Standards Comparison Across Grade Levels

Guiding Principles

Science as Inquiry

Emphasizes questioning as a strategy that guides the student in their learning process.
Based on a rigorous exchange of student and teacher-generated questions and responses, supported by experiential classroom activities under the guidance of a knowledgeable instructor.
Should infuse all the District Science Standards and be the primary strategy we utilize to deliver the content, skills and processes we identify as important.

Standard/Description	Pre-K through 5	Grades 6-8	Grades 9-12
Pre-K-5:Ask a question about objects, organisms, and events in the environment 6-8: Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations. 9-12: Identify questions and concepts that guide scientific investigations.	This aspect of the standard emphasizes students asking questions that they can answer with scientific knowledge, combined with their own observations. Students should answer their questions by seeking information from reliable sources of scientific information and from their own observations and investigations	Students should develop the ability to refine and refocus broad and ill-defined questions. An important aspect of this ability consists of students' ability to clarify questions and inquiries and direct them toward objects and phenomena that can be described, explained, or predicted by scientific investigations. Students should develop the ability to identify their questions with scientific ideas, concepts, and quantitative relationships that guide investigation.	Students should formulate a testable hypothesis and demonstrate the logical connections between the scientific concepts guiding a hypothesis and the design of an experiment. They should demonstrate procedures, a knowledge base, and conceptual understanding of scientific investigations.
Pre-K-5:Plan and conduct a simple investigation 6-8: Design and conduct a simple investigation 9-12: Design and conduct scientific investigations	In the earliest years, investigations are largely based on systematic observations. As students develop, they may design and conduct simple experiments to answer questions. The idea of a fair test is possible for many students to consider by the 5th grade.	Students should develop general abilities, such as systematic observation, making accurate measurements, and identifying and controlling variables. They should also develop the ability to clarify their ideas that are influencing and guiding the inquiry, and to understand how those ideas compare with current scientific knowledge. Students can learn to formulate questions, design investigations, execute investigations, interpret data, use evidence to generate explanations, propose alternative explanations, and critique explanations and procedures.	Designing and conducting a scientific investigation requires introduction to conceptual areas of investigation, proper equipment, safety precautions, assistance with methodological problems, recommendations for use of technologies, clarification of ideas that guide the inquiry, and scientific knowledge obtained from sources other than the actual investigation. The investigation may also include such abilities as identification and clarification of the question, method, controls, and variables; the organization and display of data; the revision of methods and explanations; and the public presentation of the results and the critical response from peers. Regardless of the scientific investigations and procedures, students must use evidence, apply logic, and construct an argument for their proposed explanation.
PreK-5: Employ simple equipment and tools to gather data and extend the senses. 6-8: Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret data. 9-12: Use technology and mathematics to improve investigations and communications.	In early years, students develop simple skills, such as how to observe, measure, cut, connect, switch, turn on and off, pour, hold, tie, and hook. Beginning with simple instruments, students can use rulers to measure the length, height, and depth of objects and materials; thermometers to measure temperature; watches to measure time; beam balances and spring scales to measure weight and force; magnifiers to observe objects and organisms; and microscopes to observe the finer details of plants, animals, rocks, and other materials. Children also develop skills in the use of computers and calculators for conducting investigations.	The use of tools and techniques, including mathematics, will be guided by the question asked and the investigations students design. The use of computers for the collection, summary, and display of evidence is part of this standard. Students should be able to access, gather, store, retrieve, and organize data, using hardware and software designed for these purposes.	Students' ability to use a variety of technologies, such as hand tools, measuring instruments, and calculators, should be an integral component of scientific investigations. The use of computers for the collection, analysis, and display of data is also part of this standard. Mathematics plays an essential role in all aspects of an inquiry. For example, measurement is used for posing questions, formulas are used for developing explanations, and charts and graphs are used for communicating results.
PreK-5: Use data to construct a reasonable explanation. 6-8: Develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models using evidence. 9-12: Formulate and revise scientific explanations and models using logic and evidence.	This aspect of the standard emphasizes the students' thinking as they use data to formulate explanations. Even at the earliest grade levels, students should learn what constitutes evidence and judge the merits or strength of the data and information that will be used to make explanations. After students propose an explanation, they will appeal to the knowledge and evidence they obtained to support their explanations. Students should check their explanations Against scientific knowledge, experiences, and observations of others.	Students should base their explanation on what they observed, and as they develop cognitive skills, they should be able to differentiate explanation from description—providing causes for effects and establishing relationships based on evidence and logical argument. This standard requires a subject matter knowledge base so the student can effectively conduct investigations, because developing explanations establishes connections between the content of science and the contexts within which students develop new knowledge.	Student inquiries should culminate in formulating an explanation or model. Models should be physical, conceptual, and mathematical. In the process of answering the questions, the students should engage in discussions and arguments that result in the revision of their explanations. These discussions should be based on scientific knowledge, the use of logic, and evidence from their investigation.
PreK-5: Communicate investigations and explanations. 6-8: Communicate scientific procedures and explanations. 9-12: Communicate and defend a scientific argument.	Students should begin developing the abilities to communicate, critique, and analyze their work and the work of other students. This communication might be spoken or drawn as well as written.	With practice, students should become competent at communicating experimental methods, following instructions, describing observations, summarizing the results of other groups, and telling other students about investigations and explanations.	Students in school science programs should develop the abilities associated with accurate and effective communication. These include writing and following procedures, expressing concepts, reviewing information, summarizing data, using language appropriately, developing diagrams and charts, explaining statistical analysis, speaking clearly and logically, constructing a reasoned argument, and responding appropriately to critical comments.
6-8: Think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence and explanations.		Thinking critically about evidence includes deciding what evidence should be used and accounting for anomalous data. Specifically, students should be able to review data from a simple experiment, summarize the data, and form a logical argument about the cause and effect relationships in the experiment. Students should begin to state some explanations in terms of the relationship between two or more variables.
6-8: Use mathematics in all aspects of scientific inquiry.		Mathematics is essential to asking and answering questions about the natural world. Mathematics can be used to ask questions; to gather, organize, and present data; and to structure convincing explanations.
6-8: Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and predictions. 9-12: Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and models.		Students should develop the ability to listen to and respect the explanations proposed by other students. They should remain open to and acknowledge different ideas and explanations, be able to accept the skepticism of others, and consider alternative explanations.	This emphasizes the critical abilities of analyzing an argument by reviewing current scientific understanding, weighing the evidence, and examining the logic so as to decide which explanations and models are best. In other words, although there may be several plausible explanations, they do not all have equal weight. Students should be able to use scientific criteria to find the preferred explanations.

Forward (To Physical Science)

10/15/99