Overview of Standards
Scientific Inquiry: Standards 1-5
1. Students will demonstrate their understanding of the importance of curiosity,
honesty, open-mindedness, and skepticism in their own efforts to
understand how and why universal phenomena exist and occur.
By the
end of grade 2:
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a. Ask questions about the world around them and exhibit willingness to seek
answers to selected questions by carefully observing, experimenting, and
predicting the outcome of an investigation. |
By the end of grade 5:
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a. Keep records of investigations and observations and not alter the
records.
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b. Distinguish observations from ideas and speculations and predications
about observations. |
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c. Offer reasons for findings and also consider reasons suggested by others. |
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d. Support statements with facts found in books, articles, and other
resources. |
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e. Identify when comparisons might not be accurate or appropriate because
some conditions are different. |
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f. Question scientific claims based on vague attributions (such as "Leading
doctors say...") or on statements made by people outside the area of their
particular expertise. |
By the end of grade 8:
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a. Keep scientific records of investigations which reflect the importance of
reporting honestly, clearly, and accurately.
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b. Question the value of arguments based on very small samples of scientific
data, biased samples, or samples for which there was no control sample. |
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c. Identify the flaws of arguments based on the faulty, incomplete, or
misleading use of numbers, such as instances in which (1) average results
are reported, but not the amount of variation around the average, and (2) a
percentage or fraction is given, but not the total sample size (as in "9 out
of 10 dentists recommend..."). |
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d. Suggest alternative ways of explaining scientific data and criticize
arguments in which data, explanations, or conclusions are represented as the
only ones worth consideration, with no mention of other possibilities. |
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e. Recognize that there may be more than one reasonable way to interpret a
given set of scientific findings. |
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f. Draw independent conclusions based on data, using critical reasoning to
construct models, rationally defend conclusions, and recognize the validity
of other positions. |
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g. Understand that hypotheses are valuable if they lead to fruitful
investigations, even if the hypotheses turn out not to be true. |
2. Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities
clearly.
By the end of grade 2:
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a. Know how to describe and compare things in terms of number,
shape, texture, size, weight, color, and motion.
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b. Know how to draw
pictures that correctly portray features of an object being observed or
described. |
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c. Know how to explain numerical problems as part of
scientific activity. |
By the end of grade 5:
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a. Know how to write instructions that
others can follow in carrying out a scientific procedure.
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b. Know how to use
numerical data in describing and comparing objects and events. |
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c. Know how
to make sketches or models to aid in explaining scientific procedures or
ideas. |
By the end of grade 8:
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a. Know how to write clear, step-by-step
instructions for conducting scientific investigations, operating equipment,
or following a procedure.
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b. Understand and produce writing for scientific
purposes that incorporates circle charts, bar and line graphs, two-way data
tables, diagrams, and symbols. |
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c. Analyze and evaluate scientific data to
draw a valid conclusion. |
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d. Write and describe coherent accounts of
scientific activities and alternative interpretations of the results. |
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e.
Understand the importance of verbal accuracy and explicit statement of
critical assumptions when stating a position. |
3. Students will be familiar with the character of scientific knowledge and
inquiry and how it is achieved.
By the end of grade 2:
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a. When a science investigation is
repeated, the results should be consistent.
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b. Explain why accurate
descriptions are important in science. |
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c. Explain why, in doing science, it
is often helpful to work with a team and to share findings with others. |
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d.
Know that tools such as thermometers, hand lenses, and rulers aid inquiry by
gaining more information. |
By the end of grade 5:
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a. Describe some of the
many different forms of scientific investigation.
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b. Offer justifiable
explanations when similar scientific investigations do not produce exactly
the same results. |
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c. Explain why clear and active communication is an
essential part of doing science, including informing others about scientific
work and exposing ideas to criticism. |
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d. Explain why scientists use
technology in investigations, including to increase their power of
observation and to measure and compare accurately. |
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e. Offer some examples of
old scientific knowledge that is still applicable today, and explain that
new scientific knowledge is still being discovered. |
By the end of grade 8:
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a. Describe why (such as to explore new phenomena, check previous results,
compare theories) and how (by collecting evidence, reasoning, devising
hypotheses, and creating explanations) scientists conduct investigations.
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b.
Explain why and how (for example, by repeatedly and independently
replicating experiments) scientists determine if experimental results are
reliable. |
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c. Understand that if more than one variable changes at the same
time in an experiment, the outcome may not be clearly attributable to any
one variable, and that sometimes scientists can design research to account
for this. |
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d. Explain how scientists try to prevent their experiments from
bias in what is observed, missed, and concluded in investigations (for
example, through independent studies). |
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e. Understand and follow scientific
ethical norms in conducting research with animals and humans who are unable
to make fully informed choices (such as very young children). |
4. Students will be able to select and use tools and instruments to conduct
scientific activities.
By the end of grade 2:
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a. Use ordinary hand tools and
instruments to construct, measure, and look at objects.
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b. Know how to
assemble, describe, take apart, and reassemble constructions. |
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c. Make a
model, invention, or tool that can actually be used to perform a task. |
By the end of grade 5:
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a. Use technology, including cameras, tape recorders,
and computers, to store and retrieve verbal and graphic information and
data.
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b. Use a variety of scientific tools to collect data. |
By the end of grade 8:
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a. Know how to disassemble, and reassemble mechanical devices and
describe the function of the various parts.
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b. Know how to use sophisticated
tools and instruments when measuring length, volume, weight, elapsed time,
rates, and temperature. |
5. Students will understand and demonstrate the ideas of system, model, change,
and scale in exploring scientific and technological matters.
By the end of grade 2:
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a. Know that systems are made
of parts that work together to function.
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b. Use a model - such as a toy or a
picture - to describe the features of an object or system. |
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c. Describe
changes in the size, weight, color, or movement of objects, and note which
of their other qualities remain the same. |
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d. Understand the range of sizes,
weights, ages, and speeds of both man-made and natural things. |
By the end of grade 5:
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a. Understand how parts influence one another in systems with many
parts.
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b. Identify patterns of change, such as steady, repetitive, or
irregular change, using records, tables, or graphs of measurements where
appropriate. |
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c. Identify the least and greatest possible values of certain
events or conditions. |
By the end of grade 8:
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a. Explain how parts are
related to other parts in systems (such as cars, computers, and creatures),
including how the output from one part of a system (in the form of material,
energy, or information) can become the input to other parts.
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b. Estimate the
effect of making a change in one part of a system on the system as a whole. |
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c. Know how to identify, and discuss, the advantages and disadvantages of
several different models could be used to represent the same object. |
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d.
Understand how change in a system can be counterbalanced to maintain
equilibrium. |
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Project
AERO Science Standards