Standards & Benchmarks for Our Solar System

Legend: F=Focus in Lesson O=Ongoing Development E=Early Development

NSE STANDARDS			LESSONS																											SBAS
			0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	s1	s2	s3	s4
A. Science as Inquiry
	Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
		Ask a question about objects, organisms, and events in the environment.	f	f										f										f			o
		Employ simple equipment and tools to gather data and extend the senses.	o				f										f		f
		Use data to construct a reasonable explanation.	f						f						o	o		o		o	f	f										f
		Communicate investigations and explanations.	f						f						o	o												f
	Understandings about scientific inquiry
		Scientific investigations involve asking and answering a question and comparing the answer with what scientists already know about the world.	f	f						f				f		f						o					o
		Scientists use different kinds of investigations depending on the questions they're trying to answer. types of investigations include describing objects, events, and organisms; classifying them; and doing a fair test (experimenting).	o		o	o	o				o	o	o				o		o							0
		Simple instruments, such as magnifiers, thermometers, and rulers, provide more information than scientists obtain using just their senses.				f	o										f	o	f	o
		Scientists develop explanations using observations (evidence) and what they already know about the world (scientific knowledge). good explanations are based on evidence from investigations.		f					f	f										o	f	o					o	o	o
		Scientists make the results of their investigations public; they describe the investigations in ways that enable others to repeat the investigations.																		o								o
		Scientists review and ask questions about the results of other scientists' work.							f	0																		o
B. Physical Science
	Position and motion of objects
		The position of an object can be described by locating it relative to another object or the background.				f						f	o												f	f			f
		An object's motion can be described by tracing and measuring its position over time.				f	f	f				f			o		f		f			o	f		o	o
	Light, heat, electricity, and magnetism
		Light travels in a straight line until it strikes an object. light can be reflected by a mirror, refracted by a lens, or absorbed by the object.			o		o	o
D. Earth and Space Science
	Objects in the sky
		The sun, moon, stars, clouds, birds, and airplanes all have properties, locations, and movements that can be observed and described.				f	o				o	f	f		f	o	o	o	o	o	o	o	o	o	o	o
		The sun provides the light and heat necessary to maintain the temperature of the earth.			f																	o			o
	Changes in the earth and sky
		Objects in the sky have patterns of movement. the sun, for example, appears to move across the sky in the same way every day, but its path changes slowly over the seasons. the moon moves across the sky on a daily basis much like the sun. the observable shape of the moon changes from day to day in a cycle that lasts about a month.				f	f	f	o	o	f	f	f	o	f	f	f	f	f	f	f	o			o
	Earth in the solar system (5-8)
		The 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.																						e		f	f	f	f
		Most objects in the solar system are in regular and predictable motion. those motions explain such phenomena as the day, the year, phases of the moon, and eclipses.								f						f					f	f					o	o	o
E. Science and Technology
	Understanding about science and technology
		People have always had questions about their world. science is one way of answering questions and explaining the natural world.	f	o										o								o		o			o	o
		Scientists and engineers often work in teams with different individuals doing different things that contribute to the results. this understanding focuses primarily on teams working together and secondarily, on the combination of scientist and engineer teams.	o						o		f		f
		Tools help scientists make better observations, measurements, and equipment for investigations. they help scientists see, measure, and do things that they could not otherwise see, measure, and do.					f										f		f
G. History and Nature of Science
	Science as a human endeavor
		Men and women have made a variety of contributions throughout the history of science and technology.								o	o
		Although men and women using scientific inquiry have learned much about the objects, events, and phenomena in nature, much remains to be understood. science will never be finished.	e							o																	o
		Many people choose science as a career and devote their entire lives to studying it. many people derive great pleasure from doing science.	e
Unifying concepts and processes (k-12)									f	f					f	f		f		f		f	f		f				f	f
	Evidence, models, and explanation								f	f					f	f		f		f		f	f		f				f	f
	Constancy, change, and measurement																														f	f

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Legend: F=Focus in Lesson O=Ongoing Development E=Early Development

