Fifth - Eight Curriculum Matrix

Organizational

Categories

National Science Standard
Outcomes
Instructional Sequences
Scoring Guide

Unifying Concepts and Processes

Systems, Order, and Organization

 

Systems

Systems units of investigation, an organized group of related objects or components that form a whole. (organisms, machines, fundamental particles, galaxies, ideas, numbers, transportation, and education. Systems have boundaries, components, resources flow (input and output), and feedback.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • System is a group of related objects that work together for a particular purpose (machines, organism).
  • Most things are made of parts
  • When parts are put together, they can do things that they couldn’t do by themselves.
  • Often a person can find out about a group of things by studying one or a few of them.
  • A group of objects may be sub classified in one or more ways.
  • The parts in a system interact with the other parts to cause the system to work
  • A system may not work if a part is missing, broken, worn out, mismatched, or misconnected.
  • A small part of something may be special in some way, yet not give an accurate picture of the whole.
  • System can be concrete objects, groups of objects, processes, or ideas. Some systems have boundaries with input and output of resources and feedback. Output for one part of a system can be input for another.
  • Such feedback is used to control the system.
  • Most things are made of parts
  • When parts are put together, they can do things that they couldn’t do by themselves.
  • Often a person can find out about a group of things by studying one or a few of them.
  • A group of objects may be sub classified in one or more ways.
  • The parts in a system interact with the other parts to cause the system to work
  • A system may not work if a part is missing, broken, worn out, mismatched, or misconnected.
  • A small part of something may be special in some way, yet not give an accurate picture of the whole.
  • Systems are used as units of investigations.
  • Thinking about how a system works means observing and collecting date on each part and how each part interacts with the others.
  • Systems can be connected to other systems and thought of as a subsystem.
  • Describe the parts that make up a system.
  • Relate how the parts of a system affect the whole system.
   

Unifying Concepts and Processes

Systems, Order, and Organization

Order

Order is the behavior of units of matter, objects, organisms, or events in the universe. It can be described statistically. Probability is the relative certainty or uncertainty that individuals can assign to selected events happening or not happening in a specified space or time. In science reduction of uncertainty occurs through such processes as the development of knowledge about factors influencing objects, organisms, systems, or events; better and more observations; and better explanatory models.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Objects can be ordered by their properties
  • Objects can be classified as either natural or of human design
  • Objects can be ordered by their properties
  • Objects can be classified as either natural or of human design
  • It is easier to predict how many of a group will experience something than exactly which members will experience it.
  • Events in nature often have probabilities which can be measured.
  • Probability is the relative certainty or uncertainty that people assign to events happening or not happening in a certain place or time.
  • Summary predictions are usually more accurate for large collections of events than for just a few.
  • Extremely unlikely events may occur fairly often in very large populations.
  • There is a danger in choosing only the data that is expected by the person doing the choosing.
  • Sort objects by their characteristics.
   

Unifying Concepts and Processes

Systems, Order, and Organization

Organization

Organization include different types and levels. Types include periodic table of elements, classification of organisms... Levels include matter - fundamental particles, atoms, molecules, and organism - cells, tissues, organs. organisms, populations, communities. Levels can change according to needs and interactions between the levels occur.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Organization of objects, organisms, events, and systems help people understand similarities and differences that in turn help understand the world.
  • Objects have more than one property
  • Objects are classified by their properties.
  • Objects in a group may share some characteristics and differ in others.
  • Objects are identified and described by their properties.
  • Objects, organisms, events, and systems can be organized into groups with similar properties
  • Organization of objects, organisms, events, and systems help people understand similarities and differences that in turn help understand the world.
  • Objects have more than one property
  • Objects are classified by their properties.
  • Objects in a group may share some characteristics and differ in others.
  • Objects are identified and described by their properties.
  • Objects, organisms, events, and systems can be organized into groups with similar properties.
  • Objects and events can be classified as members of an ascending hierarchy.
  • Organizations such as the periodic table, classification of animals, properties of matter, cells, tissues, organs, organisms, populations, communities, and ecosystems have helped in developing explanations about these objects and their interactions.
   

Unifying Concepts and Processes

Evidence, Models, and Explanations

Evidence

Evidence consists of observations and data on which to base scientific explanations. Use of evidence helps to understand interactions and predict changes in natural and designed systems.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Evidence is something that is observed and can be used to understand what is happening and make predictions about future changes in natural and designed systems.
  • Observation helps us learn.
  • Observation helps understand interactions and predict changes.
  • We can use one or more of the five senses to observe and describe objects.
  • Practice helps us to be better observers.
  • Predictions are guesses based on what people know.
  • If people didn't have previous experiences, then there prediction is a "wild guess".
  • Pictures can be used to represent features of objects being described.
  • Recording observations helps remember specific information.
  • Observations are used to help make explanations.
  • When people disagree on observational data, they usually make more observations to increase the reliability of their observations.
  • Observation, creativity, and logical argument are used to explain how things work.
  • The more experience or data a person has the better prediction they are likely to make
  • The way a system works can be used to describe and explain what it is (operational definition).
  • Events can be classified as probable, improbable, possible, or impossible.
  • Records need to be kept during investigations and not created or altered later.
  • Evidence is something that is observed and can be used to understand what is happening and make predictions about future changes in natural and designed systems.
  • Observation helps us learn.
  • Observation helps understand interactions and predict changes.
  • We can use one or more of the five senses to observe and describe objects.
  • Practice helps us to be better observers.
  • Predictions are guesses based on what people know.
  • If people didn't have previous experiences, then there prediction is a "wild guess".
  • Pictures can be used to represent features of objects being described.
  • Recording observations helps remember specific information.
  • Observations are used to help make explanations.
  • When people disagree on observational data, they usually make more observations to increase the reliability of their observations.
  • Observation, creativity, and logical argument are used to explain how things work.
  • The more experience or data a person has the better prediction they are likely to make
  • The way a system works can be used to describe and explain what it is (operational definition).
  • Events can be classified as probable, improbable, possible, or impossible.
  • Records need to be kept during investigations and not created or altered later.
  • Evidence gathered from an investigation is used to develop a scientific explanation.
  • Collecting data helps create explanations.
  • It is easier to predict how many of a group will experience something than exactly which members will experience it.
  • It is easier to predict how often something will happen than exactly when it will happen.
  • Summary predictions are usually more accurate for large collections of events than for just a few.
  • Extremely unlikely events may occur fairly often in very large populations.
  • There is a danger in choosing only the data that is expected by the person doing the choosing.
  • Use evidence gathered from an investigation to understand interactions and predict changes - develop a scientific explanation.

 

 

Unifying Concepts and Processes

Evidence, Models, and Explanations

Models

Models are tentative schemes or structures that correspond to real objects, events, or classes of events, and that have explanatory power for how things work. (Physical objects, plans, mental constructs, mathematical equations, and computer simulations.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Pictures and drawings can be used to represent features of objects being described.
  • Sketches can be usd to explain procedures and/or ideas.
  • An object’s motion can be described by tracing and measuring its position over time.
  • Models are structures that are similar to real objects in some ways.
  • Models may be missing detail, different size, or not able to do all of the same things.
  • A model though different from the real thing can be used to learn something about the real thing.
  • Seeing how a model changes may suggest how the real thing works if the same were done to it.
  • Geometric figures, number sequences graphs, diagrams, sketches, number lines, maps, and stories can be used to represent objects, events, and processes in the real world. Such representations can never be exact in every detail.
  • Create a model, graph, or illustration that represents an object, living thing, or an event.
  • Explain and answer questions about a model and how it represents an object, living thing, or an event.
  • Models are structures that correspond to real objects, events, or classes of events.
  • Data can be organized by time: before, during, and after an event/interaction.
  • Pictures and drawings can be used to represent features of objects being described.
  • Sketches can be usd to explain procedures and/or ideas.
  • An object’s motion can be described by tracing and measuring its position over time.
  • Models are structures that are similar to real objects in some ways.
  • Models may be missing detail, different size, or not able to do all of the same things.
  • A model though different from the real thing can be used to learn something about the real thing.
  • Models are structures that correspond to real objects, events, or classes of events that have explanatory and predictive power (physical objects, plans, mental constructs, mathematical equations, computer simulations...).
  • Models can be used to think about events or processes that happen very slow, fast, or on a too small or large scale to change easily or safely.
  • Mathematical models can be displayed on computers and changed to see what happens.
  • Different models can represent the same thing.
  • The kind of model and its complexity depend on the purpose of using the model. A model that is too limited or complicated may not be useful.
  • Seeing how a model changes may suggest how the real thing works if the same were done to it.
  • Geometric figures, number sequences graphs, diagrams, sketches, number lines, maps, and stories can be used to represent objects, events, and processes in the real world. Such representations can never be exact in every detail.
  • Create a model, graph, or illustration that represents an object, living thing, or an event.
  • Explain and answer questions about a model and how it represents an object, living thing, or an event.
  • Models are structures that correspond to real objects, events, or classes of events.
  • Data can be organized by time: before, during, and after an event/interaction.
  • Create a model, graph, or illustration that represents an object, living thing, or an.
  • Explain and answer questions about a model and how it represents an object, living thing, or an event.
  • Explain procedures or ideas in more than one way (e.g., sketches, charts, and graphs).
   

