1: The student conducts classroom and outdoor investigations following home and school safety procedures and environmentally appropriate and ethical practices.

1.A: demonstrate safe practices and the use of safety equipment as described in the Texas Safety Standards during classroom and outdoor investigations; and

Lab Safety

1.B: make informed choices in the conservation, disposal, and recycling of materials.

Pond Ecosystem
Water Pollution

2: The student uses scientific methods during laboratory and outdoor investigations.

2.A: describe, plan, and implement simple experimental investigations testing one variable;

Effect of Environment on New Life Form
Free Fall Tower
Germination
Growing Plants
Pendulum Clock

2.B: ask well-defined questions, formulate testable hypotheses, and select and use appropriate equipment and technology;

Circuits
Germination
Growing Plants
Pendulum Clock
Time Estimation
Weight and Mass

2.C: collect information by detailed observations and accurate measuring;

Coastal Winds and Clouds
Conduction and Convection
Density
Disease Spread
Forest Ecosystem
Mineral Identification
Mystery Powder Analysis
Tides
Triple Beam Balance

2.D: analyze and interpret information to construct reasonable explanations from direct (observable) and indirect (inferred) evidence;

Building Pangaea
DNA Analysis
Forest Ecosystem
Hearing: Frequency and Volume
Photosynthesis Lab
Plants and Snails
Radiation
Solving Using Trend Lines
Tides
Time Estimation

2.E: demonstrate that repeated investigations may increase the reliability of results;

Effect of Temperature on Gender
Seed Germination

2.F: communicate valid conclusions in both written and verbal forms; and

Hearing: Frequency and Volume
Time Estimation

2.G: construct appropriate simple graphs, tables, maps, and charts using technology, including computers, to organize, examine, and evaluate information.

Ants on a Slant (Inclined Plane)
Building Pangaea
Building Topographic Maps
Color Absorption
Distance-Time and Velocity-Time Graphs
Distance-Time and Velocity-Time Graphs
Force and Fan Carts
Forest Ecosystem
Free-Fall Laboratory
Graphing Skills
Mineral Identification
Ocean Mapping
Pendulum Clock
Phase Changes
Pond Ecosystem
Reading Topographic Maps
Weather Maps

3: The student uses critical thinking and scientific problem solving to make informed decisions.

3.A: in all fields of science, analyze, evaluate, and critique scientific explanations by using empirical evidence, logical reasoning, and experimental and observational testing, including examining all sides of scientific evidence of those scientific explanations, so as to encourage critical thinking by the student;

Building Pangaea
Disease Spread
Force and Fan Carts
Forest Ecosystem
Gravity Pitch
Hearing: Frequency and Volume
Inheritance
Mineral Identification
Mystery Powder Analysis
Radiation
Solving Using Trend Lines
Tides
Time Estimation

Energy Sources

3.B: evaluate the accuracy of the information related to promotional materials for products and services such as nutritional labels;

Science and the Media

3.C: draw or develop a model that represents how something works or looks that cannot be seen such as how a soda dispensing machine works; and

Ocean Mapping

4: The student knows how to use a variety of tools and methods to conduct science inquiry.

4.A: collect, record, and analyze information using tools, including calculators, microscopes, cameras, computers, hand lenses, metric rulers, Celsius thermometers, prisms, mirrors, pan balances, triple beam balances, spring scales, graduated cylinders, beakers, hot plates, meter sticks, magnets, collecting nets, and notebooks; timing devices, including clocks and stopwatches; and materials to support observations of habitats or organisms such as terrariums and aquariums; and

Cell Division
Cell Structure
Density
Forest Ecosystem
Freezing Point of Salt Water
Hearing: Frequency and Volume
Herschel Experiment
Magnetism
Measuring Trees
Measuring Volume
Phase Changes
Pond Ecosystem
Prairie Ecosystem
Real-Time Histogram
Relative Humidity
Simple Harmonic Motion
Solubility and Temperature
Time Estimation
Triple Beam Balance
Weight and Mass

Hypotheses and Theories
Insect Metamorphosis
Lab Safety
Science and the Media

4.B: use safety equipment, including safety goggles and gloves.

Lab Safety

5: The student knows that matter has measurable physical properties and those properties determine how matter is classified, changed, and used.

