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Students will be familiar with current scientific theories about the universe and how those theories evolved. |
a. Understand that there are more stars in the sky than anyone can count, but they are not scattered evenly, and they are not all the same in brightness or color.
b. Know that the sun is a star, and that some stars are smaller and some are larger, but so far away that they look like points of light.
c. Explain when the sun, moon and stars can be seen and how they appear to move across the sky.
d. Describe in simple terms the daily and monthly changes of the moon's appearance.
e. Know the name of our planet, its shape, and its position and relative size in our solar system.
a. Describe the stability and movement of patterns of stars, their seasonal appearance, and the relative movement of planets against the background of stars.
b. Understand how the rotation of the earth on its axis every 24 hours produces the night-and-day cycle, and that this turning of the planet makes it seem as though the sun, moon, planets, and stars are orbiting the earth once a day.
c. Describe and explain the importance of the sun as the central star of our solar system.
d. Explain how brightness, size, and distance from Earth affect the appearance of stars.
a. Describe our sun, its place in our galaxy, and the galaxy's place and relative magnitude in the universe.
b. Describe our solar system, including the planets, the moons, and comets and asteroids.
c. The phases of the moon are caused by the moon's orbit around the earth, which changes what part of the moon is lighted by the sun and how much of that part can be seen from the earth.
a. Describe the ancient, Earth-centered understanding of the universe and how Ptolemy's model changed this understanding.
b. Describe the scientific accomplishments of astronomers and the historical and cultural context and influence of their work.
c. Explain current scientific theory about the age, origin, and on-going evolution of the universe.
d. Compare and contrast the composition, behavior, size, temperature, and age of stars and planets.
e. Explain the factors that affect the appearance of stars.
f. Describe characteristics of worm holes and black holes, including their genesis and their effect on space and time.
g. Describe the array of sophisticated technology available to observe the universe and how this has expanded our knowledge of the universe.
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Students will understand how key features of the earth influence climate, weather, and the water cycle. |
By the end of grade 2:
a. Explain/describe the differences in the 4 seasons and how the seasons and weather follow various patterns in different parts of the world.
b. Describe the different states of water (liquid, gas, solid).
c. Understand that if water is turned into ice and then the ice is allowed to melt, the amount of water is the same as it was before freezing.
d. Explain in simple terms the properties of air and its importance to the earth.
a. Air is a mixture of gases that surrounds us, takes up space, and whose movement we feel as wind.
b. Demonstrate and explain what happens when cold and hot air meet.
c. Describe the steps of the water cycle.
a. Explain what causes the seasons and weather patterns.
b. Describe environmental factors, including the effects of volcanic eruptions, asteroid impacts, and atmospheric and oceanic changes, on world climate.
c. Explain the impact of the water cycle on climatic patterns.
d. Explain the influence on climate of heat energy carried by ocean currents.
a. Explain the factors that influence weather and climate, including the transfer of heat energy, the action of gravitational forces, and the rotation of the Earth.
b. Describe how weather can be influenced by global climatic patterns, such as El Niño and La Niña.
c. Describe how human activity can affect weather and climate.
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Students will understand scientific theories of how the earth's surface is formed and how those theories developed. |
a. Recognize basic features of the earth's surface.
b. Explain how living organisms effect changes in their environment.
a. Describe how wind, and water in various forms, shape the Earth's surface, including the processes of erosion and deposit.
b. Describe the composition of rocks and the rock cycle.
c. Explain the effects of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
d. Understand that the rate of change of the earth's surface can range from abrupt (such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions), to very slow (such as uplift and wearing down of mountains).
e. Understand how fossils are formed.
a. Describe how soil is formed and how it is modified by living and decaying organisms.
b. Describe the development, key ideas, and evidence for the theory of plate tectonics.
c. Describe the layers of the Earth and their key characteristics, including the movements of the plates that form the crust and the geographic results of those movements.
a. Describe how ideas on the origins and the age of the earth have developed.
b. Explain the phenomena that occur beneath the earth's surface.
c. Identify the origin of local geographic features.
