Science
Grade-Level Indicators
Physical Sciences
Students demonstrate an understanding of the composition of physical systems and the concepts and principles that describe and predict physical interactions and events in the natural world. This includes demonstrating an understanding of the structure and properties of matter, the properties of materials and objects, chemical reactions and the conservation of matter. In addition, it includes understanding the nature, transfer and conservation of energy, as well as motion and the forces affecting motion, the nature of waves and interactions of matter and energy. Students also demonstrate an understanding of the historical perspectives, scientific approaches and emerging scientific issues associated with the physical sciences.
Nature of Matter 1. Demonstrate that objects are made of parts (e.g.,
toys, chairs).
2. Examine and describe objects according to the materials that make up
the object (e.g., wood, metal, plastic, cloth).
3.
Describe and sort objects by one or more properties
(e.g., size, color, shape).
Forces and Motion 4. Explore
that things can be made to move in many different ways such as straight,
zigzag, up and down, round and round, back and forth, or fast and slow.
5.
Investigate ways to change how something is moving
(e.g., push, pull).
Nature of Matter 1. Classify objects according to the materials they
are made of and their physical properties.
2. Investigate that water can change from liquid to solid or solid to
liquid.
3. Explore and observe that things can be done to materials to change
their properties (e.g., heating, freezing, mixing, cutting, wetting,
dissolving, bending, exposing to light).
4.
Explore
changes that greatly change the properties of an object (e.g., burning paper)
and changes that leave the properties largely unchanged (e.g., tearing paper).
Forces and Motion 5. Explore the effects
some objects have on others even when the two objects might not touch (e.g.,
magnets).
6.
Investigate
a variety of ways to make things move
and what causes them to change speed, direction and/or stop.
Nature of Energy 7. Explore how
energy makes things work (e.g., batteries in a toy, electricity turning fan
blades).
8.
Recognize
that the Sun is an energy source that warms the land, air and water.
9.
Describe
that energy can be obtained from many sources in many ways (e.g., food,
gasoline, electricity or batteries).
Forces and Motion 1. Explore how things make sound (e.g., rubber bands,
tuning fork, strings).
2. Explore and describe sounds (e.g., high, low, soft, loud) produced by
vibrating objects.
3. Explore with flashlights and shadows that light travels in a straight line until it strikes an object.
Forces and Motion 1. Describe an objects position by locating it relative
to another object or the background.
2. Describe an objects motion by tracing and measuring its position over
time.
3.
Identify contact/noncontact forces that affect
motion of an object (e.g., gravity, magnetism, collision).
4. Predict the changes when an object experiences a force (e.g., a push or pull, weight, friction).
Nature of Matter 1. Identify characteristics of a simple physical
change (e.g., heating or cooling can change water from one state to another and
the change is reversible).
2. Identify characteristics of a simple chemical change. When a new material is made by combining two
or more materials, it has chemical properties that are different from the
original materials (e.g., burning paper, vinegar and baking soda).
3. Describe objects by the properties of the materials from which they are
made and that these properties can be used to separate or sort a group of
objects (e.g., paper, glass, plastic,
metal).
4. Explain that matter has different states (e.g., solid, liquid and gas)
and that each state has distinct physical properties.
Nature of Energy 5. Compare ways the temperature of an object can be changed (e.g., rubbing, heating, bending of metal).
Nature of Energy 1. Define temperature as the measure of thermal energy
and describe the way it is measured.
2.
Trace how thermal energy can transfer from one
object to another by conduction.
3.
Describe that electrical current in a circuit can
produce thermal energy, light, sound and/or magnetic forces.
4.
Trace how electrical current travels by creating a
simple electric circuit that will light a bulb.
5.
Explore and summarize observations of the
transmission, bending (refraction) and reflection of light.
6.
Describe and summarize observations of the
transmission, reflection, and absorption of sound.
7.
Describe that changing the rate of vibration can
vary the pitch of a sound.
Nature of Matter 1. Explain that equal volumes of different substances
usually have different masses.
2. Describe that in a chemical change new substances are formed with
different properties than the original substance (e.g., rusting, burning).
3. Describe that in a physical change (e.g., state, shape, size) the
chemical properties of a substance remain unchanged.
4. Describe that chemical and physical changes occur all around us (e.g.,
in the human body, cooking, industry).
Nature of Energy 5. Explain
that the energy found in nonrenewable resources such as fossil fuels (e.g.,
oil, coal, natural gas) originally came from the Sun and may renew slowly over
millions of years.
6. Explain that energy derived from renewable resources such as wind and
water is assumed to be available indefinitely.
7.
Describe
how electric energy can be produced from a variety of sources (e.g., Sun, wind,
coal).
