3.3.5.C

• Strand: Earth Materials and Systems
• Develop a model using an example to describe the ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and/or atmosphere interact

3.3.5.D

• Strand: The roles of water in Earth’s surface processes
• Describe and graph the amounts of salt water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth

3.3.6-8.H

• Strand: The roles of water in Earth’s surface processes
• Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth’s systems drive by energy from the sun and the force of gravity

3.3.5.E

• Strand: Human impacts on Earth systems
• Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment

3.3.5.F

• Strand: Human impacts on Earth systems
• Generate and design possible solutions to a current environmental issue, threat, or concern

3.3.6-8.M

• Strand: Human impacts on Earth systems
• Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing human impact on the environment

3.4.3-5.A

• Strand: Agricultural and environmental systems and resources: agricultural systems
• Analyze how living organisms, including humans, affect the environment in which they live, and how their environment affects them

3.4.3-5.B

• Strand: Agricultural and environmental systems and resources: environment and society
• Make a claim about the environmental and social impacts of design solutions and civic actions, including their own actions

3.4.3-5.C

• Strand: Agricultural and environmental systems and resources: watersheds and wetlands
• Examine ways you influence your local environment and community by collecting and displaying data

3.4.3-5.D

• Strand: environmental literacy skills: Investigating Environmental Issues
• Develop a model to demonstrate how local environmental issues are connected to larger local environment and human systems

3.4.3-5.E

• Strand: Environmental literacy skills : Evaluating solutions
• Construct an argument to support whether action is needed on a selected environmental issue and propose possible solutions

3.4.3-5.F

• Strand: Sustainability and stewardship: environmental stewardship
• Critique ways that people depend on and change the environment

3.4.6-8.C

• Strand: Agricultural and environmental systems and resources: watersheds and wetlands
• Develop a model to describe how watersheds and wetlands function as systems, including the roles and functions they serve

3.4.6-8.D

• Strand: environmental literacy skills: investigating environmental issues
• Gather, read, and synthesize information from multiple sources to investigate how PA environmental issues affect PA human and natural systems

3.4.6-8.E

• Strand: environmental literacy skills: environmental experiences
• Collect, analyze, and interpret environmental data to describe a local environment

3.4.6-8.H

• Strand: sustainability and stewardship: environmental stewardship
• Design a solution to an environmental issue in which individuals and societies can engage as stewards of the environment

3.5.3-5C

• Strand: applying, maintain, and assessing technological products and systems: impacts of technology: influence of society on technological development
• Follow directions to complete a technological task

3.5.3-5M

• Strand: design and design thinking in technology and engineering education
• Demonstrate essential skills of the engineering design process
  

3.5.6-8.Q

• Strand: design and design thinking in technology and engineering education
• Apply a technology and engineering design thinking process

3.5.3-5P

• Strand: design and design thinking in technology and engineering education
• Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of existing design solutions, including their own solutions

3.5.3-5Q

• Strand: design and design thinking in technology and engineering education
• Practice successful design skills

3.5.3-5S

• Strand: design and design thinking in technology and engineering education
• Illustrate that there are multiple approaches to design

3.5.6-8.S

• Strand: design and design thinking in technology and engineering education
• Illustrate the benefits and opportunities associated with different approaches to design

3.1 The student will demonstrate an understanding of scientific and engineering practices by 

• asking questions and defining problems  ask questions that can be investigated and predict reasonable outcomes  ask questions about what would happen if a variable is changed  define a simple design problem that can be solved through the development of an object, tool, process, or system 
• planning and carrying out investigations  with guidance, plan and conduct investigations  use appropriate methods and/or tools for collecting data  estimate length, mass, volume, and temperature   measure length, mass, volume, and temperature in metric and U.S. Customary units using proper tools  measure elapsed time  use tools and/or materials to design and/or build a device that solves a specific problem
• interpreting, analyzing, and evaluating data  organize and represent data in pictographs or bar graphs  read, interpret, and analyze data represented in pictographs and bar graphs  analyze data from tests of an object or tool to determine if it works as intended
• constructing and critiquing conclusions and explanations  use evidence (measurements, observations, patterns) to construct or support an explanation  generate and/or compare multiple solutions to a problem  describe how scientific ideas apply to design solutions
• developing and using models  9  use models to demonstrate simple phenomena and natural processes  develop a model (e.g., diagram or simple physical prototype) to illustrate a proposed object, tool, or process
• obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information  read and comprehend reading-level appropriate texts and/or other reliable media  communicate scientific information, design ideas, and/or solutions with others

3.4 The student will investigate and understand that adaptations allow organisms to satisfy life needs and respond to the environment. Key ideas include

• populations may adapt over time; 
• adaptations may be behavioral or physical; and

3.5 The student will investigate and understand that aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems support a diversity of organisms. Key ideas include

• ecosystems are made of living and nonliving components of the environment; and
• relationships exist among organisms in an ecosystem.  

