Michigan Content Standards and Benchmarks

For additional Michigan Content Standards and Benchmarks you can cover see the STANDARDS CORRELATION chart for the following PASSPORT TO KNOWLEDGE projects:

Content Standard 1: All students will ask questions that help them learn about the world; design and conduct investigations using appropriate methodology and technology; learn from books and other sources of information; communicate their findings using appropriate technology; and reconstruct previously learned knowledge. (Constructing New Scientific Knowledge)
1.Generate reasonable questions about the world based on observation. (Key concepts: See Using Scientific Knowledge. Real-world contexts: See Using Scientific Knowledge.)	video hands-on online
2. Develop solutions to unfamiliar problems through reasoning, observation, and/or experiment. ( Key concepts: See Using Scientific Knowledge. Real-world contexts: See Using Scientific Knowledge.)	video hands-on online
3. Manipulate simple mechanical devices and explain how they work. ( Key concepts: Names and uses for parts of machines, such as levers, wheel and axles, pulleys, inclined planes, gears, screws, wedges. Real-world contexts: Simple mechanical devices, such as bicycles, bicycle pumps, pulleys, faucets, clothespins.)	video hands-on online
4. Use simple measurement devices to make metric measurement. ( Key concepts: Measurement units-milliliters, liters, teaspoon, tablespoon, ounce, cup, millimeter, centimeter, meter, gram. Measurement tools: Measuring cups and spoons, measuring tape, balance or scale. Real-world contexts : Making simple mixtures, such as food, play dough, papier mache; measuring height of a person, mass of a ball.)	video hands-on online
5. Develop strategies and skills for information gathering and problem solving. ( Tools: Sources of information, such as reference books, trade books, periodicals. Real-world contexts: Seeking help from peers, adults, libraries, other resources.)	video hands-on online
6. Construct charts and graphs and prepare summaries of observations. ( Key concepts: Increase, decrease, steady. Tools: Graph paper, rulers, crayons. Real-world contexts : Examples of simple charts and graphs like those found in a newspaper.)	video hands-on online

II. Reflect on the Nature, Adequacy and Connections Across Scientific Knowledge

Content Standard1 : All students will analyze claims for their scientific merit and explain how scientists decide what constitutes scientific knowledge; how science is related to other ways of knowing; how science and technology affect our society; and how people of diverse cultures have contributed to and influenced developments in science. (Reflecting on Scientific Knowledge)
1. Develop an awareness of the need for evidence in making decisions scientifically. ( Key concepts: Data, evidence, sample, guess, opinion. Real-world contexts: Deciding whether an explanation is supported by evidence in simple experiments.)	video hands-on online
2. Show how science concepts can be interpreted through creative expression such as language arts and fine arts. ( Key concepts: Poetry, expository work, painting, drawing, music, diagrams, graphs, charts. Real-world contexts: Explaining simple experiments using paintings and drawings; describing natural phenomena scientifically and poetically.)	video hands-on online
3. Describe ways in which technology is used in everyday life. ( Key concepts: Provide faster and farther transportation and communication, organize information and solves problems, save time. Real-world contexts: Cars, other machines, radios, telephones, computer games, calculators, appliances.)	video hands-on online
4. Develop an awareness of and sensitivity to the natural world. ( Key concepts: Appreciation of the balance of nature and the effects organisms have on each other, including the effects humans have on the natural world. Real-world contexts: See Using Scientific Knowledge.)	video hands-on online
5. Develop an awareness of contributions made to science by people of diverse backgrounds. ( Key concepts: Scientific contributions made by people of diverse cultures and backgrounds. Real-world contexts: See Using Scientific Knowledge.)	video hands-on online

