| Standard/Description | Grades 3-5 | Grades 6-8 | Grades 9-12 |
| 16/Energy Flow | Students understand that energy (i.e., food) is needed for all living things to stay alive and grow, and that food chains cycle material from plants to animals and back to plants. | Students understand that food provides fuel and building materials for all organisms. Plants make their own food by using energy directly from the sun, while animals ingest other organisms to obtain energy. | Students understand that energy and matter are transferred among organisms and that matter is constantly cycled within ecosystems. In this process, some energy is lost as heat and must be constantly renewed by photosynthesis. |
| 17/Geology | Students understand that different processes account for the change in the earth's geological features over time, such as the building of surface features by energy released from inside the earth (e.g .earthquakes, mountain building, volcanoes, etc.) and the wearing down of features through erosion and weathering. | Students understand how the process of plate tectonics changes the surface of the earth and how exposed surfaces are altered by weathering. | Students understand that plate tectonics and erosion cause the surface of the continents and the bottom of the oceans to change over time. |
| 18/Astronomy | Students understand that the patterns of movement of objects in the solar system are cyclic. | Students understand that all celestial bodies in the universe are bound together by gravitation, the force of attraction that every mass in the universe exerts on each other. | Students understand that the universe and planetary systems have evolved for billions of years and will continue to evolve. |
| 19/Meteorology | Students understand that weather results from the interaction of sunlight, land, water, and air masses. | Students understand that solar energy is unevenly received on earth, how ocean and air currents are influenced by differential heating, affecting global weather patterns and climate. | Students understand that energy transfers within and between the atmosphere and ocean create regions of different temperature, pressure and density. This, in turn, creates weather patterns and climate. |
| 20/Oceanography | Students understand that the oceans have physical properties that play a central role in the global ecosystem, that they interact with sun, air and land, and that they have changed through geological time to provide many different habitats in which life has evolved. | Students understand that water from the ocean cycles in and out of the atmosphere, playing an important role in determining weather and climatic patterns, how movements within the ocean affect the global ecosystems, and how different forms of life are supported by different oceanic niches. | Students understand that the direction of ocean currents is caused by the rotation of the earth, differential heating and therefore wind and density differences. They understand how ocean currents have impacted climate and life on Earth and how, over time, the oceans have changed in form, size and composition, providing many different habitats in which life has evolved. |
10/15/99