3.7 The student will investigate and understand that there is a water cycle and water is important to life on Earth. Key ideas include

• there are many reservoirs of water on Earth;
• the energy from the sun drives the water cycle; and
• the water cycle involves specific processes.

3.8 The student will investigate and understand that natural events and humans influence ecosystems. Key ideas include

• human activity affects the quality of air, water, and habitats;
• water is limited and needs to be conserved

4.1 The student will demonstrate an understanding of scientific and engineering practices by 

• asking questions and defining problems  identify scientific and non-scientific questions  develop hypotheses as cause-and-effect relations  define a simple design problem that can be solved through the development of an object, tool, process, or system
• planning and carrying out investigations  identify variables when planning an investigation  collaboratively plan and conduct investigations  use tools and/or materials to design and/or build a device that solves a specific problem  take metric measurements using appropriate tools  measure elapsed time
• interpreting, analyzing, and evaluating data  organize and represent data in bar graphs and line graphs  interpret and analyze data represented in bar graphs and line graphs  compare two different representations of the same data (e.g., a set of data displayed on a chart and a graph)  analyze data from tests of an object or tool to determine whether it works as intended
• constructing and critiquing conclusions and explanations  use evidence (i.e., measurements, observations, patterns) to construct or support explanations and to make inferences
• developing and using models  develop and/or use models to explain natural phenomena  identify limitations of models
• obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information  read and comprehend reading-level-appropriate texts and/or other reliable media  communicate scientific information, design ideas, and/or solutions with others

4.3 The student will investigate and understand that organisms, including humans, interact with one another and with the nonliving components in the ecosystem. Key ideas include

• interrelationships exist in populations, communities, and ecosystems;
• food webs show the flow of energy within an ecosystem;
• changes in an organism’s niche and habitat may occur at various stages in its life cycle; and
• classification can be used to identify organisms. 

4.8 The student will investigate and understand that Virginia has important natural resources. Key resources include

• watersheds and water;
• plants and animals;
• minerals, rocks, and ores; and
• forests, soil, and land.

6.8 The student will investigate and understand that land and water have roles in watershed systems. Key ideas include

• a watershed is composed of the land that drains into a body of water;
• Virginia is composed of multiple watershed systems which have specific features;
• the Chesapeake Bay is an estuary that has many important functions; and
• natural processes, human activities, and biotic and abiotic factors influence the health of a watershed system.

 

4-ESS1-1:

• Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.

4-ESS2-1:

• Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.

4-ESS2-2:

• Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.

4-ESS3-2:

Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.*

Disciplinary Core Ideas

ESS1.C: The History of Planet Earth

• Local, regional, and global patterns of rock formations reveal changes over time due to earth forces, such as earthquakes. The presence and location of certain fossil types indicate the order in which rock layers were formed. (4-ESS1-1)

ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems

• Rainfall helps to shape the land and affects the types of living things found in a region. Water, ice, wind, living organisms, and gravity break rocks, soils, and sediments into smaller particles and move them around. (4-ESS2-1)

ESS2.B: Plate Tectonics and Large-Scale System Interactions

• The locations of mountain ranges, deep ocean trenches, ocean floor structures, earthquakes, and volcanoes occur in patterns. Most earthquakes and volcanoes occur in bands that are often along the boundaries between continents and oceans. Major mountain chains form inside continents or near their edges. Maps can help locate the different land and water features areas of Earth. (4-ESS2-2)

ESS2.E: Biogeology

• Living things affect the physical characteristics of their regions. (4-ESS2-1)

ESS3.B: Natural Hazards

• A variety of hazards result from natural processes (e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions). Humans cannot eliminate the hazards but can take steps to reduce their impacts. (4-ESS3-2) (Note: This Disciplinary Core Idea can also be found in 3.WC.)

ETS1.B: Designing Solutions to Engineering Problems

• Testing a solution involves investigating how well it performs under a range of likely conditions. (secondary to 4-ESS3-2)

5-ESS2-1

• Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.

5-ESS2-2

• Describe and graph the amounts of salt water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth.

5-ESS3-1

• Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems

• Earth’s major systems are the geosphere (solid and molten rock, soil, and sediments), the hydrosphere (water and ice), the atmosphere (air), and the biosphere (living things, including humans). These systems interact in multiple ways to affect Earth’s surface materials and processes. The ocean supports a variety of ecosystems and organisms, shapes landforms, and influences climate. Winds and clouds in the atmosphere interact with the landforms to determine patterns of weather. (5-ESS2-1)

ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes

• Nearly all of Earth’s available water is in the ocean. Most fresh water is in glaciers or underground; only a tiny fraction is in streams, lakes, wetlands, and the atmosphere. (5-ESS2-2)

ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems

• Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have had major effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. But individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth’s resources and environments. (5-ESS3-1)