Science Assessment

Students are expected to know that:

1. In multicellular organisms, new cells needed for growth and repair come from the division of existing cells.
2. Cell division results in the formation of two nearly identical cells from a single original cell.
3. Individual cells grow by creating new complex molecules that make up the cells’ structures, using molecules from food that enter the cells.
4. In multicellular organisms, both an increase in individual cell mass and an increase in cell number cause the organism of which they are part to increase in size and mass.
5. The successive duplication of cells explains how multicellular organisms can develop from a single cell.

Boundaries:

1. Students are not expected to know that following the initial development of an organism’s body structures, only certain types of cells divide.
2. They are not expected to know that there are differences in rates of division between types of cells, the length of time different cells are alive, or any other details of the life cycle of cells.
3. Students are not expected to know the terms "mitosis" or "meiosis" or any of the terminology associated with the phases of cell division.