8. Describe how renewable and nonrenewable energy resources can be managed (e.g., fossil fuels, trees, water).
Nature of Matter 1. Investigate how
matter can change forms but the total amount of matter remains constant.
Nature
of Energy 2. Describe how an object can have potential energy due to its
position or chemical composition and can have kinetic energy due to its motion.
3.
Identify
different forms of energy (e.g., electrical, mechanical, chemical, thermal,
nuclear, radiant and acoustic).
4.
Explain
how energy can change forms but the total amount of energy remains constant.
5. Trace energy transformation in a simple closed system (e.g., a flashlight).
Forces and Motion 1. Describe how the change in the position (motion) of
an object is always judged and described in comparison to a reference point.
2.
Explain that motion describes the change in the
position of an object (characterized by a speed and direction) as time changes.
3.
Explain that an unbalanced force acting on an
object changes that object’s speed and/or direction.
Nature
of Energy 4. Demonstrate that waves transfer energy.
5. Demonstrate that vibrations in materials may produce waves that spread away from the source in all directions (e.g., earthquake waves, sound waves).
Nature of Matter 1. Recognize that all atoms of the same element
contain the same number of protons, and elements with the same number of
protons may or may not have the same mass. Those with different masses
(different numbers of neutrons) are called isotopes.
2. Illustrate that atoms with the same number of positively charged
protons and negatively charged electrons are electrically neutral.
3. Describe radioactive substances as unstable nuclei that undergo random
spontaneous nuclear decay emitting particles and/or high energy wavelike radiation.
4. Show that when elements are listed in order according to the number of protons (called the atomic number), the repeating patterns of physical and chemical properties identify families of elements. Recognize that the periodic table was formed as a result of the repeating pattern of electron configurations.
5.
Describe
how ions are formed when an atom or a group of atoms acquire an unbalanced
charge by gaining or losing one or more electrons.
6.
Explain
that the electric force between the nucleus and the electrons hold an atom
together. Relate that on a larger
scale, electric forces hold solid and liquid materials together (e.g., salt
crystals, water).
7.
Show
how atoms may be bonded together by losing, gaining or sharing electrons and
that in a chemical reaction, the number, type of atoms and total mass must be the
same before and after the reaction (e.g., writing correct chemical formulas and
writing balanced chemical equations).
8.
Demonstrate
that the pH scale (0-14) is used to measure acidity and classify substances or
solutions as acidic, basic, or neutral.
9.
Investigate
the properties of pure substances and mixtures (e.g., density, conductivity,
hardness, properties of alloys, superconductors and semiconductors).
10.
Compare
the conductivity of different materials and explain the role of electrons in
the ability to conduct electricity.
Nature of Energy 11. Explain how thermal
energy exists in the random motion and vibrations of atoms and molecules. Recognize that the higher the temperature,
the greater the average atomic or molecular motion, and during changes of state
the temperature remains constant.
12.
Explain
how an object’s kinetic energy depends on its mass and its speed (
).
13.
Demonstrate
that near Earth’s surface an object’s gravitational potential energy depends
upon its weight (mg where m is the object’s mass and g is the acceleration due
to gravity) and height (h) above a reference surface
(
).
14.
Summarize
how nuclear reactions convert a small amount of matter into a large amount of
energy. (Fission involves the splitting
of a large nucleus into smaller nuclei; fusion is the joining of two small
nuclei into a larger nucleus at extremely high energies.)
15.
Trace
the transformations of energy within a system (e.g., chemical to electrical to
mechanical) and recognize that energy is conserved. Show that these
transformations involve the release of some thermal energy.
16. Illustrate that chemical reactions are either endothermic or exothermic (e.g., cold packs, hot packs and the burning of fossil fuels).
17.
Demonstrate
that thermal energy can be transferred by conduction, convection or radiation
(e.g., through materials by the collision of particles, moving air masses or
across empty space by forms of electromagnetic radiation).
18.
Demonstrate
that electromagnetic radiation is a form of energy. Recognize that light acts
as a wave. Show that visible light is a part of the electromagnetic spectrum
(e.g., radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays,
and gamma rays).
19. Show how the
properties of a wave depend on the properties of the medium through which it
travels. Recognize that
electromagnetic waves can be propagated without a medium.
20.
Describe
how waves can superimpose on one another when propagated in the same
medium. Analyze conditions in which
waves can bend around corners, reflect off surfaces, are absorbed by materials
they enter, and change direction and speed when entering a different material.
Forces and Motion 21. Demonstrate that motion is a measurable
quantity that depends on the observer’s frame of reference and describe the
object’s motion in terms of position, velocity, acceleration and time.
22.
