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California State Science Content Standards (5-7)

Fifth> Sixth> Seventh

California State Science Content Standards highlighted for water and water related content matter.

GRADE FIVE

Physical Sciences

1. Elements and their combinations account for all the varied types of matter in the world. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know that during chemical reactions the atoms in the reactants rearrange to form products with different properties.

b. Students know all matter is made of atoms, which may combine to form molecules.

c. Students know metals have properties in common, such as high electrical and thermal conductivity. Some metals, such as aluminum (Al), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), silver (Ag), and gold (Au), are pure elements; others, such as steel and brass, are composed of a combination of elemental metals.

d. Students know that each element is made of one kind of atom and that the elements are organized in the periodic table by their chemical properties.

e. Students know scientists have developed instruments that can create discrete images of atoms and molecules that show that the atoms and molecules often occur in well-ordered arrays.

f. Students know differences in chemical and physical properties of substances are used to separate mixtures and identify compounds.

g. Students know properties of solid, liquid, and gaseous substances, such as sugar (C₆HO₆), water ( H₂O ), helium (He), oxygen (O₂), nitrogen (N₂), and carbon-12 dioxide (CO₂). [Lessons 1, ]

h. Students know living organisms and most materials are composed of just a few elements.

i. Students know the common properties of salts, such as sodium chloride (NaCl).

Life Sciences

2. Plants and animals have structures for respiration, digestion, waste disposal, and transport of materials. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know many multicellular organisms have specialized structures to support the transport of materials.

b. Students know how blood circulates through the heart chambers, lungs, and body and how carbon dioxide (CO₂) and oxygen (O₂) are exchanged in the lungs and tissues.

c. Students know the sequential steps of digestion and the roles of teeth and the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and colon in the function of the digestive system.

d. Students know the role of the kidney in removing cellular waste from blood and converting it into urine, which is stored in the bladder.

e. Students know how sugar, water, and minerals are transported in a vascular plant. [Lessons 1, ]

f. Students know plants use carbon dioxide (CO₂) and energy from sunlight to build molecules of sugar and release oxygen.

g. Students know plant and animal cells break down sugar to obtain energy, a process resulting in carbon dioxide (CO₂) and water (respiration). [Lessons 1, ]

Earth Sciences

3. Water on Earth moves between the oceans and land through the processes of evaporation and condensation. As a basis for understanding this concept: (Water cycle unit outline, Ohio) (Free Water Cycle Software: 1, ) (Interactivities: 1 , (Water Cycle Songs:  1, 2 ,) [Lessons  1, 2, 3, 4 , 5 , 6 ]

a. Students know most of Earth's water is present as salt water in the oceans, which cover most of Earth's surface.[Lessons 1, ]

b. Students know when liquid water evaporates; it turns into water vapor in the air and can reappear as a liquid when cooled or as a solid if cooled below the freezing point of water. [Lessons 1, ]

c. Students know water vapor in the air moves from one place to another and can form fog or clouds, which are tiny droplets of water or ice, and can fall to Earth as rain, hail, sleet, or snow. [Lessons 1, ]

d. Students know that the amount of fresh water located in rivers, lakes, underground sources, and glaciers is limited and that its availability can be extended by recycling and decreasing the use of water. [Lessons 1, ]

e. Students know the origin of the water used by their local communities. [Lessons 1, 2, 3, ] 

4. Energy from the Sun heats Earth unevenly, causing air movements that result in changing weather patterns. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know uneven heating of Earth causes air movements (convection currents).

b. Students know the influence that the ocean has on the weather and the role that the water cycle plays in weather patterns. [Lessons 1, ]

c. Students know the causes and effects of different types of severe weather.

d. Students know how to use weather maps and data to predict local weather and know that weather forecasts depend on many variables.

e. Students know that the Earth's atmosphere exerts a pressure that decreases with distance above Earth's surface and that at any point it exerts this pressure equally in all directions.

5. The solar system consists of planets and other bodies that orbit the Sun in predictable paths. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know the Sun, an average star, is the central and largest body in the solar system and is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium.

b. Students know the solar system includes the planet Earth, the Moon, the Sun, eight other planets and their satellites, and smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets.

c. Students know the path of a planet around the Sun is due to the gravitational attraction between the Sun and the planet.

