California Academic Content Standards

The STANDARDS CORRELATION chart suggests which California Academic Content Standards you can cover using How We Explore Space: Extending Our Senses Beyond Earth in your classroom. We hope you will discover additional standards you can use.

For additional California Academic Content Standards you can cover see the STANDARDS CORRELATION chart for the following PASSPORT TO KNOWLEDGE SCIENCE CONCEPTS IN CONTEXT programs:

Earth Science Modules
Sun and Seasons, Day and Night

Jet Streams and Ocean Currents: the Global Circulation of air and Water

The Greenhouse Effect

The Water, Carbon and Other Geochemical Cycles

Life Science Modules
Photosynthesis: from Sunlight to Life

Food Webs: Connections Across the Natural World

Adaptation and Natural selection: Evolution at Work

Life in Extreme Environments

Physical Science Modules
Light, Optics, Mirros and Telescopes

The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Force and Motion

Convection, Conduction and Radiation

Space Science Modules
Gravity: Mass, Weight and Motion

Objects in the sky: Planets, Stars and More!

Fusion and Fission: Atoms and Energy

How We Explore Space: Extending Our Senses Beyond Earth

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

Grade Two

Physical Sciences

You can cover most of these plus additional state standards by using the Force and Motion program along with this program.

1. The motion of objects can be observed and measured. As a basis for understanding this concept:

 

a. Students know the position of an object can be described by locating it in relation to another object or to the background.

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b. Students know an object’s motion can be described by recording the change in position of the object over time.

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c. Students know the way to change how something is moving is by giving it a push or a pull. The size of the change is related to the strength, or the amount of force, of the push or pull.

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d. Students know tools and machines are used to apply pushes and pulls (forces) to make things move.

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e. Students know objects fall to the ground unless something holds them up.

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f. Students know magnets can be used to make some objects move without being touched.

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g. Students know sound is made by vibrating objects and can be described by its pitch and volume.

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Grade Five

Earth Science

5. The solar system consists of planets and other bodies that orbit the Sun in predict-able 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.

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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.

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

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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.

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b. Develop a testable question.

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

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

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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.

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

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

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

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

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Grade Eight

Focus on Physical Sciences
Motion

1. The velocity of an object is the rate of change of its position. As a basis for under-standing this concept:

 

a. Students know position is defined in relation to some choice of a standard refer-ence point and a set of reference directions.

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b. Students know that average speed is the total distance traveled divided by the total time elapsed and that the speed of an object along the path traveled can vary.

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c. Students know how to solve problems involving distance, time, and average speed.

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d. Students know the velocity of an object must be described by specifying both the direction and the speed of the object.

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e. Students know changes in velocity may be due to changes in speed, direction, or both.

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f. Students know how to interpret graphs of position versus time and graphs of speed versus time for motion in a single direction.

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Forces

2. Unbalanced forces cause changes in velocity. As a basis for understanding this concept:

 

a. Students know a force has both direction and magnitude.

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b. Students know when an object is subject to two or more forces at once, the result is the cumulative effect of all the forces.

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c. Students know when the forces on an object are balanced, the motion of the object does not change.

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d. Students know how to identify separately the two or more forces that are acting on a single static object, including gravity, elastic forces due to tension or com-pression in matter, and friction.

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e. Students know that when the forces on an object are unbalanced, the object will change its velocity (that is, it will speed up, slow down, or change direction).

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f. Students know the greater the mass of an object, the more force is needed to achieve the same rate of change in motion.

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g. Students know the role of gravity in forming and maintaining the shapes of planets, stars, and the solar system.

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Earth in the Solar System (Earth Science)

4. The structure and composition of the universe can be learned from studying stars and galaxies and their evolution. As a basis for understanding this concept:

 

a. Students know galaxies are clusters of billions of stars and may have different shapes.

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b. Students know that the Sun is one of many stars in the Milky Way galaxy and that stars may differ in size, temperature, and color.

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c. Students know how to use astronomical units and light years as measures of distances between the Sun, stars, and Earth.

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d. Students know that stars are the source of light for all bright objects in outer space and that the Moon and planets shine by reflected sunlight, not by their own light.

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e. Students know the appearance, general composition, relative position and size, and motion of objects in the solar system, including planets, planetary satellites, comets, and asteroids.

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Investigation and Experimentation

9. 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. Plan and conduct a scientific investigation to test a hypothesis.

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b. Evaluate the accuracy and reproducibility of data.

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c. Distinguish between variable and controlled parameters in a test.

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e. Construct appropriate graphs from data and develop quantitative statements about the relationships between variables.

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f. Apply simple mathematic relationships to determine a missing quantity in a mathematic expression, given the two remaining terms (including speed = distance/ time, density = mass/volume, force = pressure ´ area, volume = area ´ height).

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g. Distinguish between linear and nonlinear relationships on a graph of data.

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Grade Nine to Twelve

Earth Science Earth's Place in the Universe

1. Astronomy and planetary exploration reveal the solar system’s structure, scale, and change over time. As a basis for understanding this concept:

 

a. Students know how the differences and similarities among the sun, the terrestrial planets, and the gas planets may have been established during the formation of the solar system.

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b. Students know the evidence from Earth and moon rocks indicates that the solar system was formed from a nebular cloud of dust and gas approximately 4.6 bil-lion years ago.

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c. Students know the evidence from geological studies of Earth and other planets suggest that the early Earth was very different from Earth today.

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d. Students know the evidence indicating that the planets are much closer to Earth than the stars are.

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e. Students know the Sun is a typical star and is powered by nuclear reactions, primarily the fusion of hydrogen to form helium.

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f. Students know the evidence for the dramatic effects that asteroid impacts have had in shaping the surface of planets and their moons and in mass extinctions of life on Earth.

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g.* Students know the evidence for the existence of planets orbiting other stars.

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2. Earth-based and space-based astronomy reveal the structure, scale, and changes in stars, galaxies, and the universe over time. As a basis for understanding this concept:

 

a. Students know the solar system is located in an outer edge of the disc-shaped Milky Way galaxy, which spans 100,000 light years.

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b. Students know galaxies are made of billions of stars and comprise most of the visible mass of the universe.

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c. Students know the evidence indicating that all elements with an atomic number greater than that of lithium have been formed by nuclear fusion in stars.

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d. Students know that stars differ in their life cycles and that visual, radio, and X-ray telescopes may be used to collect data that reveal those differences.

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e.* Students know accelerators boost subatomic particles to energy levels that simulate conditions in the stars and in the early history of the universe before stars formed.

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f.* Students know the evidence indicating that the color, brightness, and evolution of a star are determined by a balance between gravitational collapse and nuclear fusion.

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g.* Students know how the red-shift from distant galaxies and the cosmic background radiation provide evidence for the "big bang" model that suggests that the uni-verse has been expanding for 10 to 20 billion years.

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Updated July 2001