Hey there, Texas teachers! ​
This page is designed specifically for you.  Pinky has been a Texas public school educator for 12 years. You will also find us listed as creators in Texas in the "United States of YouTube" - a celebration of creators who share their talents and curiosity with YouTubers all over the world.  

​Just a note: while this page focuses on Texas standards, our videos can be helpful in supporting components of standards outside of Texas. Our playlist page contains a work-in-progress Google Doc listing other standards outside of Texas.

See our entire biology learning playlist!

See our biology REVIEW page!

At the bottom of this page, you will find a list of the streamlined biology TEKS [went into effect the 2018-2019 school year], and the TEKS that are in blue can be clicked on for a direct link to one of our videos.  While our videos our designed for high school biology, we receive feedback that they can be useful for introductory biology courses in college or overlap intermediate life science standards. We're for anyone wanting to learn biology! ​

We do want to remind our fellow teachers that none of our short videos (all <10 minutes) are inclusive of every concept within a TEKS---or could ever be. Our goal is that our videos are supplemental tools to more important things in your science class: like involving students as classroom creators and experiencing hands-on lab application!

Additionally, Texas teachers may be interested to know:

• Our handouts page lists resources that can work with our videos.
• Our GIFs page features animations and our Paramecium Parlor Comics page features comics that can support many science TEKS. Both are organized by topic categories. Consider projecting these to spark class discussion!​
• We have a REVIEW playlist that has two mega review videos: one that reviews major concepts in biology and the other that focuses on reviewing how to do different Punnett square problems. We also have resources that complement these review videos.

Bio TEKS

Intermediate Science TEKS

Higher Ed (College / University)

Bio TEKS

Streamlined Texas Biology TEKS [High School Biology]

*Our videos focus on the science concepts TEKS, therefore starting at number (4) in biology.  However, we do have one video that introduces safety concepts which are useful for process TEKS B.1A and B.1B HERE and a video on using a light microscope which is useful to process TEKS B.2F HERE.

(4)  Science concepts. The student knows that cells are the basic structures of all living things with specialized parts that perform specific functions and that viruses are different from cells. The student is expected to:

• (A)  compare and contrast prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, including their complexity, and compare and contrast scientific explanations for cellular complexity

• (B)  investigate and explain cellular processes, including homeostasis and transport of molecules

• (C)  compare the structures of viruses to cells, describe viral reproduction, and describe the role of viruses in causing diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and influenza.

(5)  Science concepts. The student knows how an organism grows and the importance of cell differentiation. The student is expected to:

• (A)  describe the stages of the cell cycle, including deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) replication and mitosis, and the importance of the cell cycle to the growth of organisms
• (B)  describe the roles of DNA, ribonucleic acid (RNA), and environmental factors in cell differentiation
• (C)  recognize that disruptions of the cell cycle lead to diseases such as cancer.

(6)  Science concepts. The student knows the mechanisms of genetics, such as the role of nucleic acids and the principles of Mendelian and non-Mendelian Genetics. The student is expected to:

• (A) identify components of DNA, identify how information for specifying the traits of an organism is carried in the DNA, and examine scientific explanations for the origin of DNA.
• (B)  recognize that components that make up the genetic code are common to all organisms;
• (C)  explain the purpose and process of transcription and translation using models of DNA and RNA;
• (D)  recognize that gene expression is a regulated process;
• (E)  identify and illustrate changes in DNA and evaluate the significance of these changes;
• (F)  predict possible outcomes of various genetic combinations such as monohybrid crosses, dihybrid crosses and non-Mendelian inheritance; and
• (G)  recognize the significance of meiosis to sexual reproduction

(7)  Science concepts. The student knows evolutionary theory is a scientific explanation for the unity and diversity of life. The student is expected to:

• (A)  analyze and evaluate how evidence of common ancestry among groups is provided by the fossil record, biogeography, and homologies, including anatomical, molecular, and developmental;
• (B)  examine scientific explanations of abrupt appearance and stasis in the fossil record;
• (C)  analyze and evaluate how natural selection produces change in populations, not individuals;
• (D)  analyze and evaluate how the elements of natural selection, including inherited variation, the potential of a population to produce more offspring than can survive, and a finite supply of environmental resources, result in differential reproductive success;
• (E)  analyze and evaluate the relationship of natural selection to adaptation and to the development of diversity in and among species;
• (F)  analyze other evolutionary mechanisms, including genetic drift, gene flow, mutation, and recombination

(8)  Science concepts. The student knows that taxonomy is a branching classification based on the shared characteristics of organisms and can change as new discoveries are made. The student is expected to:

• (A)  define taxonomy and recognize the importance of a standardized taxonomic system to the scientific community;
• (B)  categorize organisms using a hierarchical classification system based on similarities and differences shared among groups
• (C)  compare characteristics of taxonomic groups, including archaea, bacteria, protists, fungi, plants, and animals.

