Course
Rationale
Unified
Science is designed to expose the student to the basic concepts of biology,
earth science, chemistry, and physical science in order to prepare the student
for more advanced courses in scientific study, to meet performance standards
and graduation requirements of the district, and to meet state curriculum
frameworks through lecture and labs.
Through course work students will understand how technology and science
change the world in which we live; develop a basic understanding of energy,
matter, the universe, the earth, and life processes; and develop an
appreciation of science in everyday life.
Course
Description
Unified
Science is a required class for all freshmen at
Course
Competencies
1. Organize, display, and
interpret experimental data in tables, charts, and graphs to determine
patterns, relationships perspectives, and credibility.
2. Formulate questions for
scientific investigations to aid in understanding and developing a hypothesis.
3. Analyze the impact of
technology on the environment.
4. Design and conduct a
scientific investigation using experimental design.
5. Identify the scientific
technological aspects of challenges to society and discuss how these influence
society.
6. Identify and explain various
theories of the formation of the universe.
7. Determine a star’s age using
information on its characteristics.
8. Identify and explain the
various methods used to measure distances by astronomers and why they use them.
9. Use gravitational laws to
explain the movement of planets and tides.
10. Explain the relationships
between the soil and the origin of the local rock type, climate, processes of
deposition, and biological activity.
11. Describe natural/human
activities that have changed Earth’s atmosphere.
12. Explain how matter moves
through an ecosystem.
13. Explain how the Earth’s
energy sources change the Earth’s surface through plate movement and identify
theories associated with major geological events in the form of a time line.
14. Describe the water cycle and
air circulation around the Earth and their relationship to sun energy, weather
phenomena, and regional climates.
15. Identify and explain
patterns of global and local weather and climate changes.
16. Compare and contrast ways in
which special cells carry out reproduction, photosynthesis, respiration,
mitosis, meiosis, etc.
17. Investigate and relate the
basic life processes that take place at the cellular level.
18. Classify organisms into
groups and subgroups based on structural similarities and then compare to
published classifications of the same organisms based on evolutionary and
molecular data.
19. Describe the process of
photosynthesis and cellular respiration and the chemical transformation that
occurs when energy is converted from one form to another.
20. Investigate the use of
molecular similarities to determine degrees of kinship or organisms.
21. Interpret and apply concepts
from a graph that show the amount of variation in a defined population of
organisms and relate this variation to the population’s ability to survive
environmental change.
22. Evaluate the accuracy of
information provided in the news media regarding current topics related to
genetics.
23. Using models that
demonstrate patterns of inheritance, make predictions as to probabilities and
patterns of inheritance for resulting inherited traits in organisms.
24. Use models of DNA, RNA,
amino acids, etc., to identify how the process of protein synthesis occurs and
how mutations affect the structure of proteins.
25. Identify and explain the
molecular mechanisms that cause asexual reproduction to result in identical
offspring and sexual reproduction to result in variation in offspring.
26. Using a real or simulated example
of stratified layers of sediment containing fossils, analyze anatomical changes
that occur from layer to layer.
27. Apply concept of artificial
selection to explain natural systems in which selection has occurred because of
environmental conditions.
28. Identify competitive and
cooperative interrelationships among species of a local ecosystem.
29. Identify biological,
chemical, or physical processes of one ecosystem that affect other ecosystems.
30. Identify the
density-dependent limiting factors of a population and discuss consequences of
overpopulation and reduction in biodiversity.
31. Describe the molecular,
atomic, and ionic makeup of a variety of substances; use the appropriate
formula to represent these substances; explain how the arrangement and motion
of molecules determine a variety of biological, chemical, and physical phenomena.
32. Use bonding diagrams to show
ionic and covalent bonding and to predict the outcome of a chemical reaction.
33. Analyze and distinguish
between the types and concentrations of solute or solvent that affect the rate
of solubility, acidity, viscosity of the solution.
34. Explain how energy has been
obtained or used and the consequences of its use.
35. Identify the amount of heat
required to change the temperature or state of a substance.
36. Analyze the amount of energy
contained in the mass of substances.
37. Distinguish the direction of
thermal energy.
38. Identify the forces acting
on a moving object and explain how these factors change the object’s kinetic
and potential energy.