AAAS BENCHMARKS			LESSONS																											SBAS
			0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	S1	S2	S3	S4
1. The Nature of Science			F	O										O										O
	A. The Scientific World View		F	O										O										O
		Results of scientific investigations seldom turn out exactly the same. Sometimes this is because of unexpected differences in the things being investigated, sometimes because of unrealized differences in the methods used or in the circumstances in which the investigation is carried out, and sometimes just because of uncertainties in observations. It is not always easy to tell which.
	B. Scientific Inquiry		F
		Scientific investigations may take many different forms, including observing what things are like or what is happening somewhere, collecting specimens for analysis, and doing experiments. Investigations can focus on physical, biological, and social questions.	O		O	O	O				O	O	O				O		O							O
		Results of scientific investigations are seldom exactly the same, but if the differences are large, it is important to try to figure out why. One reason for following directions carefully and for keeping records of one's work is to provide information on what might have caused the differences.					O										O		O
		Scientists' explanations about what happens in the world comes partly from what they observe, partly from what they think. Sometimes scientists have different explanations for the same set of observations. That usually leads to their making more observations to resolve the differences.	F	F					F	F			F			F		O		O		O		O		O
		Scientists do not pay much attention to claims about how something they know about works unless the claims are backed up with evidence that can be confirmed and with a logical argument.							F	F				F		O						O
	C. The Scientific Enterprise		F
		Science is an adventure that people everywhere can take part in, as they have for centuries.	E								E			O										O			O
		Clear communication is an essential part of doing science. It enables scientists to inform others about their work, expose their ideas to criticism by other scientists, and stay informed about scientific discoveries around the world.	E						F	O																		F
		Doing science involves many different kinds of work and engages men and women of all ages and backgrounds.	E
2. The Nature of Mathematics
	A. Patterns and Relationships
		Mathematics is the study of many kinds of patterns, including numbers and shapes and operations on them. Sometimes patterns are studied because they help to explain how the world works or how to solve practical problems, sometimes because they are interesting in themselves.													O						O											O
		Mathematical ideas can be represented concretely, graphically, and symbolically.																			F										E	F
	C. Mathematical Inquiry
		Numbers and shapes--and operations on them--help to describe and predict things about the world around us.																			F		F								E		F
		In using mathematics, choices have to be made about what operations will give the best results. Results should always be judged by whether they make sense and are useful.																															F
3. The Nature of Technology
	A. Technology and Science
		Technology enables scientists and others to observe things that are too small or too far away to be seen without them and to study the motion of objects that are moving very rapidly or are hardly moving at all.					F	F									O	O	O	O
4. The Physical Setting
	A. The Universe
		There are more stars in the sky than anyone can easily count, but they are not scattered evenly, and they are not all the same brightness or color. (K-2)																							F
		The sun can be seen only in daytime, but the moon can be seen sometimes at night and sometimes during the day. The sun, moon, and stars all appear to move slowly across the sky. (K-2)				F	F	O	O		O	F	F				O	O	O	O	O	O			O
		The moon looks a little different every day, but looks the same again about every four weeks. (K-2)											F	O	F	F
		The patterns of stars in the sky stay the same, although they appear to move across the sky nightly, and different stars can be seen in different seasons.																							F	O
		Telescopes magnify the appearance of some distant objects in the sky, including the moon and the planets. The number of stars that can be seen through telescopes is dramatically greater than can be seen by the unaided eye.
		Planets change their positions against the background of stars.																								F	O
		The earth is one of several planets that orbit the sun, and the moon orbits around the earth.														F						F	O	O			O	O	F
		Stars are like the sun, some being smaller and some larger, but so far away that they look like points of light.																							F
		Nine planets of very different size, composition, and surface features move around the sun in nearly circular orbits. Some planets have a great variety of moons and even flat rings of rock and ice particles orbiting around them. Some of these planets and moons show evidence of geologic activity. The earth is orbited by one moon, many artificial satellites, and debris. (6-8)																						E			F	F	F