Unifying Concepts and Processes

Evidence, Models, and Explanations

Explanations

Scientific explanations incorporate scientific knowledge and new evidence from observation, experiments, or models into internally consistent, logical statements. (hypothesis, model, law, principle, theory, and paradigm are used to describe various types of scientific explanations.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Explanations are based on observation derived from experience or experimentation and are understandable.
  • Good explanations are based on evidence from systematic scientific investigations.
  • Scientists raise questions about the world around them and seek answers to some of them by combining observation and trying things out.
  • Evidence gathered from an investigation is used to develop a scientific explanation.
  • Collecting data helps create explanations.
  • An inference is an explanation based on observation.
  • Observation and inference are different.
  • Observations are used to help make explanations.
  • Objects are located relative to other objects.
  • Objects can be compared to other objects.
  • Explanations tell how something does what it does
  • People are more likely to believe your ideas if you give good reasons for them.
  • One way to understand something is to think how it is like something else.
  • One way to describe something is to say how it is like something else.
  • Strong feelings can affect a person's reasoning.
  • How do I know is a good question to ask to try and understand what is or has happened.
  • Sometimes people aren’t sure what will happen because they don’t know everything that might be having an effect on the event.
  • Some events are more likely to happen than others.
  • Some events can be predicted more accurately than others.
  • To create a better communicate an explanation, procedures or ideas it is helpful to include a variety of media (written words, oral explanations, sketches, charts, graphs, ...).
  • Reasonable conclusions can be made when a rule that always holds is related to good information about a particular situation. If then logic. (If plants are green and this is green, then it is a plant. If John is not a plant and he paints himself green he will not be a plant.)
  • Reasoning by similarities can suggest ideas but can't prove them.
  • Practical reasoning may require several steps.
  • Often a person can find out about a group of things by studying just a few of them.
  • When people disagree on explanations for an observation they usually make more observations to refine their explanations.
  • Observation, creativity, and logical argument are used to explain how things work.
  • The more experience or data a person has the better prediction they are likely to make
  • The way a system works can be used to describe and explain what it is (operational definition).
  • Sketches can be useful in explaining procedures or ideas.
  • Evidence is something that is observed and can be used to understand what is happening and make predictions about future changes.
  • Finding out what the biggest and smallest possible value of something is often as revealing as knowing the average value.
  • Numerical data can be useful in describing and comparing objects and events.
  • Creating knowledge through observation of different variables influence on objects, organisms, populations, communities, and events helps create better explanatory models.
  • Seeing how a model works after changes are made to it may suggest how the real thing would work if the same changes were done to it.
  • Geometric figures, number sequences, graphs, diagrams, sketches, numbers lines, maps, and stories can be used to represent objects, events, and processes in the real world, although such representations can never be exact in every detail.
  • Conclusions must be supported by reasons.
  • Tables and graphs can help identify relationships.
  • Explanations are based on observation derived from experience or experimentation and are understandable.
  • Good explanations are based on evidence from systematic scientific investigations.
  • An inference is an explanation based on observation.
  • Observation and inference are different.
  • Observations are used to help make explanations.
  • Objects are located relative to other objects.
  • Objects can be compared to other objects.
  • Explanations tell how something does what it does
  • People are more likely to believe your ideas if you give good reasons for them.
  • One way to understand something is to think how it is like something else.
  • One way to describe something is to say how it is like something else.
  • Strong feelings can affect a person's reasoning.
  • How do I know is a good question to ask to try and understand what is or has happened.
  • Sometimes people aren’t sure what will happen because they don’t know everything that might be having an effect on the event.
  • Some events are more likely to happen than others.
  • Some events can be predicted more accurately than others.
  • To create a better communicate an explanation, procedures or ideas it is helpful to include a variety of media (written words, oral explanations, sketches, charts, graphs, ...).
  • Reasonable conclusions can be made when a rule that always holds is related to good information about a particular situation. If then logic. (If plants are green and this is green, then it is a plant. If John is not a plant and he paints himself green he will not be a plant.)
  • Reasoning by similarities can suggest ideas but can't prove them.
  • Practical reasoning may require several steps.
  • Often a person can find out about a group of things by studying just a few of them.
  • When people disagree on explanations for an observation they usually make more observations to refine their explanations.
  • Observation, creativity, and logical argument are used to explain how things work.
  • The more experience or data a person has the better prediction they are likely to make
  • The way a system works can be used to describe and explain what it is (operational definition).
  • Sketches can be useful in explaining procedures or ideas.
  • Evidence is something that is observed and can be used to understand what is happening and make predictions about future changes.
  • Finding out what the biggest and smallest possible value of something is often as revealing as knowing the average value.
  • Numerical data can be useful in describing and comparing objects and events.
  • Conclusions must be supported by reasons.
  • Predictions can be based on data from similar conditions in the past.
  • Explanations use scientific knowledge and new evidence from observation or models to create a consistent logical hypothesis, model, law, principle, theory, or paradigm.
  • I should be skeptical of any claim that is not based on verifiable observable data and reason not presented in a logical manner.
  • I should be skeptical on conclusions that have been based on small samples of data, biased collect or reasoning, or experiments where there was no control.
  • There may always be more than one good way to interpret a given set of data.
  • Analogy can be misleading and wrong.
   

Unifying Concepts and Processes

Constancy, Change, and Measurement

Constancy

Constancy is uniformity in nature, value, and extent .(speed of light, charge of electron, mass plus energy in the universe).

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Object permanency - an object will stay the same if its position is changed.
  • Length of an object is constant when its position is changed or its shape is altered by bending.
  • The number of objects remains constant as the position of the objects is varied.
  • Objects can be compared to other objects.
  • Most of the time certain events happen in a similar manner.
  • Some things stay the same.
  • Properties can be counted.
  • Mass remains the same when the shape or position of an object is changed.
  • Volume of a substance remains the same when its shape is changed.
  • Objects, properties, and events stay the same or happen in similar ways.
  • Constancy enables people to understand the universe.
  • Some features of things may stay the same even when other features change.
  • Some patterns look the same when they are shifted, turned, reflected, or seen from a different direction.
  • Object permanency - an object will stay the same if its position is changed.
  • Length of an object is constant when its position is changed or its shape is altered by bending.
  • The number of objects remains constant as the position of the objects is varied.
  • Objects can be compared to other objects.
  • Most of the time certain events happen in a similar manner.
  • Some things stay the same.
  • Properties can be counted.
  • Mass remains the same when the shape or position of an object is changed.
  • Volume of a substance remains the same when its shape is changed.
  • Objects, properties, and events stay the same or happen in similar ways.
  • Constancy enables people to understand the universe.
  • Some features of things may stay the same even when other features change.
  • Some patterns look the same when they are shifted, turned, reflected, or seen from a different direction.
  • Objects, properties, and events may change but much about them remains constant.
  • Constancy makes the universe understandable.
  • A system may stay the same because nothing is happening or because things are happening to counterbalance each other.
  • Symmetry or lack of it may determine properties of many objects (molecules, crystals, organisms, and designed structures).

 

   

Unifying Concepts and Processes

Constancy, Change, and Measurement

Change

Change (Properties of matter, position of objects, motion, form and function of systems.) Changes also vary in rate, scale, and pattern, including trends and cycles. Energy can be transferred and matter can be changed, however the sum of matter and energy in systems remains the same.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Objects can change and stay the same.
  • Some things can be observed to move from place to place while other things stay in one location.
  • Some things may have properties that change and properties that don't change.
  • Some predictions can be made based on what is known about the past, assuming that conditions are pretty much the same now.
  • Observations can be compared through communication of properties.
  • Change causes differences (size, weight, color, and movement).
  • Objects can change in different ways (size, shape, weight, color, and position)
  • Properties of matter change: position of objects, motion, form, function of systems all change..
  • Objects can be compared to other objects.
  • People can keep track of change by noticing before and after.
  • People can keep track of change by noticing before, during, and after.
  • Some changes are so slow or fast that they are hard to observe.
  • Things in nature and things people make have different properties (sizes, weights, speed, and ages).
  • Measurement is a way of detecting change.
  • Some predictions can be made based on what is known about the past, assuming that conditions are pretty much the same now.
  • Properties of matter can be measured using tools such as rulers, balances, and thermometers.
  • Almost anything has limits on how big or small it can be.
  • Change varies in rate, scale, and pattern.
  • Some changes occur in patterns when the changes are looked at in different directions, flipped, or reflected.
  • Things change in steady repetitive or irregular ways. Sometimes in more than one way at a time.
  • Drawing pictures, making charts, graphs, or taking measurements helps to see change.
  • Some things may have properties that change and properties that don't change.
  • Properties and change of properties can be quantified.
  • Objects can change and stay the same.
  • Some things can be observed to move from place to place while other things stay in one location.
  • Some things may have properties that change and properties that don't change.
  • Some predictions can be made based on what is known about the past, assuming that conditions are pretty much the same now.
  • Observations can be compared through communication of properties.
  • Change causes differences (size, weight, color, and movement).
  • Objects can change in different ways (size, shape, weight, color, and position)
  • Properties of matter change: position of objects, motion, form, function of systems all change..
  • Objects can be compared to other objects.
  • People can keep track of change by noticing before and after.
  • People can keep track of change by noticing before, during, and after.
  • Some changes are so slow or fast that they are hard to observe.
  • Things in nature and things people make have different properties (sizes, weights, speed, and ages).
  • Measurement is a way of detecting change.
  • Some predictions can be made based on what is known about the past, assuming that conditions are pretty much the same now.
  • Properties of matter can be measured using tools such as rulers, balances, and thermometers.
  • Almost anything has limits on how big or small it can be.
  • Change varies in rate, scale, and pattern.
  • Some changes occur in patterns when the changes are looked at in different directions, flipped, or reflected.
  • Things change in steady repetitive or irregular ways. Sometimes in more than one way at a time.
  • Drawing pictures, making charts, graphs, or taking measurements helps to see change.
  • Some things may have properties that change and properties that don't change.
  • Properties and change of properties can be quantified.
  • Many systems contain feedback mechanisms that limit changes to specific ranges.
  • Equations can be used to summarize how the quantity of something changes over time in response to other changes.
  • Change can include trends and cycles.
  • Energy can be transferred and matter can be changed, however the sum of the matter and energy in systems remains the same.
  • Things that change in cycles (seasons, body temperature) can be described by the cycle length, frequency, highest and lowest value, and when they occur. Cycles can range from thousands of years to billionths of a second.
  • Describe observable changes (e.g., speed, pattern, shape, position, and size).
   

Unifying Concepts and Processes

Constancy, Change, and Measurement

Measurement

Measurement changes can be quantified. Evidence for interactions and subsequent change and the formulation of scientific explanations are often clarified through quantitative distinctions - measurement. Scale includes understanding that different characteristics, properties, or relationships within a system might change as its dimensions are increased or decreased. Rate involves comparing one measured quantity with another measure quantity (50 meters per second). Rate is also a measure of change for a part relative to the whole, (birth rate as part of population growth).

