Standards - Science

Use evidence to explain the relationship of the speed of an object to the energy of that object.

Plan and carry out investigations that explain transference of energy from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

Provide evidence that heat can be produced in many ways (e.g., rubbing hands together, burning leaves) and can move from one object to another by conduction.

Demonstrate that different objects can absorb, reflect, and/or conduct energy.

Demonstrate that electric circuits require a complete loop through which an electric current can pass.

Investigate to determine changes in energy resulting from increases or decreases in speed that occur when objects collide.

Design, construct, and test a device that changes energy from one form to another (e.g., electric circuits converting electrical energy into motion, light, or sound energy; a passive solar heater converting light energy into heat energy).*

Compile information to describe how the use of energy derived from natural renewable and nonrenewable resources affects the environment (e.g., constructing dams to harness energy from water, a renewable resource, while causing a loss of animal habitats; burning of fossil fuels, a nonrenewable resource, while causing an increase in air pollution; installing solar panels to harness energy from the sun, a renewable resource, while requiring specialized materials that necessitate mining).

Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength, and including that waves can cause objects to move.

Develop and use models to show multiple solutions in which patterns are used to transfer information (e.g., using a grid of 1s and 0s representing black and white to send information about a picture, using drums to send coded information through sound waves, using Morse code to send a message).*

Construct a model to explain that an object can be seen when light reflected from its surface enters the eyes.

Examine evidence to support an argument that the internal and external structures of plants (e.g., thorns, leaves, stems, roots, colored petals, xylem, phloem) and animals (e.g., heart, stomach, lung, brain, skin) function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

Obtain and communicate information explaining that humans have systems that interact with one another for digestion, respiration, circulation, excretion, movement, control, coordination, and protection from disease.

Investigate different ways animals receive information through the senses, process that information, and respond to it in different ways (e.g., skunks lifting tails and spraying an odor when threatened, dogs moving ears when reacting to sound, snakes coiling or striking when sensing vibrations).

Construct explanations by citing evidence found in patterns of rock formations and fossils in rock layers that Earth changes over time through both slow and rapid processes (e.g., rock layers containing shell fossils appearing above rock layers containing plant fossils and no shells indicating a change from land to water over time, a canyon with different rock layers in the walls and a river in the bottom indicating that over time a river cut through the rock).

Plan and carry out investigations to examine properties of soils and soil types (e.g., color, texture, capacity to retain water, ability to support growth of plants).

Explore information to support the claim that landforms are the result of a combination of constructive forces, including crustal deformation, volcanic eruptions, and sediment deposition as well as a result of destructive forces, including erosion and weathering.

Analyze and interpret data (e.g., angle of slope in downhill movement of water, volume of water flow, cycles of freezing and thawing of water, cycles of heating and cooling of water, speed of wind, relative rate of soil deposition, amount of vegetation) to determine effects of weathering and rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, and vegetation using one single form of weathering or erosion at a time.

Describe patterns of Earth’s features on land and in the ocean using data from maps (e.g., topographic maps of Earth’s land and ocean floor; maps of locations of mountains, continental boundaries, volcanoes, and earthquakes).

Formulate and evaluate solutions to limit the effects of natural Earth processes on humans (e.g., designing earthquake, tornado, or hurricane-resistant buildings; improving monitoring of volcanic activity).*

Analyze patterns within the periodic table to construct models (e.g., molecular-level models, including drawings; computer representations) that illustrate the structure, composition, and characteristics of atoms and molecules.

Plan and carry out investigations to generate evidence supporting the claim that one pure substance can be distinguished from another based on characteristic properties.

Construct explanations based on evidence from investigations to differentiate among compounds, mixtures, and solutions.

Collect and analyze information to illustrate how synthetic materials (e.g., medicine, food additives, alternative fuels, plastics) are derived from natural resources and how they impact society.

Design and conduct an experiment to determine changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added to or removed from a system.

Observe and analyze characteristic properties of substances (e.g., odor, density, solubility, flammability, melting point, boiling point) before and after the substances combine to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.

Create a model, diagram, or digital simulation to describe conservation of mass in a chemical reaction and explain the resulting differences between products and reactants.

Design, construct, and test a device (e.g., glow stick, hand warmer, hot or cold pack, thermal wrap) that either releases or absorbs thermal energy by chemical reactions (e.g., dissolving ammonium chloride or calcium chloride in water) and modify the device as needed based on criteria (e.g., amount/concentration, time, temperature).*

Use Newton’s first law to demonstrate and explain that an object is either at rest or moves at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an external force (e.g., model car on a table remaining at rest until pushed).

Use Newton’s second law to demonstrate and explain how changes in an object’s motion depend on the sum of the external forces on the object and the mass of the object (e.g., billiard balls moving when hit with a cue stick).

Use Newton’s third law to design a model to demonstrate and explain the resulting motion of two colliding objects (e.g., two cars bumping into each other, a hammer hitting a nail).*

Plan and carry out investigations to evaluate how various factors (e.g., electric force produced between two charged objects at various positions; magnetic force produced by an electromagnet with varying number of wire turns, varying number or size of dry cells, and varying size of iron core) affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces.

Construct an argument from evidence explaining that fields exist between objects exerting forces on each other (e.g., interactions of magnets, electrically charged strips of tape, electrically charged pith balls, gravitational pull of the moon creating tides) even when the objects are not in contact.

Create and analyze graphical displays of data to illustrate the relationships of kinetic energy to the mass and speed of an object (e.g., riding a bicycle at different speeds, hitting a table tennis ball versus a golf ball, rolling similar toy cars with different masses down an incline).

Use models to construct an explanation of how a system of objects may contain varying types and amounts of potential energy (e.g., observing the movement of a roller coaster cart at various inclines, changing the tension in a rubber band, varying the number of batteries connected in a series, observing a balloon with static electrical charge being brought closer to a classmate’s hair).