NATIONAL SCIENCE STANDARDS

Content Standard A, Science as Inquiry
1) Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry 
and Understanding about scientific inquiry
a) Scientific investigations involve asking and answering a question
and comparing the answer with what scientists already know about the world.
b) Scientists use different kinds of investigations depending on the questions they are trying to answer. Types of investigations include describing objects, events, and organisms; classifying them; and doing a fair test (experimenting). 
c) Simple instruments, such as magnifiers, thermometers, and rulers,
provide more information than scientists obtain using only their senses. 
d) Scientists develop explanations using observations (evidence) and
what they already know about the world (scientific knowledge). 
Good explanations are based on evidence from investigations. 
e) Scientists make the results of their investigations public; they describe the investigations in ways that enable others to repeat the investigations.
f) Scientists review and ask questions about the results of other scientists' work.

Content Standard B, Physical Science 
1) Properties of objects and materials
a) Objects have many observable properties, including 
size, weight, etc. Those properties can be measured using tools, 
such as rulers, balances, and thermometers.
b) Objects are made of one or more materials, such as paper, wood, and metal. 
c) Objects can be described by the properties of the materials 
from which they are made, and those properties can 
be used to separate or sort a group of objects or materials.

2) Position and motion of objects: 
a) The position of an object can be described by 
locating it relative to another object or the background. 
b) An object's motion can be described by tracing 
and measuring its position over time. 
c) The position and motion of objects can be changed 
by pushing or pulling. The size of the change is 
related to the strength of the push or pull.

3) Light, heat, electricity, and magnetism:
a) Electricity in circuits can produce light, heat, sound, and magnetic effects. 
b) Electrical circuits require a complete loop through 
which an electrical current can pass.

Content Standard E, Science and Technology 
1) Abilities of technological design 
a) Problem identification, children should develop the ability to explain a problem in their own words and identify a specific task and solution related to the problem. 
b) Purpose of a solution. Students should make proposals to build something or get something to work better; they should be able to describe and communicate their ideas. Students should recognize that designing a solution might have constraints, such as cost, materials, time, space, or safety.
c) Implementing Solutions. Children should develop abilities to work individually and collaboratively and to use suitable tools, techniques, and quantitative measurements when appropriate. Students should demonstrate the ability to balance simple constraints in problem solving. 
d) Evaluate a product or design. Students should evaluate their own results or solutions to problems, as well as those of others, by considering how well a product or design met the challenge to solve a problem. When possible, students should use measurements and include constraints and other criteria in their evaluations. They should modify designs based on the results of evaluations. 
e) Communicate a problem, design, and solution. Student abilities should include oral, written, and pictorial communication of the design process and product. The communication might be show and tell, group discussions, short written reports, or pictures, depending on the students' abilities and the design project.
 
2) Understanding about science and technology
a) People have always had problems and invented tools 
and techniques (ways of doing something) to solve problems. 
b) Trying to determine the effects of solutions 
helps people avoid some new problems. 
c) Scientists and engineers often work in teams with 
different individuals doing different things that contribute to the results. 
d) This understanding focuses primarily on teams working together 
and secondarily, on the combination of scientist and engineer teams. 
e) Women and men of all ages, backgrounds, and groups 
engage in a variety of scientific and technological work. 
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.

3) Abilities to distinguish between natural objects and objects made by humans 
a) Some objects occur in nature; others have been designed and made by people to solve human problems and enhance the quality of life. 

Content Standard G, History and Nature of Science 
1) Science as a human endeavor 
a) Science and technology have been practiced by people for a long time.
Men and women have made a variety of contributions 
throughout the history of science and technology.
b) Science will never be finished.
c) Many people choose science as a career and 
devote their entire lives to studying it 
d) Many people derive great pleasure from doing science.

Back To Standards

  © www.seibunUSA.com