The STANDARDS CORRELATION chart suggests which California Academic Content Standards for science you can cover using PASSPORT TO THE RAINFOREST in your classroom. We hope you will discover additional standards you can use. These are the ones our Instructional Materials Development team felt most directly related to the activities contained in PASSPORT TO THE RAINFOREST.
For additional California Academic Content Standards for science you can cover see the STANDARDS CORRELATION chart for the following PASSPORT TO KNOWLEDGE projects:
PASSPORT TO WEATHER AND CLIMATE
Elementary Standards: Kindergarten, Grade One,
Grade Two, Grade Three,
Grade Four, Grade Five
Middle School Standards: Grade Six, Grade Seven,
Grade Eight
High School Starndards: Grades 9-12
2. Different types of plants and animals inhabit the earth. As a basis for understanding
this concept:
a. Students know how to observe and describe similarities and differences in the
appearance and behavior of plants and animals (e.g., seed-bearing plants, birds,
fish, insects).
video c. Students know how to identify major structures of common plants and animals
(e.g., stems, leaves, roots, arms, wings, legs).
video 4. 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. Observe common objects by using the five senses.
video b. describe the properties of common objects.
video c. describe the relative position of objects using one reference (e.g., above or below).
video d. compare and sort common objects based on one physical attribute (including color, shape, texture, size, weight).
video e. communicate observations orally and in drawings.
video 2. Plants and animals meet their needs in different ways. As a basis for understanding
this concept:
a. Students know different plants and animals inhabit different kinds of environments
and have external features that help them thrive in different kinds of
places.
video b. Students know both plants and animals need water, animals need food, and plants
need light.
video c. Students know animals eat plants or other animals for food and may also use
plants or even other animals for shelter and nesting.
video d. Students know how to infer what animals eat from the shapes of their teeth
(e.g., sharp teeth: eats meat; flat teeth: eats plants).
video 4. 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. draw pictures that portray some features of the thing being described.
video b. Record observations and data with pictures, numbers, or written statements.
video c. record observations on a bar graph.
video d. describe the relative position of objects using two references (e.g., above and next to, below and left of).
video e. Make new observations when discrepancies exist between two descriptions of
the same object or phenomenon.
video 2. Plants and animals have predictable life cycles. As a basis for understanding this
concept:
a. Students know that organisms reproduce offspring of their own kind and that the
offspring resemble their parents and one another.
video c. Students know many characteristics of an organism are inherited from the parents.
Some characteristics are caused or influenced by the environment.
video d. Students know there is variation among individuals of one kind within a population.
video e. Students know light, gravity, touch, or environmental stress can affect the germi-nation,
growth, and development of plants.
video 4. 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. Make predictions based on observed patterns and not random guessing.
video b. Measure length, weight, temperature, and liquid volume with appropriate tools
and express those measurements in standard metric system units.
video c. Compare and sort common objects according to two or more physical attributes
(e.g., color, shape, texture, size, weight).
video d. Write or draw descriptions of a sequence of steps, events, and observations.
video e. Construct bar graphs to record data, using appropriately labeled axes.
video f. Use magnifiers or microscopes to observe and draw descriptions of small objects
or small features of objects.
video g. Follow oral instructions for a scientific investigation.
video 3. Adaptations in physical structure or behavior may improve an organism’s chance for
survival. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know plants and animals have structures that serve different functions in
growth, survival, and reproduction.
video b. Students know examples of diverse life forms in different environments, such as
oceans, deserts, tundra, forests, grasslands, and wetlands.
video c. Students know living things cause changes in the environment in which they live:
some of these changes are detrimental to the organism or other organisms, and
some are beneficial.
video d. Students know when the environment changes, some plants and animals survive
and reproduce; others die or move to new locations.
video e. Students know that some kinds of organisms that once lived on Earth have completely
disappeared and that some of those resembled others that are alive today.
video 4. Objects in the sky move in regular and predictable patterns. As a basis for under-standing
this concept:
a. Students know the patterns of stars stay the same, although they appear to move
across the sky nightly, and different stars can be seen in different seasons.
video b. Students know the way in which the Moon’s appearance changes during the four-week
lunar cycle.
video c. Students know 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 the number that can be seen by the
unaided eye.
video d. Students know that Earth is one of several planets that orbit the Sun and that the
Moon orbits Earth.
video e. Students know the position of the Sun in the sky changes during the course of the
day and from season to season.
video 5. 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. Repeat observations to improve accuracy and know that the results of similar
scientific investigations seldom turn out exactly the same because of differences
in the things being investigated, methods being used, or uncertainty in the
observation.
video b. Differentiate evidence from opinion and know that scientists do not rely on
claims or conclusions unless they are backed by observations that can be
confirmed.
video c. Use numerical data in describing and comparing objects, events, and measurements.
video d. Predict the outcome of a simple investigation and compare the result with the
prediction.
video e. Collect data in an investigation and analyze those data to develop a logical conclusion.
video 2. All organisms need energy and matter to live and grow. As a basis for understand-ing
this concept:
a. Students know plants are the primary source of matter and energy entering most
food chains.
