1: Properties and Principles of Matter and Energy

1.1: Changes in properties and states of matter provide evidence of the atomic theory of matter

1.1.A: Objects, and the materials they are made of, have properties that can be used to describe and classify them

1.1.A.a: Identify matter is anything that has mass and volume

Weight and Mass

1.1.A.b: Describe and compare the volumes (the amount of space an object occupies) of objects or substances directly, using a graduated cylinder, and/or indirectly, using displacement methods

Determining Density via Water Displacement
Measuring Volume

1.1.A.c: Describe and compare the masses (amounts of matter) of objects to the nearest gram using a balance

Triple Beam Balance
Weight and Mass

1.1.C: Properties of matter can be explained in terms of moving particles too small to be seen without tremendous magnification

1.1.C.a: Describe evidence (e.g., diffusion of food coloring in water, light reflecting off of dust particles in the air, condensation of water vapor by increased pressure or decreased temperature) that supports the theory that matter is composed of small particles (atoms, molecules) that are in constant, random motion

Phases of Water

1.1.D: Physical changes in the state of matter that result from thermal changes can be explained by the Kinetic Theory of Matter

1.1.D.a: Describe the relationship between the change in the volume of water and changes in temperature as it relates to the properties of water (i.e., water expands and becomes less dense when frozen)

Phases of Water

1.1.G: Properties of objects and states of matter can change chemically and/or physically

1.1.G.a: Identify and classify changes in matter as chemical and/or physical

Chemical Changes

1.1.G.b: Identify chemical changes (i.e., rusting, oxidation, burning, decomposition by acids, decaying, baking) in common objects (i.e., rocks such as limestone, minerals, wood, steel wool, plants) as a result of interactions with sources of energy or other matter that form new substances with different characteristic properties

Chemical Changes
Chemical Equations

1.1.G.c: Identify physical changes in common objects (e.g., rocks, minerals, wood, water, steel wool, plants) and describe the processes which caused the change (e.g., weathering, erosion, cutting, dissolving)

Density Experiment: Slice and Dice

1.1.I: Mass is conserved during any physical or chemical change

1.1.I.a: Demonstrate and provide evidence that mass is conserved during a physical change

Chemical Changes

1.2: Energy has a source, can be stored, and can be transferred but is conserved within a system

1.2.A: Forms of energy have a source, a means of transfer (work and heat), and a receiver

1.2.A.a: Identify sources of visible light (e.g., the Sun and other stars, flint, bulb, flames, lightning)

Herschel Experiment
Radiation

1.2.A.c: Compare the reflection of visible light by various surfaces (i.e., mirror, smooth and rough surfaces, shiny and dull surfaces, Moon)

Laser Reflection

1.2.A.d: Compare the refraction of visible light passing through different transparent and translucent materials (e.g., prisms, water, a lens)

Basic Prism

1.2.A.f: Identify receivers of visible light energy (e.g., eye, photocell)

Heat Absorption
Herschel Experiment
Radiation

1.2.A.i: Describe how sound energy is transferred by wave-like disturbances that spread away from the source through a medium

Longitudinal Waves

1.2.A.k: Predict how the properties of the medium (e.g., air, water, empty space, rock) affect the speed of different types of mechanical waves (i.e., earthquake, sound)

Longitudinal Waves
Ripple Tank

1.2.C: Electromagnetic energy from the Sun (solar radiation) is a major source of energy on Earth

1.2.C.a: Recognize and describe how energy from the Sun is transferred to Earth in a range of wavelengths and energy levels, including visible light, infrared radiation, and ultraviolet radiation

Herschel Experiment
Radiation

3: Characteristics and Interactions of Living Organisms

3.1: There is a fundamental unity underlying the diversity of all living organisms

3.1.E: Biological classifications are based on how organisms are related

3.1.E.a: Recognize most of the organisms on Earth are unicellular (e.g., bacteria, protists) and other organisms, including humans, are multicellular

Digestive System
Paramecium Homeostasis

3.1.E.b: Identify examples of unicellular (e.g., bacteria, some protists, fungi) and multicellular organisms (e.g., some fungi, plants, animals)

Paramecium Homeostasis

3.2: Living organisms carry out life processes in order to survive

3.2.A: The cell contains a set of structures called organelles that interact to carry out life processes through physical and chemical means

3.2.A.a: Compare and contrast the following plant and animal cell structures: cell membrane, nucleus, cell wall, chloroplast, and cytoplasm