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Objects can be used to compare other objects.
  • Measurements can be compared.
  • Measurement is used in everyday life (recipes, plans, designing, building)
  • All measurement is relative to a unit, usually a standard unit.
  • Measurement helps in making more accurate observation.
  • Properties and change of properties can be quantified.
  • Measurement is a way of detecting change.
  • Measurement helps in making better observations.
  • A standard unit of measurement helps communication.
  • Properties of matter can be measured using tools such as rulers, balances, and thermometers.
  • Quantitative estimates of familiar lengths, weights, and time intervals can be confirmed by measurement.
  • Linear measurement is the distance between two points. Common sandard units of linear measurement include: cm, m, km, inch, foot, yard, mile.
  • Rulers are used to measure linear measurement.
  • Time is the measurement of years divided into seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, decades, centuries.
  • Common standard units of time include: seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries.
  • Volume is the measurement of space an object occupies. Common standard units of volume include: ml, l, cup, pint, quart, gallon.
  • Measuring cups measure volume
  • Volume can be calculated from linear measurements.
  • Volume can be calculated from area and linear measurements.
  • Area measures the surface of an object. Common standard units of area are square cm, m, km, ft. yds. miles
  • Mass is the measure of how much matter is in a particular object or particular space. Common standard units of mass include: g, kg, pounds, ounces, tons.
  • Scales measure mass and weight.
  • When the thermometer goes up the temperature is hotter.
  • Temperature is the measure of how hot or cold an object is. Common standar units of temperature are degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit
  • Rate is based on time
  • Objects can be used to compare other objects.
  • Measurements can be compared.
  • Measurement is used in everyday life (recipes, plans, designing, building)
  • All measurement is relative to a unit, usually a standard unit.
  • Measurement helps in making more accurate observation.
  • Properties and change of properties can be quantified.
  • Measurement is a way of detecting change.
  • Measurement helps in making better observations.
  • A standard unit of measurement helps communication.
  • Properties of matter can be measured using tools such as rulers, balances, and thermometers.
  • Quantitative estimates of familiar lengths, weights, and time intervals can be confirmed by measurement.
  • Linear measurement is the distance between two points. Common sandard units of linear measurement include: cm, m, km, inch, foot, yard, mile.
  • Rulers are used to measure linear measurement.
  • Time is the measurement of years divided into seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, decades, centuries.
  • Common standard units of time include: seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries.
  • Volume is the measurement of space an object occupies. Common standard units of volume include: ml, l, cup, pint, quart, gallon.
  • Measuring cups measure volume
  • Volume can be calculated from linear measurements.
  • Volume can be calculated from area and linear measurements.
  • Area measures the surface of an object. Common standard units of area are square cm, m, km, ft. yds. miles
  • Mass is the measure of how much matter is in a particular object or particular space. Common standard units of mass include: g, kg, pounds, ounces, tons.
  • Scales measure mass and weight.
  • When the thermometer goes up the temperature is hotter.
  • Temperature is the measure of how hot or cold an object is. Common standar units of temperature are degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit
  • Rate is based on time
  • Measurements and computations can be checked by comparing them to typical values.
  • Often the best way to tell what is happening during a change is to make a table or graph of measurements.
  • Symmetry or the lack of it may determine properties of many objects.
  • Properties of systems that depend on volume, such as weight and capacity, change proportionally according to area and surface tension.
  • Physical and biological systems often change until they become stable and then they remain the same unless the environment changes.
  • Finding out how big or small something can be is sometimes as revealing as knowing what the usual value is.
  • As a system gets more complicated we can gain understanding by using summaries of average, range, and describing the typical properties of the system.
  • All measurement has error.
  • Scale is a proportional relationship of characteristics, properties, or relationships within a system as its dimensions are increased or decreased.
  • Rate involves a measure of change for a part relative to a whole (birth rate as part of population growth and comparing one measured quantity to another measured quantity (km per hour).
  • Measure a change using appropriate tools and units of measurement.
   

Unifying Concepts and Processes

Evolution and Equilibrium

Evolution

Evolution is a series of changes, some gradual and some sporadic, that accounts for the present form and function of objects, organisms, and natural and designed systems. The general idea of evolution is that the present arises from materials and forms of the past.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Present conditions such as the salt in the oceans, continental drift, erosion of land forms, changes in organisms... can be explained as gradual and sporadic.
  • Evolution is the idea of the present arising from materials and forms of the past.
  • Some things change slow and others fast.
  • Change can be fast or slow.
  • An organism's form is related to its environment.
  • Modern organisms may resemble extinct organisms.
  • Objects and organisms can be changed to function for better or worse.
  • Changes may not be noticed on a scale of a human's lifetime. However, these changes become large as the number of lifetimes become large.
  • Sometimes a series of changes occurs so slowly or so rapidly that it is difficult to document the evolution.
  • In evolving systems, change can be gradual, steady, repetitive, irregular, or in more than one way at the same time.
  • Present conditions such as the salt in the oceans, continental drift, erosion of land forms, changes in organisms... can be explained as gradual and sporadic.
  • Evolution is the idea of the present arising from materials and forms of the past.
  • Some things change slow and others fast.
  • Change can be fast or slow.
  • An organism's form is related to its environment.
  • Modern organisms may resemble extinct organisms.
  • Objects and organisms can be changed to function for better or worse.
  • Changes may not be noticed on a scale of a human's lifetime. However, these changes become large as the number of lifetimes become large.
  • The goal is for students to recognize that objects and systems change over time.
   

Unifying Concepts and Processes

Evolution and Equilibrium

Equilibrium

Equilibrium is a physical state in which forces and changes occur in opposite and off-setting directions. Opposite forces are of the same magnitude, or off-seting changes occur at equal rates. Steady state, balance, or homeostasis also describe equilibrium states. Interacting units of matte tend toward equilibrium states in which the energy is distributed as randomly and uniformly as possible.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Objects and events move toward equilibrium (sugar in water disperses throughout the liquid, pendulum swings until it stops at the lowest point, water flows…
  • Objects and events move toward equilibrium (sugar in water disperses throughout the liquid, pendulum swings until it stops at the lowest point, water flows…
  • The goal is for students to recognize systems that are in equilibrium.
   

Unifying Concepts and Processes

Form and function

Form shape of an object or system.

Function use or operation of an object or system.

Form and function are complementary aspects of objects, organisms, and systems in the natural and designed world. The form or shape of an object or system is frequently related to use, operation, or function. Function frequently relies on form. Understanding of form and function applies to different levels of organization Students should be able to explain form by referring to function and explain function by referring to form.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • The shape of an object is frequently related to its use.
  • Almost everything has limits on how big or small it can be.
  • Form is related to function.
  • Function is related to form.
  • Shapes of objects affect how they work.
  • Objects have a shape.
  • An organism's form is related to its environment.
  • Most objects can be used for something.
  • The shape of an object is frequently related to its use.
  • Almost everything has limits on how big or small it can be.
  • The function of an object is frequently related to its form.
  • The function of an object or system is complementary to its design.
  • Shapes of objects affect how they work.
  • The form of an object frequently limits its function.
  • Objects have a shape.
  • An organism's form is related to its environment.
  • The form of an object or system is complementary to its function.
  • The form of an object or system is related to the environment in which it operates.
  • The form of an object frequently limits its function.
  • Most objects can be used for something.
  • The function of an object or system is complementary to its design.
  • The function of an object or system is related to the environment in which it operates.
  • Construct a device to perform a simple task and explain how it works.
   

Science as Inquiry

Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
Understanding about scientific inquiry

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Scientists raise questions about the world around them and seek answers to some of them by combining observation and trying things out.
  • Asking questions helps us learn.
  • Inquiry starts with observation.
  • Observations help collect information that can be used to answer questions.
  • Tools can be used to make better and more accurate observations (magnifiers).
  • Measurements help make more accurate observations.
  • People learn with careful observation.
  • People learn by observing interactions with objects.
  • When people report different observations they can take more observations to try and find agreement.
  • Tools help scientists make better observations, measurements, and equipment for investigations.
  • Some questions are better for creating experiments to collect and answer questions.
  • Observations can be compared through communication of properties.
  • It is important in science to keep honest, clear, and accurate records.
  • Changing objects can help us answer questions and learn.
  • People can plan and carry out experiments.
  • Variables are conditions that change.
  • Variables need to be controlled for an experiment to be a fair comparison.
  • A control is an experiment with all the conditions the same except the one that is being tested.
  • Manipulating variables helps collect data.
  • Scientists use different kinds of investigations depending on the questions they are trying to answer.
  • Special care must be taken when using animals for research.
  • Investigation involves all kinds of people.
  • Science experiments normally have reproducible results and work the same way in different places.
  • People can invent a rule to explain something by summarizing observations. People tend to overgeneralize (imagine general rules based on a few observations).
  • Sometimes people use incorrect logic when they make a statement such as If A is ture, then B is true. But A isn't true, therefore B isn't true.
  • A single example can never prove something true.
  • Sometimes a single example can prove something is not true.
  • An analogy has some likeness and some differences.
  • I can check my ideas in books and see if other people have the same ideas as I do.
  • Some tests are not fair if all variables are not kept the same.
  • Different reasons for what is happening have different degrees of accuracy.
  • A good way to know something is to try it out.
  • Collecting data helps create explanations.
  • Data and explanations from investigations can be compared with what different scientists published about what they found and think about the world.
  • Explanations are developed form observation and are based on what is already known about the world.
  • Scientists make the results of their investigations public, communicating in ways that enable others to repeat the investigation.
  • Communication helps us learn from other people.
  • Pictures can be used to represent objects and events.
  • Communication helps us explain evidence and reasoning to each other.
  • Communication requires a message being sent and received.
  • Information can be communicated in many different ways each of which have advantages and disadvantages.
  • Recording observations helps remember specific information.
  • Objects can be described and compared by properties.
  • In science, it is helpful to work with a team and share findings with others.
  • Observations can be compared through communication of properties.
  • Before and after pictures can be used to represent change.
  • Clear communication gives other people information about your discoveries and ideas.
  • Communication allows other people to agree or disagree with a person's findings.
  • People have always tried to communicate with one another.
  • Diagrams, charts, pictures, and writing help communicate data.
  • Investigative discoveries can become available to everyone in the world.
  • Errors can occur when communicating.
  • Repeating messages is a way to avoid miscommunication.
  • Directions can be written so other people can try procedures.
  • Sketches can be used to explain procedures, events, or ideas to the creator and other people.
  • Numerical data can be used to describe and compare objects and events to the creator and other people.
  • Tables and charts can be used to represent objects and events.
  • If more than variable changes at a time, the outcome may not be attributed to one of the variables
  • It may not be possible to identify or control all variables.
  • What people expect to observe often affects what they actually do observe. Strong beliefs about what they expect to happen can prevent them from seeing other results.
  • Scientists try to avoid this by having different people conducting independent studies.
  • Unexpected observations can lead to new discoveries and to new investigations.
  • There are many kinds of signals in the world that are not detectable with human senses.Mathematics is important in all aspects of scientific inquiry.
  • Scientific investigations sometimes result in new ideas and phenomena for study.
  • Graphs can be used to identify relationships.
  • If more than variable changes at a time, the outcome may not be attributed to one of the variables.
  • It may not be possible to identify or control all variables.
  • What people expect to observe often affects what they actually do observe. Strong beliefs about what they expect to happen can prevent them from seeing other results. Scientists try to avoid this by having different people conducting independent studies.
  • Unexpected observations can lead to new discoveries and to new investigations.
  • There are many kinds of signals in the world that are not detectable with human senses.
  • Mathematics is important in all aspects of scientific inquiry.
  • Scientific investigations sometimes result in new ideas and phenomena for study.
  • Graphs can be used to identify relationships.
  • Scientific investigations sometimes generate new methods or procedures for an investigation or develop new technologies to improve the collection of data.
  • Accurate data keeping and openness are essential to assure an investigator's credibility.
  • Messages can be carried by many different media (light, electricity, sound, objects, glass fibers).
  • The ability to code messages has allowed faster communication.
  • Graphs can be used to recognize, represent and predict future relationships to the creator and other people.
  • Other kinds of tables, matrices, diagrams, webs, symbols, maps can be used to interpret and communicate information.
  • Regular and polar coordinates can be used to locate objects.
  • All human subjects have a right to be fully informed about the risks and benefits associated with research and their right to refuse to participate.
  • Computers help speed up and extend people's ability to collect, store, compile, and analyze data, prepare research reports, and share data and ideas with investigators all over the world.
  • Accurate data keeping and openness are essential to assure an investigator's credibility.
  • A hypothesis is if then thinking.
  • Predictions are not hypothesis.
  • Asks a question about objects, organisms, and events in their surroundings.
  • Plans and conduct a simple investigation.
  • Uses simple equipment and tools (e.g., thermometers and scales) to gather data and extend the senses.
  • Uses data develop reasonable explanations.
  • Communicates procedures, results, and explanations of an investigation.