5.A: classify matter based on physical properties, including mass, magnetism, physical state (solid, liquid, and gas), relative density (sinking and floating), solubility in water, and the ability to conduct or insulate thermal energy or electric energy;

Circuit Builder
Conduction and Convection
Density
Density Experiment: Slice and Dice
Heat Transfer by Conduction
Mineral Identification
Phases of Water
Solubility and Temperature
Weight and Mass

5.B: identify the boiling and freezing/melting points of water on the Celsius scale;

Phases of Water

5.C: demonstrate that some mixtures maintain physical properties of their ingredients such as iron filings and sand; and

Mineral Identification

5.D: identify changes that can occur in the physical properties of the ingredients of solutions such as dissolving salt in water or adding lemon juice to water.

Freezing Point of Salt Water
Solubility and Temperature

6: The student knows that energy occurs in many forms and can be observed in cycles, patterns, and systems.

6.A: explore the uses of energy, including mechanical, light, thermal, electrical, and sound energy;

Circuit Builder
Energy Conversions

Energy Sources

6.B: demonstrate that the flow of electricity in circuits requires a complete path through which an electric current can pass and can produce light, heat, and sound;

Circuit Builder

6.C: demonstrate that light travels in a straight line until it strikes an object or travels through one medium to another and demonstrate that light can be reflected such as the use of mirrors or other shiny surfaces and refracted such as the appearance of an object when observed through water; and

Basic Prism
Laser Reflection
Ray Tracing (Lenses)
Ray Tracing (Mirrors)
Refraction

6.D: design an experiment that tests the effect of force on an object.

Atwood Machine
Fan Cart Physics
Force and Fan Carts
Free Fall Tower
Period of Mass on a Spring

7: The student knows Earth's surface is constantly changing and consists of useful resources.

7.A: explore the processes that led to the formation of sedimentary rocks and fossil fuels;

Carbon Cycle
Rock Cycle

7.C: identify alternative energy resources such as wind, solar, hydroelectric, geothermal, and biofuels; and

Energy Conversions

Energy Sources

7.D: identify fossils as evidence of past living organisms and the nature of the environments at the time using models.

Building Pangaea
Human Evolution - Skull Analysis
Measuring Trees
Rainfall and Bird Beaks
Rock Classification

8: The student knows that there are recognizable patterns in the natural world and among the Sun, Earth, and Moon system.

8.A: differentiate between weather and climate;

Hurricane Motion
Rabbit Population by Season
Seasons Around the World
Weather Maps

8.B: explain how the Sun and the ocean interact in the water cycle;

Hurricane Motion
Ocean Tides
Water Cycle
Weather Maps

8.C: demonstrate that Earth rotates on its axis once approximately every 24 hours causing the day/night cycle and the apparent movement of the Sun across the sky; and

3D Eclipse
Comparing Earth and Venus
Seasons Around the World
Seasons in 3D
Seasons: Earth, Moon, and Sun

8.D: identify and compare the physical characteristics of the Sun, Earth, and Moon.

Solar System

9: The student knows that there are relationships, systems, and cycles within environments.

9.A: observe the way organisms live and survive in their ecosystem by interacting with the living and non-living elements;

Food Chain
Forest Ecosystem
Plants and Snails
Pond Ecosystem
Prairie Ecosystem
Rabbit Population by Season
Rainfall and Bird Beaks

9.B: describe how the flow of energy derived from the Sun, used by producers to create their own food, is transferred through a food chain and food web to consumers and decomposers;

Cell Energy Cycle
Energy Conversions
Food Chain
Forest Ecosystem
Prairie Ecosystem

9.C: predict the effects of changes in ecosystems caused by living organisms, including humans, such as the overpopulation of grazers or the building of highways; and

Forest Ecosystem
Pond Ecosystem
Rabbit Population by Season
Water Pollution

9.D: identify the significance of the carbon dioxide-oxygen cycle to the survival of plants and animals.

Photosynthesis Lab
Plants and Snails
Pond Ecosystem

10: The student knows that organisms undergo similar life processes and have structures that help them survive within their environments.

10.A: compare the structures and functions of different species that help them live and survive such as hooves on prairie animals or webbed feet in aquatic animals;

Rainfall and Bird Beaks

10.B: differentiate between inherited traits of plants and animals such as spines on a cactus or shape of a beak and learned behaviors such as an animal learning tricks or a child riding a bicycle; and

Inheritance
Rainfall and Bird Beaks

10.C: describe the differences between complete and incomplete metamorphosis of insects.

Insect Metamorphosis