Cell Structure

3.2.A.b: Recognize the chloroplast as the cell structure where food is produced in plants and some unicellular organisms (e.g., algae, some protists)

Cell Energy Cycle

3.2.B: Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are complementary processes necessary to the survival of most organisms on Earth

3.2.B.a: Describe how plants use energy from the Sun to produce food and oxygen through the process of photosynthesis

Cell Energy Cycle
Energy Conversions
Food Chain
Forest Ecosystem
Photosynthesis Lab

4: Changes in Ecosystems and Interactions of Organisms with their Environments

4.1: Organisms are interdependent with one another and with their environment

4.1.A: All populations living together within a community interact with one another and with their environment in order to survive and maintain a balanced ecosystem

4.1.A.a: Identify the biotic factors (populations of organisms) and abiotic factors (e.g., quantity of light and water, range of temperatures, soil composition) that make up an ecosystem

Coral Reefs 1 - Abiotic Factors
Food Chain
Pond Ecosystem

4.1.B: Living organisms have the capacity to produce populations of infinite size, but environments and resources are finite

4.1.B.b: Identify the factors that affect the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can support (e.g., food availability, abiotic factors such as quantity of light and water, temperature and temperature range, soil composition, disease, competitions from other organisms, predation)

Food Chain
Prairie Ecosystem
Rabbit Population by Season

4.1.B.c: Predict the possible effects of changes in the number and types of organisms in an ecosystem on the populations of other organisms within that ecosystem

Coral Reefs 1 - Abiotic Factors
Food Chain

4.1.D: The diversity of species within an ecosystem is affected by changes in the environment, which can be caused by other organisms or outside processes

4.1.D.a: Describe beneficial and harmful activities of organisms, including humans (e.g., deforestation, overpopulation, water and air pollution, global warming, restoration of natural environments, river bank/coastal stabilization, recycling, channelization, reintroduction of species, depletion of resources), and explain how these activities affect organisms within an ecosystem

Carbon Cycle
Coral Reefs 1 - Abiotic Factors
Greenhouse Effect
Pond Ecosystem
Water Pollution

4.1.D.b: Predict the impact (beneficial or harmful) of a natural environmental change (e.g., forest fire, flood, volcanic eruption, avalanche) on the organisms in an ecosystem

Coral Reefs 1 - Abiotic Factors

4.1.D.c: Describe possible solutions to potentially harmful environmental changes within an ecosystem

Coral Reefs 1 - Abiotic Factors

4.2: Matter and energy flow through an ecosystem

4.2.A: As energy flows through the ecosystem, all organisms capture a portion of that energy and transform it to a form they can use

4.2.A.a: Diagram and describe the transfer of energy in an aquatic food web and a land food web with reference to producers, consumers, decomposers, scavengers, and predator/prey relationships

Forest Ecosystem
Prairie Ecosystem

4.2.A.b: Classify populations of unicellular and multicellular organisms as producers, consumers, and decomposers by the role they serve in the ecosystem

Forest Ecosystem

5: Processes and Interactions of the Earth's Systems (Geosphere, Atmosphere, and Hydrosphere)

5.2: Earth's Systems (geosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere) interact with one another as they undergo change by common processes

5.2.A: The Earth's materials and surface features are changed through a variety of external processes

5.2.A.a: Make inferences about the formation of sedimentary rocks from their physical properties (e.g., layering and the presence of fossils indicate sedimentation)

Rock Cycle

5.2.A.b: Explain how the formation of sedimentary rocks depends on weathering and erosion

Rock Cycle

5.2.A.c: Describe how weathering agents and erosional processes (i.e., force of water as it freezes or flows, expansion/contraction due to temperature, force of wind, force of plant roots, action of gravity, chemical decomposition) slowly cause surface changes that create and/or change landforms

Rock Cycle

5.2.A.d: Describe how the Earth's surface and surface materials can change abruptly through the activity of floods, rock/mudslides, or volcanoes

Plate Tectonics

5.2.B: There are internal processes and sources of energy within the geosphere that cause changes in Earth's crustal plates

5.2.B.a: Identify events (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions) and the landforms created by them on the Earth's surface that occur at different plate boundaries

Plate Tectonics

5.3: Human activity is dependent upon and affects Earth's resources and systems

5.3.A: Earth's materials are limited natural resources affected by human activity

5.3.A.b: Describe the affect of human activities (e.g., landfills, use of fertilizers and herbicides, farming, septic systems) on the quality of water

Coral Reefs 1 - Abiotic Factors
Pond Ecosystem
Water Pollution