosystem are determined by the relative rates of birth, immigration, emigration, and death.