III. Use Scientific Knowledge from the Life Sciences in Real-World Contexts

Content Standard 4: All students will explain how scientists construct and scientifically test theories concerning the origin of life and evolution of species; compare ways that living organisms are adapted (suited) to survive and reproduce in their environments; and analyze how species change through time. (Evolution)
1. Explain how fossils provide evidence about the nature of ancient life. ( Key concepts: Types of evidence-fossil, extinct, ancient, modern life forms. Real-world contexts: Common contexts-plant and animal fossils, museum dioramas and paintings/drawings of ancient life and/or habitats.)	video hands-on online
2. Explain how physical and/or behavioral characteristics of organisms help them to survive in their environments. ( Key concepts: Characteristics-adaptation, fitness, instinct, learning, habit . Traits and their adaptive values-sharp teeth or claws for catching and killing prey, color for camouflage. Real-world contexts: Common vertebrate adaptations, such as white polar bears, sharp claws and sharp canines for predators, changing colors of chameleon; behaviors, such as migration, communication of danger, adaptation to changes in the environment.)	video hands-on online
Content Standard 5: All students will explain how parts of an ecosystem are related and how they interact; explain how energy is distributed to living things in an ecosystem; investigate and explain how communities of living things change over a period of time; describe how materials cycle through an ecosystem and get reused in the environment; and analyze how humans and the environment interact. (Ecosystems)
1. Identify familiar organisms as part of a food chain or food web and describe their feeding relationships within the web. ( Key concepts: Producer, consumer, predator, prey, decomposer, habitat. Real-world contexts: Food chains and food webs involving organisms, such as rabbits, birds, snakes, grasshoppers, plants.)	video hands-on online
2. Explain common patterns of interdependence and interrelationships of living things. ( Key concepts: Producer, consumer, predator, prey, decomposer, habitat. Real-world contexts: Relationships among plants and animals in an ecosystem-symbiotic relationships, such as insects and flowering plants, birds eating fruit and spreading seeds; parasitic relationships, such as human and mosquitoes, trees and mistletoe.)	video hands-on online
3. Describe the basic requirements for all living things to maintain their existence. ( Key concepts: Needs of life-food, habitat, water, shelter, air, light, minerals. Real-world contexts: Selected ecosystems, such as an aquarium, rotting log, terrarium, backyard, local pond or wetland, wood lot.)	video hands-on online
4. Design systems that encourage growing of particular plants or animals. ( Key concepts: Needs of life-food, habitat, water, shelter, air, light, minerals. Real-world contexts: Ecosystems managed by humans, including farms, ranches, gardens, lawns, potted plants.)	video hands-on online
5. Describe positive and negative effects of humans on the environment. ( Key concepts: Human effects on the environment-garbage, habitat destruction, land management, resource management. Real-world contexts: Household wastes, school wastes, waste water treatment, habitat destruction due to community growth, reforestation projects, establishing parks or other green spaces.)	video hands-on online

V. Use Scientific Knowledge from the Earth and Space Sciences in Real-World Contexts

3. Explain how rocks and fossils are used to understand the history of the earth. ( Key concepts: Fossils, extinct animals, dinosaurs, age of fossils, rock layers. Also see Evolution benchmarks. Real-world contexts: Fossils found in gravel, mines and quarries, museum displays; local examples of layered rocks.)

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Middle School:

I. Construct New Scientific and Personal Knowledge

Content Standard 1: All students will ask questions that help them learn about the world; design and conduct investigations using appropriate methodology and technology; learn from books and other sources of information; communicate their findings using appropriate technology; and reconstruct previously learned knowledge. (Constructing New Scientific Knowledge)
1. Generate scientific questions about the world based on observation. ( Key concepts: See Using Scientific Knowledge. Real-world contexts: See Using Scientific Knowledge.)	video hands-on online
2. Design and conduct simple investigations. ( Key concepts: The process of scientific investigations-test, fair test, hypothesis, data, conclusion . Forms for recording and reporting data-tables, graphs, journals. Real-world contexts: See Using Scientific Knowledge.)	video hands-on online
3. Investigate toys/simple appliances and explain how they work, using instructions and appropriate safety precautions. ( Key concepts: Safety precautions for using electrical appliances. Documentation for toys and appliances-diagrams, written instructions. Real-world contexts: Situations requiring assembly, use, or repair of toys, radios, or simple appliances, such as replacing batteries; connecting electrical appliances, such as stereos, videocassette recorders.)	video hands-on online
4. Use measurement devices to provide consistency in an investigation. ( Key concepts: Documentation-laboratory instructions . Measurement units-milliliters, liters, teaspoon, tablespoon, ounce, cup, millimeter, centimeter, meter, gram, nonstandard units. Measurement tools: Balancing devices, measuring cups and spoons, measuring tape. Real-world contexts: Cooking for groups of various sizes; following or altering laboratory instructions for mixing chemicals.)	video hands-on online
5. Use sources of information to help solve problems. ( Tools: Forms for presenting scientific information, such as figures, tables, graphs. Real-world contexts: Libraries, projects where research is needed.)	video hands-on online
6. Write and follow procedures in the form of step-by-step instructions, recipes, formulas, flow diagrams, and sketches. ( Key concepts: Purpose, procedure, observation, conclusion. Real-world contexts: Following a recipe; listing or creating the directions for completing a task.)	video hands-on online

