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District
11 Diamond Units/Lessons Overview - includes information about the
purpose, goals and structure of these sample instructional units:
Resources: Prentice Hall Science Explorer Series
Enduring Understandings
- important ideas that students should carry with them years beyond the
instruction received this year.
- Scientists investigate the world around them and
communicate to others through the scientific process.
- The scientific process is the basis of an integrated
approach to understanding our world. (topic/problem, testable question,
hypothesis, procedure)
- Scientists use a plan to carry out an investigation
(variables, control, data, observations, investigations).
- Scientists select, appropriate tools to collect,
organize, and record data using the metric system in tables, charts, and
graphs. Scientists analyze data for reliability, validity to
form conclusions. Scientists analyze data to infer past and predict
future events.
- Scientists ask questions based on their
investigations and these questions can lead to new investigations.
- Scientists communicate the results of their
investigations in many formats and appropriate ways.
- Scientists identify, determine, compare, and control
variables. Scientists must be objective and bias free when examining
their work. Scientists communicate their results using various methods.
Scientists use models to predict change.
- The climate is a determining factor in supporting the
types of organisms within a biome
- The diversity of living things impacts how they
interact with each other and their environment.
- Food chains show transfer of energy within an ecosystem. Food webs
are made of many food chains.
- The availability of resources is a major limiting factor in
determining the number of organisms an ecosystem can support.
- Biotic and abiotic factors are recycled in an ecosystem.
- Identification of various organisms is based on specific criteria.
- Genetic diversity within a species promotes its survival.
- Decomposers play an essential role in the recycling of resources in
an ecosystem.
- The world population uses both renewable and
nonrenewable resources. The world is affected by the interrelationship of
science and technology. New technology continually impacts human
activity.
- New technology continually impacts human activity.
- Experiments must be controlled and have reproducible
results.
- Scientists identify, determine, compare, and control
variables. Scientists must be objective and bias free when
examining their work. Scientists communicate their results using various
methods.
- Scientists use models to predict change.
- Safety is a primary concern with all laboratory
techniques.
Essential Questions
- most important “big picture” questions students should be able to answer
after completing learning activities.
- What is a testable question that leads to a proposed
hypothesis? How is a testable question developed
- How do scientists design a plan for investigating a
testable questions? How is an investigation organized?
- How do scientists develop and perform a scientific
investigation? What are the independent/manipulated and
dependent/responding variables? What is the standard of control?
- What are the appropriate tools, technologies, and
measurement systems used by scientists?
- How do scientists interpret and evaluate data? How do
scientists infer/predict past and future events?
- What new questions have arisen based on unexpected
results of the investigation? How is scientific information effectively
communicated to specific audiences?
- How is scientific information effectively
communicated to specific audiences?
- How does climate determine the biomes' ability to support life?
- How do changes in populations affect the balance of an ecosystem? How do adaptations affect an organism's survival in an ecosystem? How are energy and matter transferred in food webs and chains? Why
does energy decrease as it moves through the food chain?
- What resources are available in different environments? What causes biotic and abiotic materials to cycle in an ecosystem?
- How and why are classification systems based on the structure of
organisms? How has the advent of DNA analysis impacted the
classification of organisms? How does diversity encourage survival of a species?
- How are the matter and energy of ecosystems recycled? What would
happen if there were no decomposers?
- What are the differences between and uses of
renewable and nonrenewable resources?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of
using technology to solve problems?
- How has technology influenced the way people work?
What are advantages/disadvantages created by new technology?
- How do people use science and technology in their
professional lives?
- How do controlled/uncontrolled variables affect the
outcomes of experiment
- How do you identify, compare, and control
variables in an investigation?
- How does bias, opinion, and evidence affect the
way science is communicated in various media?
- What are some different sources and methods a
scientist uses to collect and record data?
- How can models help us predict future outcomes?
- What are safe laboratory practices?
Standards
 Highest
Frequency Standards
 High
Frequency Standards,
 Other
Standards & E-skills
Standard 1:
Students apply the process of scientific investigation and design,
conduct, communicate about, and evaluate such investigations.