Investigation and Experimentation

6. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will:

a. Classify objects (e.g., rocks, plants, leaves) in accordance with appropriate criteria.

b. Develop a testable question.

c. Plan and conduct a simple investigation based on a student-developed question and write instructions others can follow to carry out the procedure.

d. Identify the dependent and controlled variables in an investigation.

e. Identify a single independent variable in a scientific investigation and explain how this variable can be used to collect information to answer a question about the results of the experiment.

f. Select appropriate tools (e.g., thermometers, meter sticks, balances, and graduated cylinders) and make quantitative observations.

g. Record data by using appropriate graphic representations (including charts, graphs, and labeled diagrams) and make inferences based on those data.

h. Draw conclusions from scientific evidence and indicate whether further information is needed to support a specific conclusion.

i. Write a report of an investigation that includes conducting tests, collecting data or examining evidence, and drawing conclusions.

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GRADE SIX Focus on Earth Sciences

Plate Tectonics and Earth's Structure

1. Plate tectonics accounts for important features of Earth's surface and major geologic events. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know evidence of plate tectonics is derived from the fit of the continents; the location of earthquakes, volcanoes, and midocean ridges; and the distribution of fossils, rock types, and ancient climatic zones.

b. Students know Earth is composed of several layers: a cold, brittle lithosphere; a hot, convecting mantle; and a dense, metallic core.

c. Students know lithospheric plates the size of continents and oceans move at rates of centimeters per year in response to movements in the mantle.

d. Students know that earthquakes are sudden motions along breaks in the crust called faults and that volcanoes and fissures are locations where magma reaches the surface.

e. Students know major geologic events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, result from plate motions.

f. Students know how to explain major features of California geology (including mountains, faults, volcanoes) in terms of plate tectonics.

g. Students know how to determine the epicenter of an earthquake and know that the effects of an earthquake on any region vary, depending on the size of the earthquake, the distance of the region from the epicenter, the local geology, and the type of construction in the region.

Shaping Earth's Surface

2. Topography is reshaped by the weathering of rock and soil and by the transportation and deposition of sediment. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know water running downhill is the dominant process in shaping the landscape, including California's landscape. [Lessons 1, ]

b. Students know rivers and streams are dynamic systems that erode, transport sediment, change course, and flood their banks in natural and recurring patterns. [Lessons 1, ]

c. Students know beaches are dynamic systems in which the sand is supplied by rivers and moved along the coast by the action of waves. [Lessons 1, ]

d. Students know earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and floods change human and wildlife habitats. [Lessons 1, ]

Heat (Thermal Energy) (Physical Sciences )

3. Heat moves in a predictable flow from warmer objects to cooler objects until all the objects are at the same temperature. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know energy can be carried from one place to another by heat flow or by waves, including water, light and sound waves, or by moving objects.

b. Students know that when fuel is consumed, most of the energy released becomes heat energy.

c. Students know heat flows in solids by conduction (which involves no flow of matter) and in fluids by conduction and by convection (which involves flow of matter).

d. Students know heat energy is also transferred between objects by radiation (radiation can travel through space).

Energy in the Earth System

4. Many phenomena on Earth's surface are affected by the transfer of energy through radiation and convection currents. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know the sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on Earth's surface; it powers winds, ocean currents, and the water cycle. [Lessons 1, 2, ]

b. Students know solar energy reaches Earth through radiation, mostly in the form of visible light.

c. Students know heat from Earth's interior reaches the surface primarily through convection.

d . Students know convection currents distribute heat in the atmosphere and oceans. [Lessons 1, ]

e. Students know differences in pressure, heat, air movement, and humidity result in changes of weather. [Lessons 1, ]

Ecology (Life Sciences)

5. Organisms in ecosystems exchange energy and nutrients among themselves and with the environment. As a basis for understanding this concept: [Lessons 1, ]

a. Students know energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis and then from organism to organism through food webs.

b. Students know matter is transferred over time from one organism to others in the food web and between organisms and the physical environment.

c. Students know populations of organisms can be categorized by the functions they serve in an ecosystem.

d. Students know different kinds of organisms may play similar ecological roles in similar biomes.

e. Students know the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the resources available and on abiotic factors, such as quantities of light and water, a range of temperatures, and soil composition. [Lessons 1, ]

Resources

6. Sources of energy and materials differ in amounts, distribution, usefulness, and the time required for their formation. As a basis for understanding this concept:    [Lessons 1, ]

a. Students know the utility of energy sources is determined by factors that are involved in converting these sources to useful forms and the consequences of the conversion process.

b. Students know different natural energy and material resources,  including air, soil, rocks, minerals, petroleum, fresh water, wildlife, and forests, and know how to classify them as renewable or nonrenewable. [Lessons 1, ]

c. Students know the natural origin of the materials used to make common objects.