	B. The Earth
		Like all planets and stars, the earth is approximately spherical in shape. The rotation of the earth on its axis every 24 hours produces the night-and-day cycle. To people on earth, this turning of the planet makes it seem as though the sun, moon, planets, and stars are orbiting the earth once a day.							E	F	O														O
		We live on a relatively small planet, the third from the sun…. (6-8)																						E		E	F	F	F
		Because the earth turns daily on an axis that is tilted relative to the plane of the earth's yearly orbit around the sun, sunlight falls more intensely on different parts of the earth during the year. The difference in heating of the earth's surface produces the planet's seasons and weather patterns. (6-8)																				E
		The moon's orbit around the earth once in about 28 days changes what part of the moon is lighted by the sun and how much of that part can be seen from the earth--the phases of the moon. (6-8)														F
	E. Energy Transformation
		The sun warms the air, land, and water. (K-2)			F																	O
	F. Motion
		Light travels and tends to maintain its direction of motion until it interacts with an object or material.			O		O	O
9. The Mathematical World
	A. Numbers
		Simple graphs can help tell about observations. (K-2)																			F											F
		When people care about what is being counted or measured, it is important for them to say what the units are (three degrees Fahrenheit is different from three centimeters, three miles from three miles per hour).																			O						O	O				F
		Measurements are always likely to give slightly different numbers, even if what is being measured stays the same.																										O
	B. Symbolic Relationships
		Tables and graphs can show how values of one quantity are related to values of another.																			F						O					F
	C. Shapes
		Scale drawings show shapes and compare locations of things very different in size.																					F						F		E
		The graphic display of numbers may help to show patterns such as trends, varying rates of change, gaps, or clusters. Such patterns can sometimes be used to make predictions about the phenomena being graphed. (6-8)																			F											F
		The scale chosen for a graph or drawing makes a big difference in how useful it is.
	D. Uncertainty
		Some predictions can be based on what is known about the past, assuming that conditions are pretty much the same now.	O		O	O	O					O			O		O	O	O	O	F											F
	E. Reasoning
		One way to make sense of something is to think how it is like something more familiar.							O	O																				F
11. Common Themes
	B. Models (introduction)								F	O																				F
		Many of the toys children play with are like real things only in some ways. They are not the same size, are missing many details, or are not able to do all of the same things. (K-2)																												F	O
		A model of something is different from the real thing but can be used to learn something about the real thing. (K-2)						F	F	F						F		O		O		F	O		O				F	F	O
		Seeing how a model works after changes are made to it may suggest how the real thing would work if the same were done to it.							F	F						F						F
		Geometric figures, number sequences, graphs, diagrams, sketches, number lines, maps, and stories can be used to represent objects, events, and processes in the real world, although such representations can never be exact in every detail.						F	F	O					F	O		O		O	F	F	F			O			F	F	O	F
		Models are often used to think about processes that happen too slowly, too quickly, or on too small a scale to observe directly, or that are too vast to be changed deliberately, or that are potentially dangerous. (6-8)						E	E	E						F		O		O		F	O						F	F	F
	C. Constancy and Change
		Things change in steady, repetitive, or irregular ways--or sometimes in more than one way at the same time. Often the best way to tell which kinds of change are happening is to make a table or graph of measurements.									F			F	F						F											F
	D. Scale																														E
		Almost anything has limits on how big or small it can be.																													E
12. Habits of Mind			F
	A. Values and Attitudes		F
		Keep records of their investigations and observations and not change records later.				F	F				F	F		O			F	O	F	O	O
		Offer reasons for their findings and consider reasons suggested by others.	O	O					F	F
		Know that often different explanations can be given for the same evidence, and it is not always possible to tell which one is correct. (6-8)							E					E
	C. Manipulation and Observation
		Keep a notebook that describes observations made, carefully distinguishes actual observations from ideas and speculations about what was observed, and is understandable weeks or months later.				E	F	O			F	F	F		O		F	O	F	O	O
	D. Communication Skills

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