Standard 1 Benchmarks: Grades 6-8
1. ask questions and state hypotheses that lead to different types of
scientific investigations (for example: experimentation, collecting
specimens, constructing models, researching scientific literature)
2. use appropriate tools, technologies and metric measurements to gather
and organize data and report results
3. interpret and evaluate data in order to formulate logical
conclusions
4. demonstrate that scientific ideas are used to explain previous
observations and to predict future events (for example: plate tectonics
and future earthquake activity)
5. identify and evaluate alternative explanations and procedures
6. communicate results of their investigations in appropriate ways (for
example: written reports, graphic displays, oral presentations)
Standard
2:
Physical
Science: Student know and understand common properties, forms, and changes
in matter and energy. (Focus: Physics and Chemistry)
Standard 2 Benchmarks: Grades 6-8
1. physical properties of solids, liquids, gases and the plasma state and
their changes can be explained using the particulate nature of matter model
2. mixtures of substances can be separated based on their properties (for
example: solubility, boiling points, magnetic properties, densities and
specific heat)
3. mass is conserved in a chemical or physical change
4. mass and weight can be distinguished
5. all matter is made up of atoms that are comprised of protons, neutrons
and electrons and when a substance is made up of only one type of atom it is
an element
6. when two or more elements are combined a compound is formed which is
made up of molecules
7. quantities ( for example: time, distance, mass, force ) that
characterize moving objects and their interactions within a system (for
example, force, speed, velocity, potential energy, kinetic energy) can be
described, measured and calculated
8. that there are different forms of energy and those forms of energy can
be transferred and stored ( for example: kinetic, potential) but total
energy is conserved
9. electric circuits provide a means of transferring electrical energy when
heat, light, sound, magnetic effects and chemical changes are produced
10. white light is made up of different colors that correspond to different
wavelengths
Standard
3:
Life Science: Students know and understand the characteristics and structure
of living things, the processes of life, and how living things interact with
each other and their environment. (Focus: Biology – anatomy, Physiology,
Botany, Zoology, Ecology)
Standard 3 Benchmarks: Grades 6-8
1. classification schemes can be used to understand the structure of
organisms
2. human body systems have specific functions and interaction ( for
example: circulatory and respiratory, muscular and skeletal)
3. there is a differentiation among levels of organization
4. multi-cellular organisms have a variety of ways to get food and other
matter to their cells (for example: digestion, transport of nutrients by
circulatory system)
5. photosynthesis and cellular respiration are basic processes of life
(for example, set up a terrarium or aquarium and make changes such as
blocking out light)
6. different types of cells have basic structures, components and functions
( for example: cell membrane, nucleus, cytoplasm, chloroplast, single-celled
organisms in pond water, Elodea, onion cell, human cheek cell)
7. there are non-communicable conditions and communicable diseases ( for
example: heart disease and chicken pox )
8. there is a flow of energy and matter in an ecosystem ( for example: as
modeled in a food chain, web, pyramid, decomposition )
9. asexual and sexual cell reproduction/division can be differentiated
10. chromosomes and genes play a role in heredity (for example, genes
control traits, while chromosomes are made up of many genes)
11. changes in environmental conditions can affect the survival of
individual organisms, populations, and entire species
12. changes or constancy in groups of organisms over geologic time can be
revealed through evidence
13. individual organisms with certain traits are more likely than others to
survive and have offspring.
Standard
4:
Earth
and Space Science: Students know and understand the processes and
interactions of Earth’s systems and the structure and dynamics of Earth and
other objects in space. (Focus: Geology, Meteorology, Astronomy,
Oceanography)
Standard 4 Benchmarks: Grades 6-8
1. inter-relationships exist between minerals, rocks, and soils
2. humans use renewable and nonrenewable resources (for example: forests
and fossil fuels)
3. natural processes shape the Earth’s surface (for example: landslides,
weathering, erosion, mountain building, volcanic activity)
4. major geological events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and
mountain building are associated with plate boundaries and attributed to
plate motions
5. fossils are formed and used as evidence to indicate that life has
changed through time
6. successive layers of sedimentary rock and the fossils contained within
them can be used to confirm age, geologic time, history, and changing life
forms of the Earth; this evidence is affected by the folding, breaking and
uplifting of layers
7. the atmosphere has basic composition, properties, and structure (for
example: the range and distribution of temperature and pressure in the
troposphere and stratosphere
8. atmospheric circulation is driven by solar heating (for example: the
transfer of energy by radiation, convection, conduction)
9. there are quantitative changes in weather conditions over time and space
(for example: humidity, temperature, air pressure, cloud cover, wind,
precipitation )
10. there are large-scale and local weather systems (for example: fronts,
air masses, storms)
11. the world’s water is distributed and circulated through oceans,
glaciers, rivers, groundwater, and atmosphere
12. the ocean has a certain composition and physical characteristics (for
example: currents, waves, features of the ocean floor, salinity, and tides)
13. there are characteristics (components, composition, size) and
scientific theories of origin of the solar system
14. relative motion, axes tilt and positions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon
have observable effects (for example: seasons, eclipses, moon phases)
15. the universe consists of many billions of galaxies (each containing
many billions of stars) and that vast distances separate these galaxies and
stars from one another and from the Earth
16. technology is needed to explore space (for example: telescopes,
spectroscopes, spacecraft, life support systems)
Standard 5: Students understand that the nature of science involves a
particular way of building knowledge and making meaning of the natural
world.
Standard 5 Benchmarks: Grades 6-8
1. a controlled experiment must have comparable results when repeated
2. scientific knowledge changes as new knowledge is acquired and previous
ideas are modified (for example: through space exploration)
3. contributions to the advancement of science have been made by people in
different cultures and at different times in history
4. models can be used to predict change (for example: computer simulation,
video sequence, stream table)
5. there are interrelationships among technology and human activity that
affect the world
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