MBER-Living Earth: Year At A Glance

Welcome to MBER Living Earth!

Begin you exploration of a full year of high school biology here on our Year at a Glance page. Before you dive into the units linked below, you'll want to explore an overview of the Year-Long Sequence and learn about our model-based approach to teaching and learning through our MBER Essentials. When you're ready to start planning your year, begin by Setting the Stage and then following the units in sequence. Be sure to also check out the strategies outlined in our Teacher Toolkit and our Earth and Physical Science Support Hub.

MBER Living Earth Curricular Map (Spheres an Spokes)

The Year-Long Sequence

Setting the Stage

people of various colors below a world map image

Human Impacts Project

Human Impacts Part 1

Being human is an amazing experience, and we are able to change our environment in unprecedented ways. But as the climate changes and environmental problems continue to get worse, we have to wonder what role we play in both the problem and the solution.

Could humans be the culprits of environmental change?

a theoretical rendering of the nebulae at the beginning of the universe

Formation of the Earth

Earth is an amazing and reather unique planet as far as we currently know – a hospitable atmosphere, a globe covered in oceans, land and life. But how did it all start?

How did the Earth form?

Atmosphere and Oceans

The cooling, molten Earth was barren 4.4 billion years ago, but oceans of water and a protective atmosphere are precursors to life.

Where did the water and air come from?

Oxygen in the Atmosphere

Earth is a dynamic system that has changed over billions of years. Oxygen, necessary for life only existed at low levels in the early atmosphere. Today, it is necessary for all life.

Where did the oxygen come from?

a coral reef from an underwater perspective

Unity and Diversity

Life on Earth is so diverse and seemingly well adapted to the various environments on this planet. And yet there are basic characteristic commonalities among all living things.

How can we explain the commonalities among such diverse life on the planet?

a finch sits on a leafy branch in the sunlight

Natural Selection

Biodiversity changes over time and species seem to change.

Why do traits change over time?

a rendering of a prehistoric wooly mammoth overlaid on a modern day elephant

Extinction and Speciation

Changes in biodiversity require more time than natural selection can explain.

How do we make sense of the change in diversity over time?

an image of the rock wave in the Grand Canyon

Continent Formation

Recognizing that life eventually moved onto land requires that land exists. But the Earth started with only tiny volcanic islands poking above the vast oceans.

How did the continents form in a world of water?

Chemical Reactions

Students will explore where matter and energy comes from by building a model to explain how food can be transformed, by chemical reactions, to provide the matter and energy necessary for organisms to survive.

How are reactions important in biology?

tiny jellyfish float in iridescent light underwater

Cellular Respiration

Students will develop a model that describes how food is rearranged through chemical reactions to form new molecules that can store and release energy.

How do organisms get energy from food?

and ant drinking from a droplet of water that is twice its size

Biosynthesis

We know that not all of the food we eat is used for energy. What happens to the rest of it?

How do we build necessary biomolecules?

Photosynthesis

We know what it takes for a human to live, what about plant life?

How do plants get matter and energy?

The Carbon Cycle

Carbon is central to our understanding of the evolution of life on Earth, human industry, and the current warming trend on the planet. In order to make progress on our understanding of our year-long driving question, we must engage this Symphony in C.

How does matter, and carbon in particular, flow through ecosystems?

a field of yellow flowers with summer mountains in the background

Ecosystems

We established that all matter in the Ecosphere is recycled but is there anything we need to supply in order to keep organisms alive? What would happen if we put the Ecosphere in a drawer?

What happens to matter and energy in an ecosystem?

an Aeolidiella chromosoma from San Francisco California with an egg spiral

Meiosis

Parent cells duplicate their DNA and produce an identical set to pass to offspring, but how does it work? Do parents give ALL their DNA to each offspring?

Where does variation come from?

Classical Genetics

In sexual selection, we were left with the phenomenon that offspring resemble parents. How does this happen? how are traits passed from one generation to the next?

How are traits inherited?

a microscopic image of a blue DNA spiral helix

DNA Structure and Function

What is the structure of the molecule that carries the genetic material? And how is the information stored in this molecule?

How are traits built?

a microscopic image of cells under iridescent light

Growth and Development

We now understand how DNA works, how chroosomes segregate during meiosis and how they join to form the first cell—zygote—of an organism. But how does that zygote become a fully formed organism?

How do organisms arise from one cell?

Evolution on a Changing Earth

In preparing to address our question about the role of humans on our changing planet, we take a moment to try and synthesize our understanding of how other life has responded to change.

How does life cope with change on a changing Earth?

Human Impacts Part 2

To finish the year, we revist our driving question from months past. What have we learned about the role of humans in our changing planet?

How does the anthrosphere impact the others?