Grade
and/or Class: Unified Science
Last
Revision: 2001-2002
Writer: LeaAnne Latimer
Unified
Science
Students will be able to :
|
District Competency: 1. Organize, display, and interpret experimental data in tables, charts, and graphs to determine patterns, relationships, perspectives, and credibility. |
||||||
|
Frameworks |
Content Standards |
Performance Standards |
Activities |
Assessments |
Mastery |
|
|
I, A, 1a I, A, 2a |
SC7 |
1.8, 2.1 |
Through lecture, classroom lab/activities, and homework assignments, students will practice organizing, displaying, and interpreting data from experiments in tables, charts, and graphs and determine patterns, relationships, perspectives, and credibility of the data. |
Students will individually organize, display, and interpret experimental data in tables, charts, and graphs to determine patterns, relationships, perspectives, and credibility. |
70% |
|
Students will be able to
|
District Competency: 2. Formulate questions for scientific investigations to aid in understanding and developing a hypothesis. |
|||||
|
Frameworks |
Content Standards |
Performance Standards |
Activities |
Assessments |
Mastery |
|
I, B, 1a |
SC7 |
1.1 |
Through lecture, classroom lab/activities, and homework assignments, students will formulate questions for scientific investigations and develop hypothesizes. |
Students will individually formulate questions for scientific investigations and develop hypothesizes. |
70% |
Students will be able to
|
District Competency: 3. Analyze the impact of technology on the environment. |
|||||
|
Frameworks |
Content Standards |
Performance Standards |
Activities |
Assessments |
Mastery |
|
II, A, 2a |
SC7 |
3.1 |
Through lecture, classroom lab/activities, and homework assignments, students will analyze the impact of specific technologies on the environment. |
Students will individually analyze the impact of specific technologies on the environment. |
70% |
Students will be able to
|
District Competency: 4. Design and conduct a scientific investigation using experimental design. |
|||||
|
Frameworks |
Content Standards |
Performance Standards |
Activities |
Assessments |
Mastery |
|
I. B. 3a |
SC7 |
1.3 |
Through lecture, classroom lab/activities, and homework assignments, students will design and conduct a scientific investigation using experimental design. |
Students will individually design and conduct a scientific investigation using experimental design. |
70% |
Students will be able to
|
District Competency: 5. Identify the scientific technological aspects of challenges to society and discuss how these influence society. |
|||||
|
Frameworks |
Content Standards |
Performance Standards |
Activities |
Assessments |
Mastery |
|
II. A. 1a |
SC8 |
2.4, 4.1 |
Through lecture, classroom lab/activities, and homework assignments, students will identify the scientific technological aspects of challenges to society and how these influence society. |
Students will individually identify the scientific technological aspects of challenges to society and how these influence society. |
80% |
|
District Competency: 6. Identify and explain various theories of the formation of the universe. |
|||||
|
Frameworks |
Content Standards |
Performance Standards |
Activities |
Assessments |
Mastery |
|
V, A, 1a |
SC6 |
2.4 |
Through lecture, classroom lab/activities, and homework assignments, students will identify and explain various theories of the formation of the universe. |
Individually students will identify and explain various theories of the formation of the universe. |
80% |
|
District Competency: 7. Determine a star’s age using information on its characteristics. |
|||||
|
Frameworks |
Content Standards |
Performance Standards |
Activities |
Assessments |
Mastery |
|
V, A, 2a |
SC6 |
1.6, 3.5 |
Through lecture, classroom lab/activities, and homework assignments, students will explain a star’s period of birth, development, and death and determine it’s age using information on its characteristics. |
Individually students will determine it’s age using information on its characteristics. |
70% |
|
District Competency: 8. Identify and explain the various methods used to measure distances by astronomers and why they use them. |
|||||
|
Frameworks |
Content Standards |
Performance Standards |
Activities |
Assessments |
Mastery |
|
V, A, 1a V, A, 3a |
SC6 |
1.7, 2.2, 4.1 |
Through lecture, classroom lab/activities, and homework assignments, students will identify and explain the various methods used to measure distance by astronomers and why they use them. |
Individually students will identify and explain the various methods used to measure distance by astronomers and why they use them. |
70% |
|
District Competency: 9. Use gravitational laws to explain the movement of planets and tides. |
|||||
|
Frameworks |
Content Standards |
Performance Standards |
Activities |
Assessments |
Mastery |
|
V, B, 2a V, B, 4a |
