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 students’ understanding of Earth and the Solar System as a set of closely coupled systems.

• Earth is the third planet 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 governed by the force of gravity. Those motions explain such phenomena as the day, the year, seasons, phases of the Moon, and eclipses.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Develop students’ understandings of science and technology.

• Science influences society through its knowledge and worldview.
  
• Scientists and engineers work in many different settings.

HISTORY AND NATURE OF SCIENCE

Develop an understanding of science as a human endeavor that has taken place over time.

• Many individuals from different cultures have contributed to the traditions of science.