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Students will know and understand scientific theories of the nature of matter and how those theories developed. |
a. Understand that objects can be described in terms of the materials they are made of (clay, cloth, paper, etc.) and their physical properties (color, size, shape, weight, texture, flexibility, etc.).
b. Processes can change some of the properties of materials, but not all materials respond the same way to the processes (for example, when heat is applied, some things burn and some things melt).
a. Describe and explain how temperature can change materials' properties and the effects of extreme heat.
b. Understand that materials are composed of parts that are too small to be seen without magnification.
c. Understand that the mass of an object is always the same as the sum of its parts.
d. Describe and explain how basic types of materials can be used to make many different materials, the properties of which might be different from those of the original materials.
a. Recount the evolution in thought about elements, from ancient ideas (e.g., the Greeks' four element and the Chinese' five elements) to the knowledge of over 100 elements.
b. Understand basic facts about atoms, including their submicroscopic size, their uniqueness in each element, and their capacity to organize into molecules.
c. Explain the relationship between the energy of atoms and molecules and the state of matter.
d. Understand that reaction rates are influenced by a number of factors, such as temperature.
e. Understand that many substances dissolve in water, which can greatly facilitate reactions between them.
f. Describe the structure of atoms, and how the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons determine their properties.
a. Describe the work of early scientists in the evolving model of the atom.
b. Describe the work of John Dalton concerning elements, atoms, compounds, and molecules and how he explained reactions in quantitative terms.
c. Describe the development and organization of the periodic table and use it to predict characteristics of elements.
d. Identify types of chemical reactions, write balanced equations, and perform stoichiometric calculations using the mole concept.
e. Compare the properties and behavior of radioactive isotopes and describe their application, including in research, industry, and medicine.
f. Describe the work of the Curies, Rutherford, Meitner, Einstein, and Fermi that led to our understanding of radioactivity.
g. Describe the particles and forces that make up electrons, neutrons, and protons.
h. Understand that ions are formed by the gain or loss of electrons.
i. Explain how molecular and ionic structure determine the properties of substances.
j. Describe the structure of an atom, and explain why its electron configuration determines how the atom can interact with other atoms, and how atoms form ionic or covalent bonds.
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Students will be familiar with the forms and transformations of energy and the significance of energy in understanding the structure of matter and the universe. |
a. Understand that heat is a form of energy that keeps and makes things warm.
b. Heat can be produced in many ways, such as burning, friction, or mixing one substance with another.
a. Describe how some substances, such as metals, are a good conductor of heat, and other substances, such as wood and plastic, are not.
a. Understand that energy cannot be created or destroyed but only changed from one form into another.
b. Give examples of several processes from life science, physical science and earth science in which energy is transformed into another form.
c. Describe the different forms in which energy can appear, including heat energy, chemical energy, mechanical energy, and gravitational energy.
d. Show that heat can be transferred through materials by the collisions of atoms or across space by conduction, convection, and radiation.
e. When warmer objects are put with cooler ones, the warm ones lose heat and the cool ones gain it until they all reach the same temperature.
f. Heat moves from one object to another at different rates, depending on a variety of factors.
a. Explain the law of conservation of matter and energy.
b. Describe the concept of entropy and the principles related to it.
c. Understand that transformations of energy usually produce some energy in the form of heat.
d. Relate energy levels to configurations of atoms and molecules and relate transformations of energy to changes in these configurations.
e. Explain why the light emitted or absorbed by separate atoms or molecules (as in a gas) can be used to identify what the substance is.
f. Compare chemical and nuclear reactions in terms of process and energy production.
g. Understand and assess the uses of nuclear fission and fusion, including the implications for society.
h. Recount the essential ideas of Einstein's special and general theories of relativity and use the equation E=mc2 for transformations of mass and energy.