SC6 |
1.6, 2.4, 2.5 |
Through lecture, classroom lab/activities, and homework assignments, students will use gravitational laws to explain the movement of planets and tides. |
Individually students will use gravitational laws to explain the movement of planets and tides. |
70% |
|
District Competency: 10. Explain the relationship between the soil and the origin of the local rock type, climate, processes of deposition, and biological activity. |
|||||
|
Frameworks |
Content Standards |
Performance Standards |
Activities |
Assessments |
Mastery |
|
VI, A, 1a VI, A, 2a |
SC5 |
1.6 |
Through lecture, classroom lab/activities, and homework assignments, students will explain the relationship between the soil and the origin of the local type, climate, processes of deposition, and biological activity. |
Individually students will explain the relationship between the soil and the origin of the local type, climate, processes of deposition, and biological activity. |
70% |
|
District Competency: 11. Describe natural/human activities that have affected/changed Earth’s atmosphere. |
|||||
|
Frameworks |
Content Standards |
Performance Standards |
Activities |
Assessments |
Mastery |
|
VI, A, 2a |
SC5 |
3.1 |
Through lecture, classroom lab/activities, and homework assignments, students will describe natural/human activities that have affected/changed Earth’s atmosphere. |
Individually students will describe natural/human activities that have affected/changed Earth’s atmosphere. |
70% |
|
District Competency: 12. Explain how matter moves through an ecosystem. |
|||||
|
Frameworks |
Content Standards |
Performance Standards |
Activities |
Assessments |
Mastery |
|
VI, B, 1a |
SC5 |
1.2 |
Through lecture, classroom lab/activities, and homework assignments, students will conduct investigations to gather information to explain how matter moves through an ecosystem. |
Individually students will explain how matter moves through an ecosystem. |
70% |
|
District Competency: 13. Explain how the Earth’s energy sources change the Earth’s surface through plate movement and identify theories associated with major geological events in the form of a time line. |
|||||
|
Frameworks |
Content Standards |
Performance Standards |
Activities |
Assessments |
Mastery |
|
VI, B, 2a VI, B, 2b |
SC5 |
|
Through lecture, classroom lab/activities, and homework assignments, students will investigate in order to explain how the Earth’s energy sources change the Earth’s surface through plate movement and identify theories associated with major geological events. |
Individually students will explain how the Earth’s energy sources change the Earth’s surface through plate movement and identify theories associated with major geological events in the form of a time line. |
70% |
|
District Competency: 14. Describe the water cycle and air circulation around the Earth and their relationship to sun energy, weather phenomena and regional climates. |
|||||
|
Frameworks |
Content Standards |
Performance Standards |
Activities |
Assessments |
Mastery |
|
VI. A. 2a VI. B. 3a |
SC5 |
1.4, 2.7, 3.5, 4.1 |
Through lecture, classroom lab/activities, and homework assignments, students will describe the water cycle and air circulation around the Earth and their relationship to sun energy, weather phenomena and regional climates. |
Individually students will describe the water cycle and air circulation around the Earth and their relationship to sun energy, weather phenomena and regional climates. |
70% |
|
District Competency: 15. Identify and explain patterns of global and local weather and climate changes. |
|||||
|
Frameworks |
Content Standards |
Performance Standards |
Activities |
Assessments |
Mastery |
|
VI, B, 4a |
SC5 |
1.4 |
Through lecture, classroom lab/activities, and homework assignments, students will investigate in order to identify and explain patterns of global and local weather and climate changes. |
Individually students will identify and explain patterns of global and local weather and climate changes. |
70% |
|
District Competency: 16. Compare and contrast ways in which special cells carry out reproduction, photosynthesis, respiration, mitosis, meiosis, etc. |
|||||
|
Frameworks |
Content Standards |
Performance Standards |
Activities |
Assessments |
Mastery |
|
VII, A, 1a |
SC3 |
1.4, 1.6 |
In large group lecture/discussion and small group labs, students will identify similarities and differences in mitosis, meiosis, and asexual and sexual reproduction. |
Individually students will complete a comparison/contrast matrix on the special ways cells carry out mitosis and meiosis and sexual and asexual reproduction. |
60% |
|
District Competency: 17. Investigate and relate the basic life processes that take place at the cellular level. |
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|
Frameworks |
Content Standards |
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