II. Reflect on the Nature, Adequacy and Connections Across Scientific Knowledge

Content Standard 1 : All students will analyze claims for their scientific merit and explain how scientists decide what constitutes scientific knowledge; how science is related to other ways of knowing; how science and technology affect our society; and how people of diverse cultures have contributed to and influenced developments in science. (Reflecting on Scientific Knowledge)
1. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of claims, arguments, or data. ( Key concepts: Aspects of arguments such as data, evidence, sampling, alternate explanation, conclusion. Real-world contexts: Deciding between alternate explanations or plans for solving problems; evaluating advertising claims or cases made by interest groups.)	video hands-on online
2. Describe limitations in personal knowledge. ( Key concepts: Recognizing degrees of confidence in ideas or knowledge from different sources. Real-world contexts: See Using Scientific Knowledge.)	video hands-on online
3. Show how common themes of science, mathematics, and technology apply in real-world contexts. ( Thematic ideas: Systems-subsystems, feedback models, mathematical constancy, scale, conservation, structure, function, adaptation. Real-world contexts: See Using Scientific Knowledge.)	video hands-on online
4. Describe the advantages and risks of new technologies. ( Key concepts: Risk, benefit, side effect, advantage, disadvantage. Real-world contexts: Technological systems for manufacturing, transportation, energy distribution, housing.)	video hands-on online
5. Recognize the contributions made in science by cultures and individuals of diverse backgrounds. ( Key concepts: Scientific contributions made by people of diverse cultures and backgrounds. Real-world contexts: See Using Scientific Knowledge.)	video hands-on online

III. Use Scientific Knowledge from the Life Sciences in Real-World Contexts

Content Standard 5: All students will explain how parts of an ecosystem are related and how they interact; explain how energy is distributed to living things in an ecosystem; investigate and explain how communities of living things change over a period of time; describe how materials cycle through an ecosystem and get reused in the environment; and analyze how humans and the environment interact. (Ecosystems)
1. Describe common patterns of relationships among populations. ( Key concepts: Participants and relationships-predator, prey, parasitism, competition, symbiosis. Real-world contexts: Examples of predator-prey, symbiotic, and parasitic relationships-see elementary benchmarks 1 and 2; examples of competitive relationships, including squirrels and seed-eating birds, cattle and bison.)	video hands-on online
2. Predict the effects of changes in one population in a food web on other populations. ( Key concepts: Natural balance, population, dependence, survival. Real-world contexts: Plants and animals in an ecosystem dependent upon each other for survival in selected ecosystems-see elementary benchmark 3; comparison of animals and plants found in polluted vs. nonpolluted water, urban vs. rural settings, rural vs. forest settings.)	video hands-on online
3. Describe how all organisms in an ecosystem acquire energy directly or indirectly from sunlight. ( Key concepts: Sunlight, plants, food, photosynthesis, heat. Real-world contexts: Selected food chains, including humans; also see Cells benchmarks related to photosynthesis.)	video hands-on online
4. Describe the likely succession of a given ecosystem over time. ( Key concepts: Succession, stages, climax community. Real-world contexts: Process of gradual change in ecological systems, such as in ponds or abandoned farm fields.)	video hands-on online
5. Identify some common materials that cycle through the environment. ( Key concepts: Carbon cycle and water cycle-water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, sugar (food). Also see appropriate Cells and Atmosphere and Weather benchmarks. Real-world contexts: Selected ecosystems-also see elementary benchmark 3.)	video hands-on online
6. Describe ways in which humans alter the environment. ( Key concepts: Agriculture, land use, resource development, resource use, solid waste, toxic waste. Real-world contexts: Human activities, such as farming, pollution from manufacturing and other sources, hunting, habitat destruction, land development.)	video hands-on online
7. Explain how humans use and benefit from plant and animal materials. ( Key concepts: Materials from plants, including-wood, paper, cotton, linen, starch, rubber, wax, and oils. Materials from animals, including leather, wool, fur, protein, oils, wax. Real-world contexts: Human-made objects that incorporate plant and animal materials, including clothing, building materials, machines, and medicines-also see elementary benchmark 1, and middle school benchmarks 3 and 6-also see appropriate Geosphere benchmarks.)	video hands-on online