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Students will understand how society uses and conserves various sources of energy. |
By the end of grade 2:
a. Explain how fire and electricity are important for humankind.
b. Explain the importance of conserving energy and the various ways to do it.
a. Describe how air and water are used in most industries.
b. Describe how the sun is the earth's main source of energy.
c. Describe the relationship of the sun and fossil fuels (coal, oil).
d. Describe the various means of energy conservation and their impact on the environment and society.
a. Explain how electricity can be produced, distributed, and transformed into useful forms.
b. Describe attempts in various parts of the world to conserve fossil fuels or use alternate forms of energy to slow the depletion of resources, reduce pollution, or save money.
c. Compare the environmental consequences of producing, distributing, and transforming various forms of energy.
a. Explain how electric motors and generators operate by using the interplay of electric and magnetic fields.
b. Assess the advantages and disadvantages of using nuclear energy.
c. Evaluate the impact of industry on our society and environment in terms of energy use.
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Students will understand the relationship between force, mass, and the motion of objects. |
a. Discover and describe how objects move in many different ways (directionality, speed, pulling, pushing)
a. Understand that forces cause changes in speed or direction of motion.
b. Understand that the greater the force, the greater the change in motion will be, for a given mass, and that a given force will have less effect on more massive objects.
a. Explain what a force is.
b. Show through calculations that the force on a body is the sum of all forces acting on it.
c. Identify forces acting on an object, including gravity, elastic forces, and friction.
d. Demonstrate that the greater the mass of an object the more force is needed to achieve the same change in motion.
e. Show that when the forces on an object are balanced, the motion of the object does not change.
f. Understand that when the forces on an object are unbalanced, the object will change its motion.
g. Apply Newton's three laws of motion to predict the motion of most objects.
a. Understand the concept of Galileo's principle of inertia and how this laid the groundwork for Newton's laws of motion.
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Students will recognize gravitational, electrical, and magnetic forces as major kinds of forces acting in nature. |
a. Compare, and describe how objects fall differently according to weight and size.
b. A magnet can be used to make things made with iron move without being touched, and either pushes or pulls on other magnets.
a. Understand that the earth's gravity pulls any object toward it and compare and describe the force of gravity using objects with different physical properties.
b. Understand why material that has been electrically charged pushes or pulls other charged materials.
c. Describe how electrical currents and magnets can exert force on each other.
a. Show that gravity is a function of mass and distance.
b. Explain what causes the planets to move in circular orbits around the Sun.
c. Understand magnetic fields and why not all materials are magnetic.
d. Show how magnetic forces can be produced with moving electric charges using fluctuating magnetic fields.
a. Explain the law of universal gravitation, as well as Newton's laws of motion, and account for their acceptance even after Einstein's theories of relativity.
b. Identify and interrelate the variables affecting the flow of electricity.
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Students will be familiar with the wave nature of sound and electromagnetic radiation. |
a. Describe how vibrating objects produce sounds, including music, and cause vibrations in whatever they touch.
a. Describe and explain how sound travels through solids, liquids, and gases at different speeds.
b. Describe and explain the pitch of sound (high and low).
a. Understand that vibrations, such as sound and earthquakes, set up wavelike disturbances that spread away from the source and move at different speeds in different materials.
b. Understand that waves carry energy from one place to another.
c. Identify transverse and longitudinal waves in mechanical media such as springs, ropes, and seismic waves in the Earth.
d. Solve problems involving wavelengths, frequency, and wave speed.
e. Understand that sound is a longitudinal wave whose speed depends on the properties of the medium in which it propagates.
f. Understand that radio waves, visible light, and x-rays are different wavelength bands in the spectrum of electromagnetic waves.
a. Explain different wave phenomena such as reflection, refraction, interference, diffraction, and Doppler effect.
b. Describe the electromagnetic spectrum and the characteristics and interrelationships of particular frequencies.
Go to Living Environment: Questions 15-20
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