(9)  Science concepts. The student knows the significance of various molecules involved in metabolic processes and energy conversions that occur in living organisms. The student is expected to:

• (A)  compare the functions of different types of biomolecules, including carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids 

• (B)  compare the reactants and products of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in terms of energy, energy conversions, and matter 

• (C)  identify and investigate the role of enzymes 

(10)  Science concepts. The student knows that biological systems are composed of multiple levels. The student is expected to:

• (A)  describe the interactions that occur among systems that perform the functions of regulation, nutrient absorption, reproduction, and defense from injury or illness in animals;
• (B)  describe the interactions that occur among systems that perform the functions of transport, reproduction, and response in plants
• (C)  analyze the levels of organization in biological systems and relate the levels to each other and to the whole system.

(11)  Science concepts. The student knows that biological systems work to achieve and maintain balance. The student is expected to:​

• (A)  summarize the role of microorganisms in both maintaining and disrupting the health of both organisms and ecosystems
• (B)  describe how events and processes that occur during ecological succession can change populations and species diversity.

(12)  Science concepts. The student knows that interdependence and interactions occur within an environmental system. The student is expected to:

• (A)  interpret relationships, including predation, parasitism, commensalism, mutualism, and competition among organisms

• (B)  compare variations and adaptations of organisms in different ecosystems;
• (C)  analyze the flow of matter and energy through trophic levels using various models, including food chains, food webs, and ecological pyramids;
• (D)  describe the flow of matter through the carbon and nitrogen cycles and explain the consequences of disrupting these cycles
• (E)  describe how environmental change can impact ecosystem stability.

Intermediate Science TEKS

Streamlined Texas Intermediate ​Science TEKS
Note: Our focus for our videos is high school biology, but we have received feedback that there is overlap ranging from junior high grades all the way through introductory biology courses in college (and beyond)! We're for anyone wanting to learn biology! While we are listing intermediate TEKS that include biology concepts (and you'll notice many of them have an overlap with the high school biology TEKS), please keep in mind our videos tend to go into more vocabulary than commonly encountered with intermediate TEKS since they are designed for high school biology.

7th Grade Science TEKS 
(5)  Matter and energy. The student knows that interactions occur between matter and energy. The student is expected to:

•  (A)  recognize that radiant energy from the Sun is transformed into chemical energy through the process of photosynthesis; 

• (B)  diagram the flow of energy through living systems, including food chains, food webs, and energy pyramids.

(10)  Organisms and environments. The student knows that there is a relationship between organisms and the environment. The student is expected to

• (B)  describe how biodiversity contributes to the sustainability of an ecosystem
• (C)  observe, record, and describe the role of ecological succession such as in a microhabitat of a garden with weeds.

(11)  Organisms and environments. The student knows that populations and species demonstrate variation and inherit many of their unique traits through gradual processes over many generations. The student is expected to:

• (A)  examine organisms or their structures such as insects or leaves and use dichotomous keys for identification;
• (C)  identify some changes in genetic traits that have occurred over several generations through natural selection and selective breeding such as the Galapagos Medium Ground Finch (Geospiza fortis) or domestic animals and hybrid plants.
  
  

(12)  Organisms and environments. The student knows that living systems at all levels of organization demonstrate the complementary nature of structure and function. The student is expected to:

•  (B)  identify the main functions of the systems of the human organism, including the circulatory, respiratory, skeletal, muscular, digestive, excretory, reproductive, integumentary, nervous, and endocrine systems; 
•  (C)  recognize levels of organization in plants and animals, including cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, and organisms; 
• (D)  differentiate between structure and function in plant and animal cell organelles, including cell membrane, cell wall, nucleus, cytoplasm, mitochondrion, chloroplast, and vacuole;
• (F)  recognize the components of the cell theory.

(14)  Organisms and environments. The student knows that reproduction is a characteristic of living organisms and that the instructions for traits are governed in the genetic material. The student is expected to:

• (A) define heredity as the passage of genetic instructions from one generation to the next generation.
• (B)  compare the results of uniform or diverse offspring from asexual or sexual reproduction;
•  C) recognize inherited traits of individuals are governed in the genetic material found in genes within chromosomes in the nucleus.​

8th Grade Science TEKS 
​(11)  Organisms and environments. The student knows that interdependence occurs among living systems and the environment and that human activities can affect these systems. The student is expected to:

• (A) investigate how organisms and populations in an ecosystem depend on and may compete for biotic factors such as food and abiotic factors such as quantity of light, water, range of temperatures, or soil composition.​

Higher Ed (College / University)

Note: Our focus for our videos is high school biology, but we have received feedback that there is overlap ranging from junior high grades all the way through introductory biology courses in college (and beyond)! We're for anyone wanting to learn biology!  

We receive feedback that our videos are useful for foundational understanding of biology concepts at the university/college level before exploring more depth, and we continue to have a significant college student audience. Indeed, higher ed will build upon the standards focused on in high school.

Since introductory biology courses in universities in Texas (and outside of Texas!) can have varying standards, we encourage comparing syllabus objectives and units with the learning objectives in our biology playlist. You will find the playlist learning objectives listed in the playlist's description here.

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