Food and Agriculture Center for Science Education — Home
Curriculum Materials

Standards Alignment

Performance Expectations

Use models and data to explain how parts of a body system interact, including matter flows within and between body systems, to perform essential functions of life.

View more ↓
Disciplinary Core Ideas

LS1.A: Structure & Function (HS)

  • Systems of specialized cells within organisms help perform essential functions of life (HS-LS1-1).
  • Multicellular organisms have a hierarchical structural organization, in which any one system is made up of numerous parts and is itself a component of the next level (HS-LS1-2).
View more ↓
Science & Engineering Practices

Developing and Using Models (HS)

  • Develop and use a model based on evidence to illustrate the relationships between systems or between components of a system.

Analyzing and Interpreting Data (HS)

  • Evaluate the impact of new data on a working explanation and/or model of a proposed process or system.
View more ↓
Crosscutting Concepts

Systems and System Models (HS)

  • Models (e.g., physical, mathematical, computer models) can be used to simulate systems and interactions—including energy, matter, and information flows—within and between systems at different scales.
View more ↓

In this task, students use models and data to explain why lactose intolerant people experience lots of gas, bloating and diarrhea when they eat certain dairy products. Students explore models of lactose-tolerant and lactose-intolerant people to see how the inputs, outputs, and processes of each person’s digestive systems affect how they function to process dairy products. They then develop their own comparative model to explain why only lactose intolerant people experience these painful symptoms. At the end of the task, students examine new data to recommend what types of dairy products lactose intolerant people might eat to cause less painful symptoms.