1: Scientific investigation and reasoning. The student, for at least 40% of instructional time, conducts laboratory and field investigations following safety procedures and environmentally appropriate and ethical practices.

1.A: The student is expected to: demonstrate safe practices during laboratory and field investigations as outlined in Texas Education Agency-approved safety standards; and

Diffusion
Hearing: Frequency and Volume

2: Scientific investigation and reasoning. The student uses scientific practices during laboratory and field investigations.

2.A: The student is expected to: plan and implement comparative and descriptive investigations by making observations, asking well defined questions, and using appropriate equipment and technology;

Diffusion
Effect of Environment on New Life Form
Hearing: Frequency and Volume
Pendulum Clock
Real-Time Histogram
Sight vs. Sound Reactions
Time Estimation

2.B: The student is expected to: design and implement experimental investigations by making observations, asking well defined questions, formulating testable hypotheses, and using appropriate equipment and technology;

Boyle's Law and Charles's Law
Coral Reefs 2 - Biotic Factors
Diffusion
Effect of Environment on New Life Form
Growing Plants
Hearing: Frequency and Volume
Pendulum Clock
Programmable Rover
Real-Time Histogram
Seed Germination
Sight vs. Sound Reactions
Temperature and Sex Determination - Metric
Time Estimation

2.D: The student is expected to: construct tables and graphs, using repeated trials and means, to organize data and identify patterns; and

Diffusion
Seed Germination
Temperature and Sex Determination - Metric

3: Scientific investigation and reasoning. The student uses critical thinking, scientific reasoning, and problem solving to make informed decisions and knows the contributions of relevant scientists.

3.B: The student is expected to: use models to represent aspects of the natural world such as an atom, a molecule, space, or a geologic feature;

Big Bang Theory - Hubble's Law
Element Builder

4: Scientific investigation and reasoning. The student knows how to use a variety of tools and safety equipment to conduct science inquiry.

4.A: The student is expected to: use appropriate tools, including lab journals/notebooks, beakers, meter sticks, graduated cylinders, anemometers, psychrometers, hot plates, test tubes, spring scales, balances, microscopes, thermometers, calculators, computers, spectroscopes, timing devices, and other necessary equipment to collect, record, and analyze information; and

Triple Beam Balance

5: Matter and energy. The student knows that matter is composed of atoms and has chemical and physical properties.

5.A: The student is expected to: describe the structure of atoms, including the masses, electrical charges, and locations, of protons and neutrons in the nucleus and electrons in the electron cloud;

Element Builder

5.B: The student is expected to: identify that protons determine an element's identity and valence electrons determine its chemical properties, including reactivity;

Covalent Bonds
Element Builder
Ionic Bonds

5.C: The student is expected to: interpret the arrangement of the Periodic Table, including groups and periods, to explain how properties are used to classify elements;

Ionic Bonds

5.D: The student is expected to: recognize that chemical formulas are used to identify substances and determine the number of atoms of each element in chemical formulas containing subscripts; and

Chemical Equations

5.E: The student is expected to: investigate how evidence of chemical reactions indicates that new substances with different properties are formed and how that relates to the law of conservation of mass.

Chemical Changes

6: Force, motion, and energy. The student knows that there is a relationship between force, motion, and energy.

6.A: The student is expected to: demonstrate and calculate how unbalanced forces change the speed or direction of an object's motion;

Crumple Zones
Fan Cart Physics

6.C: The student is expected to: investigate and describe applications of Newton's three laws of motion such as in vehicle restraints, sports activities, amusement park rides, Earth's tectonic activities, and rocket launches.

Crumple Zones
Fan Cart Physics

7: Earth and space. The student knows the effects resulting from cyclical movements of the Sun, Earth, and Moon.

7.A: The student is expected to: model and illustrate how the tilted Earth rotates on its axis, causing day and night, and revolves around the Sun, causing changes in seasons;

Seasons: Earth, Moon, and Sun
Seasons: Why do we have them?

7.B: The student is expected to: demonstrate and predict the sequence of events in the lunar cycle; and

Moonrise, Moonset, and Phases
Phases of the Moon

7.C: The student is expected to: relate the positions of the Moon and Sun to their effect on ocean tides.

Tides - Metric

8: Earth and space. The student knows characteristics of the universe.

8.A: The student is expected to: describe components of the universe, including stars, nebulae, and galaxies, and use models such as the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram for classification;

H-R Diagram

8.D: The student is expected to: research how scientific data are used as evidence to develop scientific theories to describe the origin of the universe.

Big Bang Theory - Hubble's Law

9: Earth and space. The student knows that natural events can impact Earth systems.

9.A: The student is expected to: describe the historical development of evidence that supports plate tectonic theory;

Building Pangaea

9.B: The student is expected to: relate plate tectonics to the formation of crustal features; and

Plate Tectonics

9.C: The student is expected to: interpret topographic maps and satellite views to identify land and erosional features and predict how these features may be reshaped by weathering.

Building Topographic Maps
Reading Topographic Maps

10: Earth and space. The student knows that climatic interactions exist among Earth, ocean, and weather systems.

10.B: The student is expected to: identify how global patterns of atmospheric movement influence local weather using weather maps that show high and low pressures and fronts; and

Weather Maps - Metric

11: Organisms and environments. The student knows that interdependence occurs among living systems and the environment and that human activities can affect these systems.

11.A: The student is expected to: investigate how organisms and populations in an ecosystem depend on and may compete for biotic factors such as food and abiotic factors such as quantity of light, water, range of temperatures, or soil composition;

Coral Reefs 1 - Abiotic Factors
Coral Reefs 2 - Biotic Factors
Food Chain
Pond Ecosystem
Rabbit Population by Season

11.B: The student is expected to: explore how short- and long-term environmental changes affect organisms and traits in subsequent populations; and

Coral Reefs 1 - Abiotic Factors
Natural Selection
Rainfall and Bird Beaks - Metric