V. Use Scientific Knowledge from the Earth and Space Sciences in Real-World Contexts

3. Explain how rocks and fossils are used to determine the age and geological history of the earth. ( Key concepts: Time lines, rock layers, fossils, relative dating. See Waves and Vibrations benchmarks. Real-world contexts: Places where rock layers are visible; fossils, such as Petoskey stones.)

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High School:

I. Construct New Scientific and Personal Knowledge

Content Standard 1: All students will ask questions that help them learn about the world; design and conduct investigations using appropriate methodology and technology; learn from books and other sources of information; communicate their findings using appropriate technology; and reconstruct previously learned knowledge. (Constructing New Scientific Knowledge)
1. Develop questions or problems for investigation that can be answered empirically. ( Key concepts: Understanding the need to build on existing knowledge and to ask questions that can be investigated empirically. Real-world contexts: See Using Scientific Knowledge.)	video hands-on online
2. Suggest empirical tests of hypotheses. ( Key concepts: Hypothesis, prediction, test, conclusion. Real-world contexts: See Using Scientific Knowledge.)	video hands-on online
3. Design and conduct scientific investigations. ( Key concepts: Types of scientific knowledge-hypothesis, theory, observation, conclusion, law, data, generalization . Aspects of field research-observations, samples . Aspects of experimental research-variable, experimental group, control group, prediction, conclusion. Real-world contexts: See Using Scientific Knowledge.)	video hands-on online
4. Diagnose possible reasons for failures of mechanical or electronic systems. ( Key concepts: Documentation of systems, such as diagrams, owner manuals, troubleshooting guides . Procedures for identifying malfunctioning components or connections. Real-world contexts: Mechanical systems, such as bicycles, small appliances; electronic systems, such as videocassette recorders, stereo systems, computers.)	video hands-on online
5. Assemble mechanical or electronic systems using appropriate tools and instructions. ( Key concepts: Documentation of systems, such as diagrams, owner manuals, assembly instructions . Tools: Screwdrivers, pliers, hammers. Real-world contexts: Mechanical systems, such as bicycles, prepackaged furniture; electronic systems, such as videocassette recorders, stereo systems, computers.)	video hands-on online
6. Recognize and explain the limitations of measuring devices. ( Key concepts: Uncertainty, error, range . Tools: Balancing devices, measuring cups and spoons, measuring tape. Real-world contexts: Designing an experiment using quantitative data.)	video hands-on online
7. Gather and synthesize information from books and other sources of information. ( Key concepts: Scientific periodicals, reference books, trade books. Real-world contexts: Libraries, technical reference books.)	video hands-on online
8. Discuss topics in groups by being able to restate or summarize what others have said, ask for clarification or elaboration, and take alternative perspectives. ( Key concepts: A newspaper or magazine article discussing a topic of social concern. Real-world contexts: A newspaper or magazine article discussing a topic of social concern.)	video hands-on online
9. Reconstruct previously learned knowledge. ( Key concepts: Appropriate scientific contexts-See Using Scientific Knowledge. Real-world contexts: See Using Scientific Knowledge.)	video hands-on online