 

  • Identify questions and form hypotheses that can be examined through scientific investigations.
  • Design and conduct a scientific investigation.
  • Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret data.
  • Given evidence, develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models.
  • Show the relationship between evidence and explanations.
  • Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and predictions.
  • Communicate scientific procedures and explanations.
  • Use mathematics in scientific inquiry.
  Rubric for Inquiry
 

Questioning and observing

  • Asking questions helps us learn.
  • Inquiry starts with observation.
  • Observations help collect information that can be used to answer questions.
  • Tools can be used to make better and more accurate observations (magnifiers).
  • Measurements help make more accurate observations.
  • People learn with careful observation.
  • People learn by observing interactions with objects.
  • When people report different observations they can take more observations to try and find agreement.
  • Tools help scientists make better observations, measurements, and equipment for investigations.
  • Some questions are better for creating experiments to collect and answer questions.
  • Observations can be compared through communication of properties.
  • Mixtures of substances can be separated using the characteristic properties of each.
  • There are more than 100 known elements which may combine to form compounds.
  • Objects have many properties.
  • Objects are identified and described by their properties.
  • Magnets attract some metal objects.
  • Objects can be made of one or more materials.
  • Materials can exist in different states (solid, liquid, gas).
  • Properties of matter can be measured using tools such as rulers, balances, and thermometers
  • Materials may be made up of parts that are too small to be seen without magnification
  • Chemical elements change during normal chemical reactions.
     
 

Plan and investigate

  • Changing objects can help us answer questions and learn.
  • People can plan and carry out experiments.
  • Variables are conditions that change.
  • Variables need to be controlled for an experiment to be a fair comparison.
  • A control is an experiment with all the conditions the same except the one that is being tested.
  • Manipulating variables helps collect data.
  • Scientists use different kinds of investigations depending on the questions they are trying to answer.
  • Special care must be taken when using animals for research.
  • Investigation involves all kinds of people.

 

     
 

Use data and reasoning to construct explanations

  • Science experiments normally have reproducible results and work the same way in different places.
  • People can invent a rule to explain something by summarizing observations. People tend to overgeneralize (imagine general rules based on a few observations).
  • Sometimes people use incorrect logic when they make a statement such as If A is ture, then B is true. But A isn't true, therefore B isn't true.
  • A single example can never prove something true.
  • Sometimes a single example can prove something is not true.
  • An analogy has some likeness and some differences.
  • I can check my ideas in books and see if other people have the same ideas as I do.
  • Some tests are not fair if all variables are not kept the same.
  • Different reasons for what is happening have different degrees of accuracy.
  • A good way to know something is to try it out.
  • Collecting data helps create explanations.
  • Data and explanations from investigations can be compared with what different scientists published about what they found and think about the world.
  • Explanations are developed form observation and are based on what is already known about the world.

 

     
 

Communicate all aspects of investigating

  • Scientists make the results of their investigations public, communicating in ways that enable others to repeat the investigation.
  • Communication helps us learn from other people.
  • Pictures can be used to represent objects and events.
  • Communication helps us explain evidence and reasoning to each other.
  • Communication requires a message being sent and received.
  • Information can be communicated in many different ways each of which have advantages and disadvantages.
  • Recording observations helps remember specific information.
  • Objects can be described and compared by properties.
  • In science, it is helpful to work with a team and share findings with others.
  • Observations can be compared through communication of properties.
  • Before and after pictures can be used to represent change.
  • Clear communication gives other people information about your discoveries and ideas.
  • Communication allows other people to agree or disagree with a person's findings.
  • People have always tried to communicate with one another.
  • Diagrams, charts, pictures, and writing help communicate data.
  • Investigative discoveries can become available to everyone in the world.
  • Errors can occur when communicating.
  • Repeating messages is a way to avoid miscommunication.
  • Directions can be written so other people can try procedures.
  • Sketches can be used to explain procedures, events, or ideas to the creator and other people.
  • Numerical data can be used to describe and compare objects and events to the creator and other people.
  • Tables and charts can be used to represent objects and events.
     

Physical Science

       
Matter

Properties and changes of properties in matter

A substance has characteristics properties, such as density, a boiling point, and solubility, all of which are independent of the amount of the sample. A mixture of substances often can be separated into the original substances using one or more of the characteristic properties.
Substances react chemically in characteristic ways with other substances to form new substances (compounds) with different characteristics properties. I chemical reactions, the total mass is conserved. Substances often are placed in categories or groups if they react in similar ways; metals is an example of such a group.
Chemical elements do not break down during normal laboratory reactions involving such treatments as heating, exposure to electric current, or reaction with acids. There are more than 100 know elements that combine in a multitude of ways to produce compounds, which account for the living and nonliving substances that we encounter.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Objects have many properties.
  • Objects are identified and described by their properties.
  • Magnets attract some metal objects.
  • Objects can be made of one or more materials.
  • Materials can exist in different states (solid, liquid, gas).
  • Properties of matter can be measured using tools such as rulers, balances, and thermometers
  • Materials may be made up of parts that are too small to be seen without magnification.
  • Mixtures of substances can be separated using the characteristic properties of each.
  • There are more than 100 known elements which may combine to form compounds.
  • Objects have many properties.
  • Objects are identified and described by their properties.
  • Magnets attract some metal objects.
  • Objects can be made of one or more materials.
  • Materials can exist in different states (solid, liquid, gas).
  • Properties of matter can be measured using tools such as rulers, balances, and thermometers
  • Materials may be made up of parts that are too small to be seen without magnification.
  • Chemical elements change during normal chemical reactions.
  • Classify objects by observable characteristics (shape, size, and color).
  • Compare and contrast characteristics of common materials using tools (e.g., rulers, scales, thermometers, microscopes, and hand lenses).
  • Demonstrate that materials can change from solid to liquid to gas by heating and from gas to liquid to solid by cooling.
  • Describe properties to include color, mass, volume, density, solid, liquid, gas, shape, material (wood aluminium, plastic...)
  • Investigate and demonstrate that characteristic properties of a substance (e.g., density, boiling point, and solubility) do not depend on the amount of the substance.
  • Observe, describe, and measure physical and chemical properties of matter.
  • Explain that all matter is composed of elements which may combine in a variety of ways to form compounds.
  • Investigate and explain that in chemical reactions new properties are created and total mass is conserved.
   
Motion and force

Motions and forces

The motion of an object can be described by its position, direction of motion, and speed. That motion can be measure and represented on a graph.
An object that is not being subjected to a force will continue to more at a constant speed and in a straight line.
If more than one force acts on an object along a straight line, then the forces will reinforce or cancel one another, depending on their direction and magnitude. Unbalanced forces will cause changes in the speed or direction of an object’s motion.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • The position and motion of objects can be changed by pushing or pulling.
  • Graphing positions fit math cur. and achievement tests....
  • Position - graphing relative position and motion.... SCIS stuff...
  • reference object
  • motion is change relative to a reference object
  • An object in motion continues in a straight line unless acted upon.
  • Change in force applied to an object in motion will change the speed or direction of that object.
  • Motion of an object can be described by its position, direction, and speed
  • The force of friction may slow down or stop an object’s motion.
  • Use reference points to describe the position of an object.
  • Describe an object’s motion by tracing its position over time.
  • Demonstrate that the position and motion of objects can be changed by pushing or pulling.
  • Demonstrate how sound is produced when objects vibrate.
  • Change the pitch of sound by changing the rate of vibration
  • Investigate and describe the motion of an object by its position, direction of motion, and speed.
  • Investigate and demonstrate that the speed and/or direction of an object changes when a force is applied to that object.

 

 

 

Energy Transfer

Transfer of energy

Energy is a property of many substance and is associated with heat, light, electricity, mechanical motion, sound, nuclei, and the nature of a chemical. Energy is transferred in many ways.
Heat moves in predictable ways, flowing from warmer objects to cooler ones, until both react the same temperature.
Light interacts with matter by transmission (including refraction), absorption, or scattering (including reflection). To see an object, light from that object-emitted by or scattered from it-must enter the eye.
Electrical circuits provide a means of transferring electrical energy when heat, light, sound, and chemical changes are produced.
In most chemical and nuclear reactions, energy is transferred into or out of a system. Heat, light, mechanical motion, or electricity might all be involved in such transfers.
The sun us a major source of energy for changes on the earth’s surface. The sun loses energy by emitting light. A tiny fraction of that light reaches the earth, transferring energy from the sun to the earth. The sun’s energy arrives as light with a range of wavelengths, consisting of visible light, infrared, and ultraviolet radiation.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • force causes motion
  • force change motion
  • force is a push or pull
  • Light travels in a straight line until it strikes an object.
  • Light can be reflected by a mirror, refracted by a lens, or absorbed by an object.
  • Heat can move form one object to another by conduction.
  • Heat can be produced in many ways (burning, rubbing, mixing).
  • Materials change states (solid, liquid, gas) when their heat energy increases or decreases to a certain degree.
  • Vibrating objects produce sound.
  • Things near the earth fall to the ground unless something holds them up.
  • Magnets attract and repel certain kinds of materials
  • Vibrating objects produce sound.
  • A faster vibration makes a lower pitch.
  • Pulling down on a pulley system will change the flags position.
  • If you push a swing it will go up and down.
  • Energy is transformed in many ways.
  • Heat flows from warmer to cooler objects until both reach the same temperature.
  • Light travels in a straight line until it strikes an object.
  • Light interacts with matter by transmission, absorption, or scattering.
  • Light can be reflected by a mirror, refracted by a lens, or absorbed by an object.
  • Heat can move form one object to another by conduction.
  • Heat can be produced in many ways (burning, rubbing, mixing).
  • Materials change states (solid, liquid, gas) when their heat energy increases or decreases to a certain degree.
  • Vibrating objects produce sound.
  • Things near the earth fall to the ground unless something holds them up.
  • Magnets attract and repel certain kinds of materials.
  • Distinguish between reflection and refraction of light.
  • Identify ways in which heat can be produced (e.g., burning, rubbing, or mixing one substance with another).
  • Demonstrate heat can flow from one object to another by conduction.
  • Use electricity to produce heat, sound or magnetic effects.
  • Demonstrate electrical circuits require a complete loop through which an electrical current can pass.
  • Describe the physical properties of magnets.
  • Investigate and describe the transfer of light energy.
  • Investigate and demonstrate how energy is transferred using simple machines.
  • Investigate and describe how heat is transferred from a warmer object to a cooler object until both reach the same temperature.
  • Investigate and describe the properties and transfer of sound energy.
  • Investigate and describe the transfer of energy from electrical and magnetic sources to different energy forms (e.g., heat, light, sound, and chemical).
 

