SCIENCE AS INQUIRY

Develop students' abilities to do and understand scientific inquiry.

• Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations.
  
• Design and conduct a scientific investigation.
  
• Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret data.
  
• Develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models using evidence.
  
• Think critically and logically to make the connections between evidence and explanations.
  
• Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and predictions.
  
• Communicate scientific procedures and explanations.
  
• Use mathematics in scientific inquiry.
  
• Understand that different kinds of questions suggest different kinds of scientific investigations; current knowledge guides scientific investigations; mathematics and technology are important scientific tools.
  
• Understand that scientific explanations emphasize evidence.

CONTENT: EARTH SCIENCE

Develop student' understanding of Earth history and structure of Earth systems.

• Earth processes we see today are similar to those that occurred in the past.
  
• Fossils provide important evidence of how life and environmental conditions have changed.
  
• Solid Earth is layered, with a lithosphere, hot convecting mantle, and dense metallic core.
  
• Landforms are the result of a combination of constructive forces (crustal deformation, volcanic eruption, and deposition of sediments) and destructive forces (weathering and erosion).
  
• The rock cycle involves old rocks that break down to form the source of sediments that are buried, compacted, heated, and often recrystallized into new rocks.

HISTORY OF SCIENCE

Develop students' understanding of science as a human endeavor.

• Science requires different abilities, depending on such factors as the field of study and type of inquiry.
  
• Many individuals have contributed to the traditions of science.