II. Reflect on the Nature, Adequacy and Connections Across Scientific Knowledge

Content Standard1 : All students will analyze claims for their scientific merit and explain how scientists decide what constitutes scientific knowledge; how science is related to other ways of knowing; how science and technology affect our society; and how people of diverse cultures have contributed to and influenced developments in science. (Reflecting on Scientific Knowledge)
1. Justify plans or explanations on a theoretical or empirical basis. ( Key concepts: Aspects of logical argument, including evidence, fact, opinion, assumptions, claims, conclusions, observations. Real-world contexts: See Using Scientific Knowledge.)	video hands-on online
2. Describe some general limitations of scientific knowledge. ( Key concepts: Understanding of the general limits of science and scientific knowledge as constantly developing human enterprises. Real-world contexts: See Using Scientific Knowledge.)	video hands-on online
3. how how common themes of science, mathematics, and technology apply in real-world contexts. ( Thematic ideas: Systems-subsystems, feedback models, mathematical constancy, scale, conservation, structure, function, adaptation. Real-world contexts: See Using Scientific Knowledge.)	video hands-on online
4. Discuss the historical development of key scientific concepts and principles. ( Key concepts: Historical, political, social, and economic factors influencing the development of science. Real-world contexts: Historical development of key scientific theories, such as evolution, the germ theory of disease, principles of genetics, plate tectonics, atomic theory, Newtonian physics.)	video hands-on online
5. Evaluate alternative long range plans for resource use and by-product disposal in terms of environmental and economic impact. ( Key concepts: Understanding of limitations of knowledge and technology, side effects of resource use. Real-world contexts: Large scale systems for mining, energy use, manufacturing, transportation, housing.)	video hands-on online
6. Describe the historical, political, and social factors affecting developments in science. ( Key concepts: Historical, political, social, and economic factors influencing the development of science. Real-world contexts: An example might be the development of the sun-centered model of the solar system.)	video hands-on online

III. Use Scientific Knowledge from the Life Sciences in Real-World Contexts

Content Standard 5: All students will explain how parts of an ecosystem are related and how they interact; explain how energy is distributed to living things in an ecosystem; investigate and explain how communities of living things change over a period of time; describe how materials cycle through an ecosystem and get reused in the environment; and analyze how humans and the environment interact. (Ecosystems)
1. Describe common ecological relationships among species. ( Key concepts: Competition, territory, carrying capacity, natural balance, population, dependence, survival. Real-world contexts: Animals that live in packs or herds and plant colonies, such as-wolves, bison, lilies and other bulb plants, various forms of algae; selected ecosystems-see elementary benchmark 3.)	video hands-on online
2. Explain how energy flows through familiar ecosystems. ( Key concepts: Participants and relationships-food chain, food web, energy pyramid, energy flow, producers, consumers, decomposers. Real-world contexts: Energy pyramids for food chains in selected ecosystems-also see elementary benchmark 3.)	video hands-on online
3. Describe general factors regulating population size in ecosystems. ( Key concepts: Carrying capacity, competition, parasitism, predation. Real-world contexts: Common factors that influence relationships, such as weather, disease, predation, migration.)	video hands-on online
4. Describe responses of an ecosystem to events that cause it to change. ( Key concepts: Succession, climate/physical conditions, introduction of new/different species, elimination of existing species. Real-world contexts: Climax forests comprised of maple, beech, or conifers; effects of urban sprawl or clear cutting forests; selected ecosystems-see elementary benchmark 3.)	video hands-on online
5. Describe how water, carbon dioxide, and soil nutrients cycle through selected ecosystems. ( Key concepts: Common nutrients/elements-nitrogen, sulfur, carbon, phosphorous. Inorganic compounds containing nutrients-oil minerals, carbon dioxide. Organic compounds in living communities-proteins, fats, carbohydrates. Also see appropriate Cells benchmarks. Real-world contexts: Selected ecosystems-see middle school benchmark 5; also see appropriate Hydrosphere benchmarks.)	video hands-on online
6. Explain the effects of agriculture and other human activities on selected ecosystems. ( Key concepts: Common factors that influence ecosystems, such as pollution of ecosystems from fertilizer, insecticide, and other chemicals. Real-world contexts: Common factors that influence ecosystems, such as pollution of ecosystems from fertilizer, insecticide, and other chemicals.)	video hands-on online

Michigan Content Standards and Benchmarks

Elementary:

Middle School:

High School: