California Academic Content Standards

The STANDARDS CORRELATION chart suggests which California Academic Content Standards you can cover using Objects in the sky: Planets, Stars and More! 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 Three

Physical Sciences

1. Energy and matter have multiple forms and can be changed from one form to another. As a basis for understanding this concept:

 

a. Students know energy comes from the Sun to Earth in the form of light.

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Earth Science

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.

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b. Students know the way in which the Moon’s appearance changes during the four-week lunar cycle.

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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.

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d. Students know that Earth is one of several planets that orbit the Sun and that the Moon orbits Earth.

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e. Students know the position of the Sun in the sky changes during the course of the day and from season to season.

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Investigation and Experimentation

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.

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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.

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c. Use numerical data in describing and comparing objects, events, and measurements.

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d. Predict the outcome of a simple investigation and compare the result with the prediction.

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e. Collect data in an investigation and analyze those data to develop a logical conclusion.

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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
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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d. Recognize the slope of the linear graph as the constant in the relationship yÊ =Ê kx and apply this principle in interpreting graphs constructed from data.

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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 = dis-tance/ 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, prima-rily 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