Science Assessment ~ Ideas ~ There are similarities and differences between organisms living today, and between organisms living today and those that lived in the past, both within the same species and between species.

Key Idea: All living things contain genes made of DNA, and those genes code for proteins that are responsible for an organism's traits.

Sub-Ideas
Items & Student Performance
Misconceptions
NGSS

Students are expected to know that:

DNA is present in all organisms.
DNA is made of a 4-letter code: A, C, G, T.
A, C, T, G pair together in a specific and predictable way to form a DNA molecule.
Genes are made of DNA molecules.
Genes are responsible for both an organism's physical characteristics and the functions of its cells.
A core set of genes is required for basic life functions; these are common to all types/domains of organisms.
Genes code for proteins.
Cells make specific proteins by reading the genetic code in specific genes.
Proteins underlie the structure and function of all living things.
Proteins build and operate an organism, working at the molecular, cellular, tissue, and organismal level.
Proteins are made from amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins.
Different combinations of amino acids make different proteins.
The sequence of amino acids in a protein determines its structure and function.
The arrangement of DNA building blocks in a gene specifies the types of amino acids and the order of amino acids in the protein it codes for.
Vastly different organisms make similar proteins.
All organisms make proteins the same way.
All cells in an organism contain the same genes, but not all of those genes are used (expressed) by every cell.
Organisms can decode the information in each other's genes to build identical proteins.

Percent of students answering correctly (click on the item ID number to view the item and additional data)
Item ID Number	Knowledge Being Assessed	Pre-Test	Post-Test (Control)	Post-Test (Treatment)
RH019003	The way DNA and proteins are related is that DNA provides information for making proteins.	67%	65%	92%
EM041003	Genes are segments of DNA molecules.	65%	63%	61%
RH045001	DNA molecules are found in humans, dogs, and trees.	65%	66%	82%
RH024007	Both an organism's physical characteristics and the function of the organism's cells could be affected by the information in the organism's DNA molecules (no specific organism identified).	61%	64%	73%
EH022003	If GFP (green fluorescent protein), is found only in muscle cells of a frog, it is because the GFP gene is turned on only in those cells. (Choose sound reasoning to justify why given evidence supports a claim.)	60%	67%	75%
RH023009	Both an organism's physical characteristics and the function of the organism's cells could be influenced by the actions of protein molecules in an organism's cells (no specific organism identified).	60%	62%	72%
RH020003	DNA provides information for both the types and sequence of amino acids that make up a protein molecule.	56%	67%	74%
RH022007	Protein molecules help cells carry out many of their functions, and they are part of body structures such as hair and nails.	54%	61%	79%
EH012002	Because all living organisms decode DNA to make proteins, if a bacterial gene responsible for a protein that is poisonous to insects is inserted into corn plants, the plants may also be able to make the poisonous protein.	52%	53%	74%
RH022006	Protein molecules help other molecules get in and out of cells and speed up chemical reactions in cells.	40%	44%	49%
RH015002	The information in DNA molecules provides instructions for assembling amino acids into protein molecules.	35%	34%	54%

Frequency of selecting a misconception
Misconception ID Number	Student Misconception	Pre-Test	Post-Test (Control)	Post-Test (Treatment)
RHM007	Genes are proteins (Marbach-Ad, 2001).	65%	63%	61%
RHM064	The information in DNA molecules provides instructions for rearranging genes into traits (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).	34%	32%	16%
RHM048	Only animals have DNA; plants and mushrooms do not have DNA (Banet & Ayuso, 2000).	29%	31%	15%
RHM069	The actions of protein molecules do not affect the speed of chemical reactions (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).	17%	17%	15%
RHM070	The actions of protein molecules do not help molecules enter in and leave cells (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).	17%	15%	13%
RHM009	DNA is made of protein (Marbach-Ad, 2001).	15%	21%	4%
RHM067	The actions of protein molecules do not affect an organism's body structures (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).	14%	12%	7%
RHM083	The information in the DNA molecules of an organism does not affect the functions of an organism's cells (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).	12%	12%	9%
RHM071	The actions of protein molecules do not affect an organism's physical characteristics (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).	12%	12%	7%
RHM105	There are some types of organisms that do not have DNA (See Lewis & Wood-Robinson, 2000; Banet & Ayuso, 2000).	12%	11%	6%
RHM068	The actions of protein molecules do not affect the basic functions of cells (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).	11%	10%	6%
RHM084	The information in the DNA molecules of an organism does not affect the physical characteristics of the organism (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).	10%	8%	7%
RHM010	Proteins are composed of DNA or genes (Marbach-Ad, 2001).	9%	10%	3%
RHM008	A gene and the expression of the gene as a characteristic or trait are the same thing (Lewis & Kattman, 2004).	3%	4%	5%

Frequency of selecting a misconception was calculated by dividing the total number of times a misconception was chosen by the number of times it could have been chosen, averaged over the number of students answering the questions within this particular idea.

NGSS Statements
Code	Statement
LS1.C HS	The sugar molecules thus formed contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen: their hydrocarbon backbones are used to make amino acids and other carbon-based molecules that can be assembled into larger molecules (such as proteins or DNA), used for example to form new cells.
LS3.A MS	Genes are located in the chromosomes of cells, with each chromosome pair containing two variants of each of many distinct genes. Each distinct gene chiefly controls the production of specific proteins, which in turn affects the traits of the individual. Changes (mutations) to genes can result in changes to proteins, which can affect the structures and functions of the organism and thereby change traits.
LS1.A HS	All cells contain genetic information in the form of DNA molecules. Genes are regions in the DNA that contain the instructions that code for the formation of proteins, which carry out most of the work of cells.
LS3.A HS	Each chromosome consists of a single very long DNA molecule, and each gene on the chromosome is a particular segment of that DNA. The instructions for forming species' characteristics are carried in DNA. All cells in an organism have the same genetic content, but the genes used (expressed) by the cell may be regulated in different ways. Not all DNA codes for a protein; some segments of DNA are involved in regulatory or structural functions, and some have no as-yet known function.