Investigation and Experimentation

7. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will:

a. Develop a hypothesis.

b. Select and use appropriate tools and technology (including calculators, computers, balances, spring scales, microscopes, and binoculars) to perform tests, collect data, and display data.

c. Construct appropriate graphs from data and develop qualitative statements about the relationships between variables.

d. Communicate the steps and results from an investigation in written reports and oral presentations.

e. Recognize whether evidence is consistent with a proposed explanation.

f. Read a topographic map and a geologic map for evidence provided on the maps and construct and interpret a simple scale map.

g. Interpret events by sequence and time from natural phenomena (e.g., the relative ages of rocks and intrusions).

h. Identify changes in natural phenomena over time without manipulating the phenomena (e.g., a tree limb, a grove of trees, a stream, a hill slope).

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GRADE SEVEN: Focus on Life Sciences

Cell Biology

1. All living organisms are composed of cells, from just one to many trillions, whose details usually are visible only through a microscope. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know cells function similarly in all living organisms.

b. Students know the characteristics that distinguish plant cells from animal cells, including chloroplasts and cell walls.

c. Students know the nucleus is the repository for genetic information in plant and animal cells.

d. Students know that mitochondria liberate energy for the work that cells do and that chloroplasts capture sunlight energy for photosynthesis.

e. Students know cells divide to increase their numbers through a process of mitosis, which results in two daughter cells with identical sets of chromosomes.

f. Students know that as multicellular organisms develop, their cells differentiate.

Genetics

2. A typical cell of any organism contains genetic instructions that specify its traits. Those traits may be modified by environmental influences. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know the differences between the life cycles and reproduction methods of sexual and asexual organisms.

b. Students know sexual reproduction produces offspring that inherit half their genes from each parent.

c. Students know an inherited trait can be determined by one or more genes

d. Students know plant and animal cells contain many thousands of different genes and typically have two copies of every gene. The two copies (or alleles) of the gene may or may not be identical, and one may be dominant in determining the phenotype while the other is recessive.

e. Students know DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the genetic material of living organisms and is located in the chromosomes of each cell.

Evolution

3. Biological evolution accounts for the diversity of species developed through gradual processes over many generations. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know both genetic variation and environmental factors are causes of evolution and diversity of organisms.

b. Students know the reasoning used by Charles Darwin in reaching his conclusion that natural selection is the mechanism of evolution.

c. Students know how independent lines of evidence from geology, fossils, and comparative anatomy provide the bases for the theory of evolution.

d. Students know how to construct a simple branching diagram to classify living groups of organisms by shared derived characteristics and how to expand the diagram to include fossil organisms.

e. Students know that extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient for its survival.

Earth and Life History (Earth Sciences)

4. Evidence from rocks allows us to understand the evolution of life on Earth. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know Earth processes today are similar to those that occurred in the past and slow geologic processes have large cumulative effects over long periods of time.

b. Students know the history of life on Earth has been disrupted by major catastrophic events, such as major volcanic eruptions or the impacts of asteroids.

c. Students know that the rock cycle includes the formation of new sediment and rocks and that rocks are often found in layers, with the oldest generally on the bottom

d. Students know that evidence from geologic layers and radioactive dating indicates Earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old and that life on this planet has existed for more than 3 billion years.

e. Students know fossils provide evidence of how life and environmental conditions have changed.

f. Students know how movements of Earth's continental and oceanic plates through time, with associated changes in climate and geographic connections, have affected the past and present distribution of organisms.

g. Students know how to explain significant developments and extinctions of plant and animal life on the geologic time scale.

