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Curriculum Organizing Questions
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- What functions do proteins serve?
- What do enzymes do?
- What do hormones do?
- What functions do nucleic acids serve?
- What functions do carbohydrates serve?
- Why do we need lipids?
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Elaboration
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Understanding the chemical basis of life is important,
not only for its own sake, but because of the need to take
informed positions on some of the practical and ethical
implications of humankind's capacity to manipulate living
organisms.
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Specific Ideas
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- Protein molecules are long, usually folded chains
made from 20 different kinds of amino acid molecules.
Benchmarks 5C3
- Proteins assist in replicating genetic information,
repairing cell structures, helping other molecules get in
or out of the cell, and generally in catalyzing and
regulating molecular interactions. Other protein
molecules may carry oxygen, effect contraction, respond
to outside stimuli, or provide material for hair, nails,
and other body structures. They may also serve as
hormones, antibodies, or digestive enzymes. A complex
network of proteins provides organization and shape and,
for animal cells, movement. SFAA p. 63
- The function of each protein depends on its specific
sequence of amino acids and the shape the chain takes as
a consequence of attractions between the chain's parts.
Benchmarks 5C3
- DNA and RNA are nucleic acids. Science Matters
p.210
- The information encoded in DNA provides instructions
for assembling protein molecules. Benchmarks 5C4
- RNA molecules are involved in the process of creating
proteins from the instructions encoded in DNA. Science
Matters p. 231
- Carbohydrates molecules store energy and are created
from sugar subunits. Science Matters p. 211
- Lipids store energy and form structural components of
cells (cell membranes). Science Matters p. 212
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Developmental & Instructional
Implications
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The emphasis should be on function, not on the fine
details of structure, which could impede
understanding.
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Examples
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