 

Life Science

 

     

Structure and function in living systems

Living systems at all levels of organization demonstrate the complementary nature of structure and function. Important levels of organization for structure and function include cells, organs, tissues, organ systems, whole organisms, and ecosystems
All organisms are composed of cells-the fundamental unit of life. Most organisms are single cells; other organisms, including humans, are multicellular.
Cells carry on the many functions needed to sustain life. They grow divide, thereby producing more cells. This requires that they take in nutrients, which they use to provide energy for the work that cells do and to make the materials that a cell or an organism needs.
Specialized cells perform specialized functions in multicellular organisms, Groups of specialized cells cooperate to form a tissue, such as a muscle. Different tissues are in turn grouped together to form larger functional units, called organs, Each type of cell, tissue, and organ has a distinct structure and set of functions that serve the organism as a whole.
The human organism has systems for digestion, respiration, reproduction, circulation, excretion, movement, control and coordination, and for protection from disease. These systems interact with one another.
Disease is a breakdown in structures or functions of an organism. Some diseases are the result of intrinsic failures of the system. Other are the result of damage by infection by other organisms.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Plants and animals are grouped by their features.
  • Modern organisms may resemble extinct organisms.
  • An organism’s patterns of behavior is related to its environment.
  • Environmental change influences the life and death of plants and animals.
  • Internal and external cues influence behavior
  • plants - structure (root, leaf, stem, flower (pistil stamen seeds petals anther filament) survival seeds
  • reproduction
  • animals food
  • Organisms
  • Living systems at all levels of organization demonstrate the complementary nature of structure and function.
  • All organisms are composed of cells.
  • Cells carry on many functions needed to sustain life.
  • Plants and animals are grouped by their features.
  • Modern organisms may resemble extinct organisms.
  • An organism’s patterns of behavior is related to its environment.
  • Environmental change influences the life and death of plants and animals.
  • Internal and external cues influence behavior.
  • Organisms have needs.
  • Different organisms live in different places.
  • Water is needed to support the growth of plants in our food supply.
  • Disease in organisms results from an intrinsic failure in structures and functions or damage by infection.


  • Describe the differences between plants and animals.
  • Describe the various structures of plants and animals necessary for survival and reproduction.
  • Describe how internal stimuli (e.g., hunger) and external stimuli (e.g., changes in the environment) affect behavior of living things.
  • Investigate and describe the levels of organizations: cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, whole organisms, and ecosystems.
  • Investigate and demonstrate that all living things are composed of cells.
  • Investigate and explain how cells sustain life through functions (e.g., growth and nutrition).
  • Investigate and describe the specialized function performed by specialized cells (e.g., muscular and skeletal) in multicellular organisms.
  • Investigate and describe the human body systems and how they interact.
  • Investigate and explain how disease affects the structure and/or function of an organism.
 

 

 

Reproduction and heredity
Reproduction is a characteristic of all living systems; because no individual organism lives forever, reproduction is essential to the continuation of every species. Some organisms reproduce asexually. Other organisms reproduce sexually.
In many species, including humans, females produce eggs and males produce sperm, plants also reproduce sexually-the egg and sperm are produced in the flowers of flowering plants. An egg and sperm unite to begin development of a new individual. That new individual receives genetic information from its mother (via the egg) and its father (via the sperm). Sexually produced offspring never are identical to either of their parents.
Every organism requires a set of instructions for specifying its traits. Heredity is the passage of these instruction from one generation to another.
Heredity information is contained in genes, located in the chromosomes of each cell. Each gene carries a single unit of information. An inherited trait of an individual can be determined by one or by many genes, and a signal gene can influence more than one trait. A human cell contains many thousands of different genes.
The characteristics of an organism can be described in terms of a combination of traits. Some traits are inherited and others result from interactions with the environment

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Organisms have needs.
  • Different organisms live in different places.
  • Organisms reproduce similar organisms.
  • Water is needed to support the growth of plants in our food supply
  • Each plant and animal has different structures they serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction.
  • Plants and animals have life cycles that include birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
  • Reproduction is a characteristic of all living systems.
  • In sexual reproduction of organisms, females produce eggs and males produce sperm.
  • All organisms must be able to obtain and use resources, grow, reproduce, an maintain stable internal conditions while living in a constantly changing external environment.
  • Organisms reproduce similar organisms.
  • Each plant and animal has different structures they serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction.
  • Plants and animals have life cycles that include birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
  • Every organism requires a set of instructions for specifying its heredity traits
  • Describe the life cycle of an organism (frog, butterfly life cycle/
  • Identify inherited characteristics of living things (e.g., color and number of eyes).
  • Identify learned characteristics of living things (e.g., language or hunting for food).
  • put in order
  • label stages of life cycle
  • plant seed pollination fertilization seed (embryo, cotyledon, seed coat) flower
  • Investigate and describe how all organisms reproduce through sexual or asexual reproduction.
  • Investigate and describe that in many species, offspring receive hereditary information from the female (eggs) and male (sperm).
  • Investigate and explain that chromosomes contain genes which influence heredity.
  • Investigate and describe the effects of inherited traits and environmental influences on an organism’s characteristics.
 

 

 

 

Regulation and behavior

All organisms must be able to obtain and use resources, grow, reproduce, and maintain stable internal conditions while living in a constantly changing external environment.
Regulation of an organism’s internal environment involves sensing the internal environment and changing physiological activities to keep conditions within the range required to survive.
Behavior is one kind of response an organism can make to an internal or environmental stimulus. A behavioral response requires coordination and communication at many levels, including cells, organ systems, and whole organisms. Behavioral response is a set of actions determined in part by heredity and in part from experience.
An organism’s behavior evolves through adaptation to its environment. How a species moves, obtains food, reproduces, and responds to danger are based in the species’ evolutionary history

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Behavior is one kind of response an organism can make to an internal or environmental stimulus.
  • Investigate and explain how organisms’ behaviors enhance their abilities to obtain and use resources, grow, and reproduce.
  • Investigate and examine how an organism senses change in its internal or external environment and responds to keep conditions within a required range.
  • Investigate and explain how behavior is a response to internal and external stimuli determined by heredity and experience.
  • Investigate and explain how an organism’s behavior evolves through environmental adaptation.
   
 

Populations and ecosystems

A population consists of all individuals of a species that occur together at a given place and time. All populations living together and the physical factors with which they interact compose an ecosystem.
Populations of organisms can be categorized by the function they serve in an ecosystem. Plants and some microorganisms are producers- they make their own food. All animals, including humans, are consumers, which obtain food by eating other organisms.
Decomposers, primarily bacteria and fungi, are consumers that use waste materials and dead organisms for food. Food webs identify the relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem.
For ecosystems, the major source of energy is sun light. Energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis. That energy then passes from organism to organism in food webs.
The number of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the resources available and abiotic factors, such as quantity of light and water, range of temperatures, and soil composition. Given adequate biotic and abiotic and no disease of predators, populations (including humans) increase at rapid rates. Lack of resources and other factors, such as predation and climate, limit the growth of population in specific niches in the ecosystem

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • All animals depend on plants.
  • All organisms cause changes in their environments.
  • A population consists of all individuals living together at a given place and time.
  • All populations living together and the physical factors with which they interact compose an ecosystem.
  • Populations of organisms can be categorized as producers and consumers by the function they serve in the ecosystem.
  • Energy form the sunlight is passed through food webs in an ecosystem.
  • All animals depend on plants.
  • All organisms cause changes in their environments.
  • Diagram a food chain.
  • Explain how environmental changes affect behavior and survival of living things.
  • Describe how humans and other living things cause both positive and negative changes in their environment.
  • circle of life
  • food chain
  • Investigate and describe that a population consists of all individuals of a species at a given place and time.
  • Investigate and analyze the living and nonliving factors that determine the number of organisms an ecosystem can support.
  • Describe an organism by the function it serves in an ecosystem (e.g., producer, consumer, and decomposer).
  • Investigate and explain how energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis, and that energy then passes from organism to organism in food webs.
 

 

 

Diversity and adaptations of organisms.

Millions of species of animals, plants, and microorganisms are alive today. Although different species might look dissimilar, the unity among organisms become apparent from and analysis of internal structures, the similarity of their chemical processes, and the evidence of common ancestry.
Biological evolution accounts for the diversity of species developed through gradual processes over many generations. Species acquire many of their unique characteristics through biological adaptation, which involves the selection of naturally occurring variations in populations. Biological adaptations include changes in structures, behaviors, or physiology that enhance survival and reproduction success in a particular environment.
Extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient to allow its survival. Fossils indicate that many organisms that lived long ago are extinct. Extinction of species is common; most of the species that have lived on the earth no longer exist.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • All anim

 

  • Explain how internal structures, similarity of chemical processes, (e.g., photosynthesis and respiration) and evidence of common ancestry demonstrate unity among organisms.
  • Investigate and explain how organisms adapt to living and nonliving factors in a biome.
  • Investigate and explain how environmental changes created by nature and by humans may cause species extinction.
   