Demonstrate
that any object does not accelerate (remains at rest or maintains a constant
speed and direction of motion) unless an unbalanced (net) force acts on it.
23.
Explain
the change in motion (acceleration) of an object. Demonstrate that the acceleration is proportional to the net
force acting on the object and inversely proportional to the mass of the
object. (Fnet = ma. Note that weight is the gravitational force on a mass.)
24.
Demonstrate
that whenever one object exerts a force on another, an equal amount of force is
exerted back on the first object.
25. Demonstrate the ways in which frictional forces constrain the motion of objects (e.g., a car traveling around a curve, a block on an inclined plane, a person running, an airplane in flight).
Historical
Perspectives and
Scientific Revolutions 26. Use historical examples to explain how new ideas
are limited by the context in which they are conceived; are often initially
rejected by the scientific establishment; sometimes spring from unexpected
findings; and usually grow slowly through contributions from many different
investigators (e.g., atomic theory, quantum theory, Newtonian mechanics).
27. Describe advances and issues in physical science that have important, long-lasting effects on science and society (e.g., atomic theory, quantum theory, Newtonian mechanics, nuclear energy, nanotechnology, plastics and ceramics and communication technology).
(No
10th Grade Physical Science indicators.)
Nature of Matter 1. Explain that elements with the same number of
protons may or may not have the same mass and those with different masses (different
numbers of neutrons) are called isotopes.
Some of these are radioactive.
2. Explain that humans have used unique bonding of carbon atoms to make a
variety of molecules (e.g., plastics).
Forces
and Motion 3. Describe real world examples showing that all
energy transformations tend toward disorganized states (e.g., fossil fuel
combustion, food pyramids, electrical use).
4.
Explain
how electric motors and generators work (e.g., relate that electricity and
magnetism are two aspects of a single electromagnetic force). Investigate that electric charges in motion
produce magnetic fields and a changing magnetic field creates an electric
field.
Nature of Matter 1. Explain how atoms join with one another in various combinations in
distinct molecules or in repeating crystal patterns.
2. Describe how a physical, chemical or ecological system in equilibrium
may return to the same state of equilibrium if the disturbances it experiences
are small. Large disturbances may cause
it to escape that equilibrium and eventually settle into some other state of
equilibrium.
3. Explain how all matter tends toward more disorganized states and
describe real world examples (e.g., erosion of rocks, expansion of the
universe).
4. Recognize that at low temperatures some materials become superconducting and offer little or no resistance to the flow of electrons.
Forces &
Motion 5. Use and apply the laws of motion to analyze, describe and predict the
effects of forces on the motions of objects mathematically.
6.
Recognize that the nuclear forces that hold the
nucleus of an atom together, at nuclear distances, are stronger than the
electric forces that would make it fly apart.
7.
Recognize that nuclear forces are much stronger
than electromagnetic forces, and electromagnetic forces are vastly stronger
than gravitational forces. The strength
of the nuclear forces explains why greater amounts of energy are released from
nuclear reactions (e.g., from atomic and hydrogen bombs and in the Sun and
other stars).
8.
Describe how the observed wavelength of a wave
depends upon the relative motion of the source and the observer (Doppler
effect). If either is moving towards the other, the observed wavelength is
shorter; if either is moving away, the observed wavelength is longer (e.g.,
weather radar, bat echoes, police radar).
9. Describe how
gravitational forces act between all masses and always create a force of
attraction. Recognize that the strength of the force is proportional to the
masses and weakens rapidly with increasing distance between them.
Nature of Energy 10. Explain
the characteristics of isotopes. The nucleus of radioactive isotopes is
unstable and spontaneously decays emitting particles and/or wavelike
radiation. It cannot be predicted
exactly when, if ever, an unstable nucleus will decay, but a large group of
identical nuclei decay at a predictable rate.
11. Use the
predictability of decay rates and the concept of half-life to explain how
radioactive substances can be used in estimating the age of materials.
12. Describe how
different atomic energy levels are associated with the electron configurations
of atoms and electron configurations (and/or conformations) of molecules.
13. Explain how atoms
and molecules can gain or lose energy in particular discrete amounts (quanta or
packets); therefore they can only absorb or emit light at the wavelengths corresponding to these
amounts.
Historical
Perspectives and
Scientific Revolutions 14. Use historical examples to explain how new ideas
are limited by the context in which they are conceived; are often initially
rejected by the scientific establishment; sometimes spring from unexpected
findings; and usually grow slowly through contributions from many different
investigators (e.g., nuclear energy, quantum theory, theory of relativity).
15. Describe concepts/ideas in physical sciences that have important, long-lasting effects on science and society (e.g., quantum theory, theory of relativity, age of the universe).