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Aligned Lessons
Science: Commencement
Standard 4:
Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living environment and recognize the historical development of ideas in science.
Key Idea Energy and matter interact through forces that result in changes in motion.
  PI

Students explain and predict different patterns of motion of objects (e.g., linear and angular motion, velocity and acceleration, momentum and inertia).

  PI

Students explain chemical bonding in terms of the motion of electrons.

  PI

Students compare energy relationships within an atom's nucleus to those outside the nucleus.

       
Key Idea Energy exists in many forms, and when these forms change energy is conserved.
  PI

Students explain the uses and hazards of radioactivity.

  PI

Students explain heat in terms of kinetic molecular theory.

 
  PI

Students observe and describe transmission of various forms of energy.

  PI

Students explain variations in wavelength and frequency in terms of the source of the vibrations that produce them, e.g., molecules, electrons, and nuclear particles.

       
Key Idea Many of the phenomena that we observe on Earth involve interactions among components of air, water, and land.
  PI

Students use the concepts of density and heat energy to explain observations of weather patterns, seasonal changes, and the movements of the Earth's plates.

  PI

Students explain how incoming solar radiations, ocean currents, and land masses affect weather and climate.

       
Key Idea Matter is made up of particles whose properties determine the observable characteristics of matter and its reactivity.
  PI

Students use atomic and molecular models to explain common chemical reactions.

  PI

Students apply the principle of conservation of mass to chemical reactions.

  PI

Students use kinetic molecular theory to explain rates of reactions and the relationships among temperature, pressure, and volume of a substance.

  PI

Students explain the properties of materials in terms of the arrangement and properties of the atoms that compose them.

       
Key Idea The Earth and celestial phenomena can be described by principles of relative motion and perspective.
  PI

Students explain complex phenomena, such as tides, variations in day length, solar insolation, apparent motion of the planets, and annual traverse of the constellations.

  PI

Students describe current theories about the origin of the universe and solar system.

       
Key Idea Human decisions and activities have had a profound impact on the physical and living environment.
  PI

Students explain how individual choices and societal actions can contribute to improving the environment.

  PI

Students describe the range of interrelationships of humans with the living and nonliving environment.

  PI

Students explain the impact of technological development and growth in the human population on the living and nonliving environment.

       
Key Idea Individual organisms and species change over time.
  PI

Students explain the mechanisms and patterns of evolution.

       
Key Idea Living things are both similar to and different from each other and nonliving things.
  PI

Students explain how a one-celled organism is able to function despite lacking the levels of organization present in more complex organisms.

  PI

Students describe and explain the structures and functions of the human body at different organizational levels (e.g., systems, tissues, cells, organelles).

  PI

Students explain how diversity of populations within ecosystems relates to the stability of ecosystems.

       
Key Idea Organisms inherit genetic information in a variety of ways that result in continuity of structure and function between parents and offspring.
  PI

Students explain how the structure and replication of genetic material result in offspring that resemble their parents.

  PI

Students explain how the technology of genetic engineering allows humans to alter the genetic makeup of organisms.

       
Key Idea Organisms maintain a dynamic equilibrium that sustains life.
  PI

Students explain disease as a failure of homeostasis.

  PI

Students relate processes at the system level to the cellular level in order to explain dynamic equilibrium in multicelled organisms.

  PI

Students explain the basic biochemical processes in living organisms and their importance in maintaining dynamic equilibrium.

       
Key Idea Plants and animals depend on each other and their physical environment.
  PI

Students explain factors that limit growth of individuals and populations.

  PI

Students explain the importance of preserving diversity of species and habitats.

  PI

Students explain how the living and nonliving environments change over time and respond to disturbances.

       
Key Idea The continuity of life is sustained through reproduction and development.
  PI

Students explain how organisms, including humans, reproduce their own kind.

       
 
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