Earth Science

 

     

Structure of the earth system

The solid earth is layered with a lithosphere, hot, convecting mantle; and dense, metallic core.
Lithospheric plates on the scales of continents and oceans constantly move at rates of centimeters per year in response to movements in the mantle. Major geological events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, result from these plate motions.
Land forms are the results of a combination of constructive and destructive forces. Constructive forces include crustal deformation, volcanic eruption, and deposition of sediment, while destructive forces include weathering and erosion.
Some changes in the solid earth can be described as the "rock cycle". Old rocks at the earth’s surface weather, forming sediments that are buried, then compacted, heated, and often recrystallized into new rock. Eventually, those new rocks may be brought to the surface by the forces that drive plate motions, and the rock cycle continues.
Soil consists of weathered rocks and decomposed organic materials from dead plants, animals, and bacteria. Soils are often found in layers, with each having a different chemical composition and texture.
Water, which covers the majority of the earth’s surface, circulates through the crust, oceans, and atmosphere in what is known as the "water cycle". Water evaporates from the earth’s surface, rises and cools as it moves to higher elevations, condenses as rain or snow, and falls t the surface where it collects in lakes, oceans, soil, and in rocks underground.
Water is a solvent. As it passes through the water cycle it dissolves minerals and gases and carries them to the oceans.
The atmosphere is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, and trace gases that include water vapor. The atmosphere has different properties at different elevations.
Clouds, formed by the condensation of water vapor, affect weather and climate.
Global patterns of atmospheric movement influence local weather. Oceans have a major effect on climate, because water in the oceans holds a large amount of heat.
Living organisms have played many roles in the earth system, including affecting the composition of the atmosphere, producing some types of rocks, and contributing to the weathering of rocks.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Water is a material of the earth.
  • Soils vary in their ability to support the growth of plants.
  • Soil is important for plants.
  • Different soils have different properties.
  • Soils differ in their capacity to retain water.
  • Soil contains many living things.
  • Rocks and soil make up the Earth.
  • Rocks come in all sizes from boulders to grains of sand.
  • Smaller rocks come form breakage and the weathering of bedrock and larger rocks.
  • Animals and plants sometimes cause changes in their surroundings.
  • Landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes change the surface of the earth rapidly.
  • Earth materials are useful in industry and as sources of fuel.
  • Erosion and weathering change the surface of the earth slowly
  • The solid earth is layered with a lithosphere, hot convecting mantle, and dense metallic core.
  • Old rocks at the earth’s surface weather, forming sediments that are buried, then compacted, heated, and often re-crystallized into new rock.
  • New rocks may be brought to the surface by the forces that drive plate motion thus continuing the rock cycle.
  • Land forms are the result of a combination of constructive and destructive forces. Constructive forces include crust deformation, volcanic eruptions, and deposition of sediment; destructive forces include weathering and erosion.
  • Water is a material of the earth.
  • Soils vary in their ability to support the growth of plants.
  • Soil is important for plants.
  • Different soils have different properties.
  • Soils differ in their capacity to retain water.
  • Soil contains many living things.
  • Soil consists of weathered rocks and decomposed organic material form dead plants, animals, and bacteria.
  • Soils are often found in layers, with each having a different composition and texture.
  • Living organisms have played many roles in the earth system
  • Rocks and soil make up the Earth.
  • Rocks come in all sizes from boulders to grains of sand.
  • Smaller rocks come form breakage and the weathering of bedrock and larger rocks.
  • Animals and plants sometimes cause changes in their surroundings.
  • Landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes change the surface of the earth rapidly.
  • Earth materials are useful in industry and as sources of fuel.
  • Erosion and weathering change the surface of the earth slowly.
  • Gases in the atmosphere are materials of the earth.
  • Weather changes from day to day and season to season.
  • Identify characteristics of soils, minerals, rocks, water, and the atmosphere.
  • List earth materials that are used by humans (e.g., water, fossil fuels, ores, soils).
  • Select the best earth material for a specific human use (e.g., marble­buildings, clay­pottery, coal­heat).
  • Describe an ancient environment based on fossil evidence.
  • Investigate and describe the crust, mantle, and core of the earth.
  • Investigate and describe how a combination of constructive and destructive forces create land forms.
  • Investigate and describe the composition of soils.
  • Investigate and describe the water cycle.
  • Investigate and describe the composition of the atmosphere at different altitudes.
  • Investigate and describe the influence of topography, location, and oceans on climate.
  • Investigate and describe the effect of living organisms on weathering and the atmosphere.
 

 

 

 

Earth’s history

The earth processes we see today, including erosion, movement of lithospheric plates, and changes in atmospheric composition, are similar to those that occurred in the past, earth history is also influenced by occasional catastrophes, such as the impact of an asteroid or comet.
Fossils provide important evidence of how life and environmental conditions have changed.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Old rocks at the earth’s surface weather, forming sediments that are buried, then compacted, heated, and often re-crystallized into new rock.
  • Land forms are the result of a combination of constructive and destructive forces. Constructive forces include crust deformation, volcanic eruptions, and deposition of sediment; destructive forces include weathering and erosion.
  • Water, a solvent, passes through the water cycle dissolving minerals and gases and carrying them to the oceans.
  • Fossils provide evidence of how life and environmental conditions have changed.
  • Layers of sedimentary rock confirm the long history of the earth and its changing life forms.
  • Observe and describe how objects move in patterns (e.g., sun, moon, stars, and clouds).
  • Describe where the sun is in the - morning, noon night)
  • Describe the positions movement patterns of the moon phases, Earth day night, Earth year, Earth seasons
  • Investigate and describe how earth processes that occur today (e.g., volcanism, weather, and erosion) are similar to those that occurred in the past.
  • Investigate and use the fossil record to provide evidence and explain how environmental conditions have changed.
 

 

 

 

Earth in the solar system

The earth is the third planer from the sun in a system that includes the moon, the sun, eight other planets and their moons, and smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets. The sun, an average star, is the central and largest body in the solar system.
Most objects in the solar system are in regular and predictable motion. Those motions explain such phenomena as the day, the year, phases of the moon, and eclipses.
Gravity is the force that keeps planets in orbit around the sun and governs the rest of the motion in the solar system. Gravity alone holds us to the earth’s surface, and explains the phenomena of the tides.
The sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on the earth’s surface, such as growth of plants, winds, ocean currents, and the water cycle. Seasons result from variations in the amount of the sun’s energy hitting the surface, due to the tilt of the earth’s rotation on its axis and the length of the day

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • The moon, sun, and stars are objects in the sky.
  • The sun’s properties and location can be observed and described.
  • The sun provides light.
  • The sun has a pattern of movement.
  • The sun provides light.
  • The sun provides heat.
  • The pattern of the sun’s movement changes slowly over the seasons.
  • Stars are innumerable, unevenly dispersed, and of unequal brightness.
  • The moon and stars have properties, locations, and movements that can be observed and described.
  • The observable shape of the moon changes form day to day in a cycle that lasts about a month.
  • Gases in the atmosphere are materials of the earth.
  • Weather changes from day to day and season to season.
  • The earth is the third planet form the sun in a system that includes the moon, sun, eight other planets, and smaller objects such as asteroids and comets.
  • The sun, an average star, is the central and largest body in the solar system.
  • The moon, sun, and stars are objects in the sky.
  • The sun’s properties and location can be observed and described.
  • The sun provides light.
  • The sun has a pattern of movement.
  • The sun provides light.
  • The sun provides heat.
  • The pattern of the sun’s movement changes slowly over the seasons.
  • Most objects in the solar system are in regular and predictable motion.
  • Predictable motions explain such phenomena as the day, phases of the moon, and eclipses.
  • Stars are innumerable, unevenly dispersed, and of unequal brightness.
  • The moon and stars have properties, locations, and movements that can be observed and described.
  • The observable shape of the moon changes form day to day in a cycle that lasts about a mont
  • Describe how slow processes (e.g., erosion) and rapid processes (e.g., earthquakes), change the earth’s surface.
  • Describe and measure changes in weather (e.g., temperature, precipitation, and wind direction and speed).
 

 

Technology

 

     

Abilities of technological design

Identify appropriate problems for technological design. Students should develop their abilities by identifying a specified need, considering its various aspects, and talking to different potential users or beneficiaries. They should appreciate that for some needs, the cultural backgrounds and beliefs of different groups can affect the criteria for a suitable product.
Design a solution or product. Student should make and compare different proposals in the light of the criteria they have selected. They must consider constraints-such as cost, time, trade-odds, and materials needed- and communicate ideas with drawing and simple models.
Implement a proposed design. Students should organize materials and other resources, plan their work, make good use of group collaboration where appropriate, choose suitable tools and techniques, and work with appropriate measurement methods to ensure adequate accuracy.
Evaluate completed technological designs or products. Students should use criteria relevant to the original purpose or need, consider a variety of factors that might affect acceptability and suitability for intended users or beneficiaries, and develop measures of quality with respect to such criteria and factors; they should also suggest improvements and, for their own products, try propose modification.
Communicate the process of technological design, Students should review and describe any completed piece of work and identify the stages of problem identification, solution design, implementation, and evaluation.

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Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Engineers and scientists work together, using technology to help explain and solve today’s problems
  • Drawings and simple models can be used to plan technology.
  • Steps are usually involved in making things.
  • People use objects and ideas to solve problems.
  • People help other people to make and improve things.
  • People use objects and ideas to solve problems.
  • People can't always make what they design.
  • A variety of different materials (paper, cardboard, wood, plastic, metal) can be used with a variety of tools (hammers, screwdrivers, clamps, rulers, scissors, hand lenses, and audio-visual equipment) to make simple constructions.
  • Some materials are better than others for making particular things.
  • Materials that are better in some ways (stronger, cheaper) may be worse in other ways (heavier, harder to form).
  • People alone or in groups are always inventing new ways to solve problems and do work.
  • The benefits of science and technology are not available to all people.
  • There are practical limits of the use of technology, including cost, time and availability of materials.
  • Technology for a given situation or problem is limited by the creative wisdom of humans, the availability of time, and availability of resources.
  • Engineers and scientists work together, using technology to help explain and solve today’s problems
  • Drawings and simple models can be used to plan technology.
  • Steps are usually involved in making things.
  • People use objects and ideas to solve problems.
  • People help other people to make and improve things.
  • People use objects and ideas to solve problems.
  • People can't always make what they design.
  • A variety of different materials (paper, cardboard, wood, plastic, metal) can be used with a variety of tools (hammers, screwdrivers, clamps, rulers, scissors, hand lenses, and audio-visual equipment) to make simple constructions.
  • Some materials are better than others for making particular things.
  • Materials that are better in some ways (stronger, cheaper) may be worse in other ways (heavier, harder to form).
  • People alone or in groups are always inventing new ways to solve problems and do work.


  • Identify a simple problem.
  • Propose a solution to a simple problem.
  • Implement the proposed solution.
  • Evaluate the implementation.
  • Communicate the problem, design, and solution.
  • Investigate and list the components of the solar system.
  • Investigate and describe the motion of objects in the solar system that support the concepts of day, year, eclipses, and phases of the moon.
  • Investigate and describe the influence of gravity on objects in the solar system.
  • Investigate and describe the sun as the major source of energy that influences the atmosphere and the earth’s surface.
  • Investigate and describe the effect of the tilt of the earth’s axis on seasons.
  • Identify problems for technological design.
  • Design a solution or product.
  • Implement a proposed design.
  • Evaluate completed technological designs or products.
  • Communicate the process of technological design.