video b. Students know producers and consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and
decomposers) are related in food chains and food webs and may compete with
each other for resources in an ecosystem.
video c. Students know decomposers, including many fungi, insects, and microorganisms,
recycle matter from dead plants and animals.
video 33. Living organisms depend on one another and on their environment for survival. As
a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know ecosystems can be characterized by their living and nonliving
components.
video b. Students know that in any particular environment, some kinds of plants and
animals survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
video c. Students know many plants depend on animals for pollination and seed dispersal,
and animals depend on plants for food and shelter.
video d. Students know that most microorganisms do not cause disease and that many are
beneficial.
video 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. Differentiate observation from inference (interpretation) and know scientists’
explanations come partly from what they observe and partly from how
they interpret their observations.
video b. Measure and estimate the weight, length, or volume of objects. video c. Formulate and justify predictions based on cause-and-effect relationships.
video d. Conduct multiple trials to test a prediction and draw conclusions about the
relationships between predictions and results.
video e. Construct and interpret graphs from measurements.
video f. Follow a set of written instructions for a scientific investigation.
video 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.
video b. Develop a testable question.
video c. Plan and conduct a simple investigation based on a student-developed question
and write instructions others can follow to carry out the procedure.
video d. Identify the dependent and controlled variables in an investigation.
video 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.
video f. Select appropriate tools (e.g., thermometers, meter sticks, balances, and gradu-ated
cylinders) and make quantitative observations.
video g. Record data by using appropriate graphic representations (including charts,
graphs, and labeled diagrams) and make inferences based on those data.
video h. Draw conclusions from scientific evidence and indicate whether further informa-tion
is needed to support a specific conclusion.
video i. Write a report of an investigation that includes conducting tests, collecting data
or examining evidence, and drawing conclusions.
video 5. Organisms in ecosystems exchange energy and nutrients among themselves and
with the environment. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers
into chemical energy through photosynthesis and then from organism to organ-ism
through food webs.
video b. Students know matter is transferred over time from one organism to others in the
food web and between organisms and the physical environment.
video c. Students know populations of organisms can be categorized by the functions they
serve in an ecosystem.
video d. Students know different kinds of organisms may play similar ecological roles in
similar biomes.
video 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.
video 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:
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.
video 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.
video c. Students know the natural origin of the materials used to make common objects.
video 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.
video b. Select and use appropriate tools and technology (including calculators, comput-ers,
balances, spring scales, microscopes, and binoculars) to perform tests, collect
data, and display data.
video c. Construct appropriate graphs from data and develop qualitative statements
about the relationships between variables.
video d. Communicate the steps and results from an investigation in written reports and
oral presentations.
video e. Recognize whether evidence is consistent with a proposed explanation.
video f. Read a topographic map and a geologic map for evidence provided on the maps
and construct and interpret a simple scale map.
video g. Interpret events by sequence and time from natural phenomena (e.g., the relative
ages of rocks and intrusions).
video h. Identify changes in natural phenomena over time without manipulating the
phenomena (e.g., a tree limb, a grove of trees, a stream, a hillslope).
video 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.
video b. Students know the reasoning used by Charles Darwin in reaching his conclusion
that natural selection is the mechanism of evolution.
video e. Students know that extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes
and that the adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient for its survival.
video 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. Select and use appropriate tools and technology (including calculators, comput-ers,
balances, spring scales, microscopes, and binoculars) to perform tests, collect
data, and display data.
video b. Use a variety of print and electronic resources (including the World Wide Web)
to collect information and evidence as part of a research project.
video c. Communicate the logical connection among hypotheses, science concepts, tests
conducted, data collected, and conclusions drawn from the scientific evidence. video d. Construct scale models, maps, and appropriately labeled diagrams to communi-cate
scientific knowledge (e.g., motion of Earth’s plates and cell structure). video e. Communicate the steps and results from an investigation in written reports and
oral presentations.
video 6. Stability in an ecosystem is a balance between competing effects. As a basis for
understanding this concept:
a. Students know biodiversity is the sum total of different kinds of organisms and is
affected by alterations of habitats.
video b. Students know how to analyze changes in an ecosystem resulting from changes in
climate, human activity, introduction of nonnative species, or changes in population
size.
video c. Students know how fluctuations in population size in an ecosystem are determined
by the relative rates of birth, immigration, emigration, and death.
video d. Students know how water, carbon, and nitrogen cycle between abiotic resources
and organic matter in the ecosystem and how oxygen cycles through photosynthesis
and respiration.
video e. Students know a vital part of an ecosystem is the stability of its producers and
decomposers.
video f. Students know at each link in a food web some energy is stored in newly made
structures but much energy is dissipated into the environment as heat. This
dissipation may be represented in an energy pyramid.
video g.* Students know how to distinguish between the accommodation of an individual
organism to its environment and the gradual adaptation of a lineage of organ-isms
through genetic change.
video Updated September 2001Kindergarten
Life Science
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Earth Science
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Life Science
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Grade Five
Investigation and Experimentation
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Grade Six
Focus on Earth Sciences
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Grade Seven
Focus on Life Sciences
Evolution
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Grade Nine to Twelve
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