Structure and Function in Living Systems

5. The anatomy and physiology of plants and animals illustrate the complementary nature of structure and function. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know plants and animals have levels of organization for structure and function, including cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, and the whole organism.

b. Students know organ systems function because of the contributions of individual organs, tissues, and cells. The failure of any part can affect the entire system.

c. Students know how bones and muscles work together to provide a structural framework for movement.

d. Students know how the reproductive organs of the human female and male generate eggs and sperm and how sexual activity may lead to fertilization and pregnancy.

e. Students know the function of the umbilicus and placenta during pregnancy.

f. Students know the structures and processes by which flowering plants generate pollen, ovules, seeds, and fruit.

g. Students know how to relate the structures of the eye and ear to their functions.

Physical Principles in Living Systems (Physical Sciences )

6. Climate is the long-term average of a region's weather and depends on many factors. As a basis for understanding this concept: [Lessons 1, ]

a. Students know weather (in the short run) and climate (in the long run) involve the transfer of energy into and out of the atmosphere.

b. Students know the effects on climate of latitude, elevation, topography, and proximity to large bodies of water and cold or warm ocean currents. [Lessons 1, ]

c. Students know how Earth's climate has changed over time, corresponding to changes in Earth's geography, atmospheric composition, and other factors, such as solar radiation and plate movement.

d.* Students know how computer models are used to predict the effects of the increase in greenhouse gases on climate for the planet as a whole and for specific regions.

Biogeochemical Cycles

7. Each element on Earth moves among reservoirs, which exist in the solid earth, in oceans, in the atmosphere, and within and among organisms as part of biogeochemical cycles. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know the carbon cycle of photosynthesis and respiration and the nitrogen cycle.

b. Students know the global carbon cycle: the different physical and chemical forms of carbon in the atmosphere, oceans, biomass, fossil fuels, and the movement of carbon among these reservoirs.

c. Students know the movement of matter among reservoirs is driven by Earth's internal and external sources of energy.

d.* Students know the relative residence times and flow characteristics of carbon in and out of its different reservoirs.

Structure and Composition of the Atmosphere

8. Life has changed Earth's atmosphere, and changes in the atmosphere affect conditions for life. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know the thermal structure and chemical composition of the atmosphere.

b. Students know how the composition of Earth's atmosphere has evolved over geologic time and know the effect of outgassing, the variations of carbon dioxide concentration, and the origin of atmospheric oxygen.

c. Students know the location of the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere, its role in absorbing ultraviolet radiation, and the way in which this layer varies both naturally and in response to human activities.

California Geology

9. The geology of California underlies the state's wealth of natural resources as well as its natural hazards. As a basis for understanding this concept: [Lessons 1, ]

a. Students know the resources of major economic importance in California and their relation to California's geology.

b. Students know the principal natural hazards in different California regions and the geologic basis of those hazards.

c. Students know the importance of water to society, the origins of California's fresh water, and the relationship between supply and need. [Lessons 1, 2]

d.* Students know how to analyze published geologic hazard maps of California and know how to use the map's information to identify evidence of geologic events of the past and predict geologic changes in the future.

Investigation and Experimentation

1. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other four strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will:

a. Select and use appropriate tools and technology (such as computer-linked probes, spreadsheets, and graphing calculators) to perform tests, collect data, analyze relationships, and display data.

b. Identify and communicate sources of unavoidable experimental error.

c. Identify possible reasons for inconsistent results, such as sources of error or uncontrolled conditions.

d. Formulate explanations by using logic and evidence.

e. Solve scientific problems by using quadratic equations and simple trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic functions.

f. Distinguish between hypothesis and theory as scientific terms.

g. Recognize the usefulness and limitations of models and theories as scientific representations of reality.

h. Read and interpret topographic and geologic maps.

i. Analyze the locations, sequences, or time intervals that are characteristic of natural phenomena (e.g., relative ages of rocks, locations of planets over time, and succession of species in an ecosystem).

j. Recognize the issues of statistical variability and the need for controlled tests.

k. Recognize the cumulative nature of scientific evidence.

l. Analyze situations and solve problems that require combining and applying concepts from more than one area of science.

m. Investigate a science-based societal issue by researching the literature, analyzing data, and communicating the findings. Examples of issues include irradiation of food, cloning of animals by somatic cell nuclear transfer, choice of energy sources, and land and water use decisions in California. [Lessons 1, ]

n. Know that when an observation does not agree with an accepted scientific theory, the observation is sometimes mistaken or fraudulent (e.g., the Piltdown Man fossil or unidentified flying objects) and that the theory is sometimes wrong (e.g., the Ptolemaic model of the movement of the Sun, Moon, and planets).

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