 

   
 

Understandings about science and technology.

Scientific inquiry and technological design have similarities and differences. Scientists propose explanations for questions about the natural world, and engineers propose solutions relating to human problems, needs, and aspirations. Technological solutions are temporary; technologies exist within nature and so they cannot contravene physical or biological principles; technological solutions have side effects; and technologies cost, carry risks, and provide benefits.
Many different people in different cultures have made and continue to make contributions to science and technology.
Science and technology are reciprocal. Science helps drive technology, as it addresses questions that demand more sophisticated instruments and provides principles for better instrumentation and technique. Technology is essential to science, because it provides instruments and techniques that enable observations of objects and phenomena that are other wise unobservable due to factors such as quantity, distance, location, size, and speed. Technology also provides tools for investigations, inquiry, and analysis.
Perfectly designed solutions do not exist. All technological solutions have tradeoffs, such as safety, cost, efficiency, and appearance. Engineers often build in back-up systems to provide safety. Risk is part of living in a highly technological world. Reducing risk often results in new technology.
Technological designs have constraints. Some constraints are unavoidable, for example, properties of materials, or effects of weather and friction; other constraints limit choices in the design, for example, environmental protection, human safety, and aesthetics.
Technological solutions have intended benefits and unintended consequences. Some consequences can be predicted, others cannot.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Tools and ideas are technology.
  • Technology can be used to build or improve something.
  • Tools are a part of technology and they are used to do things better, easier, and things that could not be done otherwise.
  • A tools design and the purpose of the tool are closely related.
  • Tools are helpful when making things.
  • Some things can't be made with out tools.
  • Each kind of tool has a special purpose.
  • Tools are used to make better observations and measurements.
  • Scientists use tools for better observations.
  • Balance can compare the mass of objects.
  • Thermometers measure temperature.
  • Magnifying glasses make objects appear larger.
  • Tools and the ways people do things affect all aspects of life.
  • When people want to build something new they should consider how it might affect people.
  • Men and women have made a variety of contributions throughout the history of science and technology.
  • Science and technology have been practiced by people for a long time.
  • New ideas and inventions continue to affect people.
  • Some objects occur in nature (natural objects); others have been designed and made by people to solve human problems and enhance the quality of life (designed or man made).
  • The benefits of science and technology are not available to all people.
  • There are practical limits of the use of technology, including cost, time and availability of materials.
  • Technology for a given situation or problem is limited by the creative wisdom of humans, the availability of time, and availability of resources.
  • Tools and ideas are technology.
  • Technology can be used to build or improve something.
  • Tools are a part of technology and they are used to do things better, easier, and things that could not be done otherwise.
  • A tools design and the purpose of the tool are closely related.
  • Tools are helpful when making things.
  • Some things can't be made with out tools.
  • Each kind of tool has a special purpose.
  • Tools are used to make better observations and measurements.
  • Scientists use tools for better observations.
  • Balance can compare the mass of objects.
  • Thermometers measure temperature.
  • Magnifying glasses make objects appear larger.
  • Tools and the ways people do things affect all aspects of life.
  • When people want to build something new they should consider how it might affect people.
  • Men and women have made a variety of contributions throughout the history of science and technology.
  • Science and technology have been practiced by people for a long time.
  • New ideas and inventions continue to affect people.
  • Identify tools or techniques that use scientific knowledge to solve problems.
  • Identify, investigate, and solve a problem in the home or school.
  • Classify an object as natural or designed
  • Distinguish between scientific inquiry (asking questions about the natural world) and technological design (using science to solve practical problems).
  • Describe how science and technology are reciprocal.
  • Assess the avoidable and unavoidable limits of a technological design.
  • Recognize that solutions have intended and unintended consequences.
   
Personal and Social

 

     

Personal health

Regular exercise in important to the maintenance and improvement of health. The benefits of physical fitness include maintaining healthy weight, having energy and strength for routine activities, good muscle tone, bone strength, strong heart/lung systems, and improved mental health. Personal exercise, especially developing cardiovascular endurance, is the foundation of physical fitness.
The potential for accidents and the existence of hazards imposes the need for injury prevention. Safe living involves the development and use of safety precautions and the recognition of risk in personal decisions. Injury prevention has personal and social dimensions.
The use of tobacco increases the risk of illness. Students should understand the influence of short-term social and psychological factors that lead to tobacco use, and the possible long-term detrimental effects of smoking and chewing tobacco.
Alcohol and other drugs are often abused substances. Such drugs change how the body functions and can lead to addiction.
Food provides energy and nutrients for growth and development. Nutrition requirements vary with body weight, age, sex, activity, and body functioning.
Sex drive is a natural human function that requires understanding. Sex is also a prominent means of transmitting diseases. The diseases can be prevented through a variety of precautions.
Natural environments may contain substances (for example, radon and lead) that are harmful to human beings. Maintaining environmental health involves establishing or monitoring quality standards, related to use of soil, water, and air.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Individuals have some responsibility for their own health.
  • People need to take care of themselves.
  • People help other people to make and improve things.
  • Environments are the space, conditions, and factors that affect an individual’s and a population’s quality of life and ability to survive.
  • Safety and security are basic needs of humans.
  • Safety involves freedom from danger, risk, or injury.
  • Security involves feelings of confidence and lack of anxiety and fear.
  • Ideas and inventions affect people.
  • Following safety rules at home and school prevent injury.
  • Knowing when and whom to ask for help reduces risk.
  • Knowing when and how to say no reduces risk.
  • Some diseases are communicable, such as colds, can be prevented with hygiene.
  • The body’s defense mechanisms can prevent or overcome illness.
  • Balanced nutrition is essential to health
  • Earth system cause natural hazards, events that change or destroy human and wildlife habitats, damage property, and harm or kill humans.
  • Natural hazards include earthquakes, landslides, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, floods, storms, and even possible impacts of asteroids.
  • Safety and security are basic needs of humans.
  • Safety involves freedom from danger, risk, or injury.
  • Security involves feelings of confidence and lack of anxiety and fear.
  • Following safety rules at home and school prevent injury.
  • Knowing when and whom to ask for help reduces risk.
  • Knowing when and how to say no reduces risk.
  • Different substance can damage the body and how it functions.
  • Regular exercise is important to the maintenance and improvement of health.
  • Tobacco increases the risk of illness.
  • Alcohol and other drugs are often abused substances.
  • Food provides energy and nutrients for growth and development.
  • Individuals have some responsibility for their own health.
  • People need to take care of themselves.
  • People help other people to make and improve things.
  • Environments are the space, conditions, and factors that affect an individual’s and a population’s quality of life and ability to survive.
  • Safety and security are basic needs of humans.
  • Safety involves freedom from danger, risk, or injury.
  • Security involves feelings of confidence and lack of anxiety and fear.
  • Ideas and inventions affect people.
  • Following safety rules at home and school prevent injury.
  • Knowing when and whom to ask for help reduces risk.
  • Knowing when and how to say no reduces risk.
  • Some diseases are communicable, such as colds, can be prevented with hygiene.
  • The body’s defense mechanisms can prevent or overcome illness.
  • Balanced nutrition is essential to health
  • Earth system cause natural hazards, events that change or destroy human and wildlife habitats, damage property, and harm or kill humans.
  • Natural hazards include earthquakes, landslides, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, floods, storms, and even possible impacts of asteroids.
  • Safety and security are basic needs of humans.
  • Safety involves freedom from danger, risk, or injury.
  • Security involves feelings of confidence and lack of anxiety and fear.
  • Following safety rules at home and school prevent injury.
  • Knowing when and whom to ask for help reduces risk.
  • Knowing when and how to say no reduces risk.
  • Different substance can damage the body and how it functions.
  • Regular exercise is important to the maintenance and improvement of health.
  • Tobacco increases the risk of illness.
  • Alcohol and other drugs are often abused substances.
  • Food provides energy and nutrients for growth and development.
  • Explain how the body uses food and how various foods contribute to health.
  • Describe how different substances (e.g., tobacco, alcohol, and drugs) can damage the body and alter how it functions.
  • Identify and research substances harmful to human beings in the natural environment (e.g., radon, lead, and nitrates).
  • Investigate and explain how personal choices can directly affect a person’s health (e.g., exercise, nutrition, and use of drugs).
   
 

Populations, resources, and environments

When an area becomes overpopulated, the environment will become degraded due to the increased use of resources.
Causes of environmental degradation and resource depletion vary from region to region and from country to country.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Human populations include groups of individuals living in particular locations.
  • Environments are the space, conditions, and factors that affect an individual’s and a population’s quality of life and ability to survive.
  • The size of a population can increase or decrease.
  • Resources are things that we get from the living and non living environment to meet the needs and wants of a population.
  • Overpopulation degrades environments.
  • Resources are things that we get from the living and non living environment to meet the needs and wants of a population.
  • Some resources are basic materials, such as air and water; some are produced from basic resources, such as food and fuel; and some resources are non material, such as beauty and security.
  • The supply of many resources is limited.
  • Human populations include groups of individuals living in particular locations.
  • Environments are the space, conditions, and factors that affect an individual’s and a population’s quality of life and ability to survive.
  • The size of a population can increase or decrease.
  • Changes in environments can be natural or influenced by humans.
  • Different consequences result form environmental changes occurring at different rates.
  • Earth system cause natural hazards, events that change or destroy human and wildlife habitats, damage property, and harm or kill humans.
  • Investigate and describe how population levels affect resources and the environment.
  • Investigate and understand that the causes of environmental degradation and resource depletion vary locally and globally.
   
 

Natural Hazards

Internal and external processes of the earth system cause natural hazards, events that change or destroy human and wildlife habitats, damage property, and harm or kill humans. Natural hazards include earthquakes, landslides, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, floods, storms, and even possible impacts of asteroids.
Human activities also can induce hazards through resources acquisition, urban growth, land-use decisions, and waste disposal. Such activities can accelerate many natural changes.
Natural hazards can present personal and societal challenges because miss identifying the change or incorrectly estimating the rate and scale of change may result in either too little attention and significant human costs or too much cost for unneeded preventative measures.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Changes in environments can be natural or influenced by humans.
  • Different consequences result form environmental changes occurring at different rates.
  • Earth system cause natural hazards, events that change or destroy human and wildlife habitats, damage property, and harm or kill humans.
  • Earth system cause natural hazards, events that change or destroy human and wildlife habitats, damage property, and harm or kill humans.
  • Some resources are basic materials, such as air and water; some are produced from basic resources, such as food and fuel; and some resources are non material, such as beauty and security.
  • The supply of many resources is limited.
  • Earth system cause natural hazards, events that change or destroy human and wildlife habitats, damage property, and harm or kill humans.
  • Internal and external processes of the earth system cause natural hazards.


