Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.
Examples of reactions could include burning sugar or steel wool, fat reacting with sodium hydroxide, or mixing zinc with hydrogen chloride. Examples of chemical and physical properties to analyze include density, melting point, boiling point, solubility, flammability, or odor.
Develop and use a model to describe how the total number of atoms does not change in a chemical reaction and thus mass is conserved.
Emphasis is on the law of conservation of matter and on physical models or drawings, including digital forms, that represent atoms. The use of atomic masses, balancing symbolic equations, or intermolecular forces is not the focus of this performance expectation.
Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and the state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.
Emphasis is on qualitative molecular-level models of solids, liquids, and gases to show that adding or removing thermal energy increases or decreases kinetic energy of the particles until a change of state occurs. Examples of models could include drawings or diagrams. Examples of particles could include molecules or inert atoms such as the noble gases. Examples of pure substances could include water, carbon dioxide, or helium.
Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.
Emphasis is on tracing movement of matter and flow of energy.
Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.
Emphasis is on describing that molecules are broken apart and put back together and that in this process, energy is released.
Develop and use a model to describe why asexual reproduction results in offspring with identical genetic information and sexual reproduction results in offspring with genetic variation.
Emphasis is on using models such as Punnett squares, diagrams, and simulations to describe the cause and effect relationship of gene transmission from parent(s) to offspring and resulting genetic variation.
Construct an explanation based on evidence that describes how genetic variations of traits in a population increase some individuals’ probability of surviving and reproducing in a specific environment.
Emphasis is on using simple probability statements and proportional reasoning to construct explanations about why some traits are suppressed and other traits become more prevalent for those individuals better at finding food, shelter, or avoiding predators.
Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth’s systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.
Emphasis is on the ways water changes its state and location as it moves through the multiple pathways of the hydrologic cycle. Examples of models can be conceptual or physical.
Collect data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions of air masses results in changes in weather conditions.
Emphasis is on how air masses flow from regions of high pressure to low pressure, causing weather (defined by temperature, pressure, humidity, precipitation, and wind) at a fixed location to change over time, and how sudden changes in weather can result when different air masses collide. Emphasis is on how weather can be predicted within probabilistic ranges. Examples of data can be provided to students (such as weather maps, diagrams, and visualizations) or obtained through laboratory experiments (such as condensation).
Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth causes patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.
Emphasis is on how patterns vary by latitude, altitude, and geographic land distribution. Emphasis of atmospheric circulation is on the sunlight-driven latitudinal banding, the Coriolis effect, and resulting prevailing winds; emphasis of ocean circulation (e.g. el niño/la niña) is on the transfer of heat by the global ocean convection cycle, which is constrained by the Coriolis effect and the outlines of continents. Examples of models can be diagrams, maps and globes, or digital representations.
Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
Examples of factors include human activities (such as fossil fuel combustion, cement production, and agricultural activity) and natural processes (such as changes in incoming solar radiation or volcanic activity). Examples of evidence can include tables, graphs, and maps of global and regional temperatures, atmospheric levels of gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, and the rates of human activities. Emphasis is on the major role that human activities play in causing the rise in global temperatures.)
Use an argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.
Emphasis is on the conceptual understanding that cells form tissues and tissues form organs specialized for particular body functions. Examples could include the interaction of subsystems within a system and the normal functioning of those systems. Systems could include circulatory, excretory, digestive, respiratory, muscular, endocrine, or nervous systems.
Gather, read, and synthesize information about technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.
Emphasis is on synthesizing information from reliable sources about the influence of humans on genetic outcomes in artificial selection (such as genetic modification, animal husbandry, gene therapy) and on the impacts these technologies have on society as well as the technologies leading to these scientific discoveries.
Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass, and the change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample.
Emphasis is on observing change in temperature as opposed to calculating total thermal energy transferred. Examples of experiments could include comparing final water temperatures after different masses of ice melted in the same volume of water with the same initial temperature, the temperature change of samples of different materials with the same mass as they cool or heat in the environment, or the same material with different masses when a specific amount of energy is added.
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