  • List examples of resources which are basic materials (e.g., air, water, and soil).
  • List examples of resources produced from basic materials (e.g., food, fuel, and building materials).
  • List examples of resources which are intangible materials (e.g., beauty, security, and quiet places).
  • Research and report on the supply of various resources.
  • Investigate and describe the effect of natural hazards on the environment (e.g., earthquakes, landslides, wildfires, floods, and storms).
  • Investigate and describe human activities (e.g., urban growth, land use, and waste disposal) which can accelerate many natural changes.
   
 

Risks and Benefits

Risk analysis considers the type of hazard and estimates the number of people that might be exposed and the number likely to suffer consequences. The results are used to determine the options for reducing or eliminating risks.
Students should understand the risks associated with natural hazards (fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions). with chemical hazards (pollutants in air, water, soil, and food), with biological hazards (pollen, viruses, bacterial, and parasite), social hazards (occupational safety and transportation). and with personal hazards (smoking, dieting, and drinking).
Individuals can use a systematic approach to thinking critically about risks and benefits. Examples include applying probability estimates to risks and comparing them to estimated personal and social benefits.
Important personal and social decisions are made based on perceptions of benefits and risks.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • The benefits of science and technology are not available to all people.
  • There are practical limits of the use of technology, including cost, time and availability of materials.
  • Technology for a given situation or problem is limited by the creative wisdom of humans, the availability of time, and availability of resources.
  • The potential for accidents and the existence of hazards imposes the need for injury prevention.
  • Natural, chemical, biological, social, and personal hazards have risks and benefits.
  • Distinguish between natural environmental changes and human influenced environmental changes.
  • Analyze a type of hazard (e.g., natural, chemical, or biological) to evaluate the options for reducing or eliminating human risk.
  • Describe how perceptions of risks and benefits influence personal and social decision (e.g., seat belt usage and waste disposal procedures).
   
 

Science and Technology in Society

Science influences society through its knowledge and world view. Scientific knowledge and world view. Scientific knowledge and the procedures used by scientists influence the way many individuals in society think about themselves, others, and the environment. The effect of science on society is neither entirely beneficial nor entirely detrimental
Society challenges often inspire questions for scientific, research, and social priorities often influence research priorities through the availability of funding for research.
Technology influences society through its products and processes. Technology influences the quality of life and the ways people act and interact. Technological change are often accompanied by social, political, and economic changes that can be beneficial or detrimental to individuals and to society. Social needs, attitudes, and values influence the direction of technological development.
Science and technology have advanced through contributions of many different people, in different cultures, at different times in history. Science and technology have contributed enormously to economic growth and productivity among societies and groups within societies.
Scientists and engineers work in many different settings, including colleges and universities, businesses and industries, specific research institutes, and government agencies.
Scientists and engineers have ethical codes requiring that human subjects involved with research be fully informed about risks and benefits associated with the research before the individuals choose to participate. This ethic extends to potential risks to communities and property. In short, prior knowledge and consent are required for research involving human subjects or potential damage to property.
Science cannot answer all questions and technology cannot solve all human problems or meet all human needs. students should understand the difference between scientific and other questions. They should appreciate what science and technology can reasonably contribute to society and what they cannot do. For example, new technology can reasonably contribute to society and what they cannot do. For example, new technologies often will decrease some risks and increase others.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • People help other people to make and improve things.
  • Ideas and inventions affect people.
  • Science and technology have greatly improved the quality of life for most people.
  • Science influences society through its knowledge and world view.
  • People, cultures, and events in history have advanced science and technology.
  • Scientists and engineers work in many different settings.
  • People help other people to make and improve things.
  • Ideas and inventions affect people.
  • Science and technology have greatly improved the quality of life for most people.
  • Technology influences society through its products and processes.
  • The benefits of science and technology are not available to all people.
  • There are practical limits of the use of technology, including cost, time and availability of materials.
  • Technology for a given situation or problem is limited by the creative wisdom of humans, the availability of time, and availability of resources.
  • Research and explain how science and technology affect the quality of life.
  • Explain that the effect of science on society is neither entirely beneficial nor entirely detrimental.
  • Describe how societal challenges and priorities influence research priorities.
  • Explain why science cannot answer all questions and technology cannot solve all human problems or meet all human needs.
   
History and Nature of Science

 

     

Science as a human endeavor

Women and men of various social and ethnic backgrounds-and with diverse interests, talents, qualities,, and motivations-engage in the activities of science, engineering, and related fields such as the health professions. Some scientists work in teams, and some work alone, but all communicate extensively with others.
Science requires different abilities, depending on such factors as the field of study and type of inquiry. Science is very much a human endeavor, and the work of science relies on basic human qualities, such as reasoning, insight, energy, skill, and creativity-as well as on scientific habits of the mind, such as intellectual honesty, tolerance of ambiguity, skepticism, and openness to new ideas.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Science is a way of answering questions and explaining the natural world.
  • Men and women from all cultures have made a variety of contributions throughout the history of science and technology.
  • People choose science as a career or hobby.
  • Scientific understanding is continuously changing.
  • Scientists are employed by colleges, universities, businesses, industries, hospitals, and government agencies.
  • Scientists work in offices, classrooms, laboratories, farms, factories, and in natural settings from space to the ocean floor.
  • Women and men of various social and ethnic backgrounds, working alone or in teams, engage in the activities of science, engineering, and related fields such as health professions.
  • Science is a way of answering questions and explaining the natural world.
  • Men and women from all cultures have made a variety of contributions throughout the history of science and technology.
  • Science and technology have been practiced by people for a long time.
  • People choose science as a career or hobby.
  • Scientific understanding is continuously changing.
  • Investigative discoveries can become available to everyone in the world.
  • Scientists are employed by colleges, universities, businesses, industries, hospitals, and government agencies.
  • Scientists work in offices, classrooms, laboratories, farms, factories, and in natural settings from space to the ocean floor.
  • Research and report on the contributions to science and technology throughout history by men and women scientists of diverse cultures.
  • Research and report on how science is used in different careers.
  • Research and report on how current scientific discoveries illustrate that science is an ongoing process.
  • Investigate and understand that women and men of various social and ethnic backgrounds, working alone or in teams, engage in the activities of science, engineering, and related fields.
  • Investigate and understand that science requires different abilities based on the type of inquiry and relies upon basic human qualities and scientific habits of mind.
  • Explain the need for ethical codes followed by scientists (e.g., humane treatment of animals and truth in reporting).
   

Nature of Science

Scientists formulate and test their explanations of nature using observations, experiments, and theoretical and mathematical models. Although all scientific ideas are tentative and subject to change and improvement in principle, for most major ideas in science, there is much experimental and observational confirmation. Those ideas are not likely to change greatly in the future. Scientists do and have changed their ideas about nature when they encounter new experimental evidence that does not match their existing explanations
In areas where active research is being pursued and in which there is not a great deal of experimental or observational evidence and understanding, it is normal for scientists to differ with one another about the interpretation of the evidence or theory being considered. Different scientists might publish conflicting experimental results or might draw different conclusions from the same data. Ideally, scientists acknowledge such conflict and work towards finding evidence that will resolve their disagreement.
It is part of scientific inquiry to evaluate the results of scientific investigations, experiments, observations, theoretical models, and the explanations proposed by other scientists. Evaluation includes reviewing the experimental procedures, examining the evidence, identifying faulty reasoning, pointing out statements that go beyond the evidence, and suggesting alternative explanations for the same observations. Although scientists may disagree about explanations of phenomena, about interpretations of data, or about the value of rival theories, they do agree that questioning, response to criticism, and open communication are integral to the process of science. As scientific knowledge evolves, major disagreements are eventually resolved through such interactions between scientists.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
--------------------------------------------------------------

  • Science is a way of answering questions and explaining the natural world.
  • Scientific understanding is continuously changing.
  • Investigative discoveries can become available to everyone in the world.
  • Science endeavors require different abilities, basic human qualities, and scientific habits of mind.
  • It is normal for scientists to differ with one another about the interpretation of the evidences or theory being considered
  • Research and report on the contributions to science and technology throughout history by men and women scientists of diverse cultures.
  • Research and report on how science is used in different careers.
  • Research and report on how current scientific discoveries illustrate that science is an ongoing process.
  • Formulate and test a hypothesis using observations, experiments, and models.
  • Use questioning, response to criticism, and open communication when defending a conclusion.
  • Evaluate the results of scientific investigations, experiments, observations, theoretical models, and the explanations proposed by other scientists.
  • Understand that scientific theories are based on observations, governed by rules of reasoning, and used to predict events.
   

History of Science

Many individuals have contributed to the traditions of science. Studying some of these individuals provides further understanding of scientific inquiry, science as a human endeavor, the nature of science, and the relationships between science and society.
In historical perspective, science has been practiced by different individuals in different cultures. In looking at the history of many peoples, one finds that scientists and engineers of high achievement are considered to be among the most valued contributors to their culture.
Tracing the history of science can show how difficult it was for scientific innovators to break through the accepted ideas of their time to reach to conclusions that we currently take for granted.

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • Men and women from all cultures have made a variety of contributions throughout the history of science and technology.
  • Science and technology have been practiced by people for a long time.
  • Scientific understanding is continuously changing.
  • Research and describe the difficulties experienced by scientific innovators who had to overcome commonly held beliefs of their times to reach conclusions that we now take for granted.
  • Research and report on the contributions to science and technology throughout history by men and women scientists of diverse cultures.
  • Research and report on how science is used in different careers.
  • Research and report on how current scientific discoveries illustrate that science is an ongoing process.
  • Many individuals have contributed to the traditions of science.
  • Science has been practiced by different individuals in different cultures.
   

Attitudes

 

Related - Concepts, Facts, and Generalizations
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  • It's okay for people to have different ideas.
  • I can learn about the world around me by asking questions, making careful observations, and trying things.
  • It's fun to share what you know with other people.
  • I can remember and understand better if I record information by writing, drawing, or using technology to record information.
  • I learn from others when I keep an open mind and listen to others ideas.
  • Experiments that do not turn out the way that was predicted can still provide useful information.
  • Investigation is an adventure that has been enjoyed by people everywhere and for all time.
  • Different explanations can be given for the same information and you can't tell which is correct. .
     

Dr. Robert Sweetland's Notes ©