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Intended Audience: General/Students Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: No

Science: Physical Science

  Curriculum Standard 5a

• Distinguish between the general properties of a substance and the properties which are important for a specific use.



• Classify substances according to observable properties and describe how certain properties determine the major uses of the substance.



• Measure and compare properties, such as color, size, shape, texture, and hardness of a variety of substances.

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade ten students will be able to:

• Obtain reliable and valid quantitative data through careful and skilled use of measuring instruments, e.g. balances, graduated cylinders, computer probes.



• Distinguish between qualitative and quantitative properties based upon observations of a substance.



• Experiment to determine specific properties of substances that are useful in identification of the substance such as density, acidity, corrosiveness, strength, stretchability, melting point, or solubility.



• Use derived measurements of objects or substances to determine non-observable properties, e.g. density.



• Describe, compare, and classify elements, compounds, and mixtures.

  Curriculum Standard 5b

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade six students will be able to:

• Perform an experiment to demonstrate that matter exists in different states that are interchangeable, e.g. melting ice cubes, boiling water.



• Perform an experiment to demonstrate common properties of gases, liquids, and solids.



• Describe and record how treatments such as heating, wetting, bending, or combining with other materials affect substances.



• Perform or describe experiments which illustrate the difference between physical and chemical changes in substances.

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade ten students will be able to:

• Explain that the arrangement, configuration and/or motion of atoms, molecules, and ions of a particular substance determine the structure and, thus, the properties of that substance.



• Recognize that groups of elements have similar properties because of their atomic structure and have been organized in a Periodic Table.



• Identify and describe each state of matter, including plasma, in terms of the arrangement and motion of its particulate units.



• Demonstrate that it takes time for substances to change or interact and that these rates are affected by such factors as temperature, pressure, and change of state, e.g. fermentation, decomposition, combustion

  Curriculum Standard 5c

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade six students will be able to:

• Recognize and give examples of the various forms of energy, e.g. heat, light, sound, electrical, mechanical, magnetic, chemical, and nuclear.



• Show by examples how types of energy are used for specific purposes.



• Observe and describe how one form of energy may be transformed into another.



• Build or design a device to demonstrate energy transfer and apply the knowledge gained to how energy transfer impacts on the operation of devices found in the home, e.g. home heating systems, refrigerators.



• Design a simple experiment or demonstration to show the difference between potential and kinetic energy.



• Identify the relationship between the pitch of a sound and the frequency of the sound wave.

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade ten students will be able to:

• Collect observations to show that transformations of energy involve the production of heat.



• Describe or sketch how energy is released when the nuclei of some atoms undergo fission or fusion.



• Experimentally perform the transformation of one energy form to another, e.g. by building a simple electric motor.



• Explain quantitatively exchanges of energy within a system, e.g. hot metal in cold water.



• Investigate and explain the range of energy released in different transformations , e.g. change of state, chemical reactions, and nuclear phenomena.



• Use basic measurement to study increases and decreases in an energy system to determine conservation of energy.



• Describe momentum and conduct an experiment to illustrate conservation of momentum.

  Curriculum Standard 5d

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade six students will be able to:

• Conduct an investigation to discover which materials are attracted to a magnet.



• Plan, conduct, and explain an investigation which demonstrates a complete simple circuit with wires, bulbs, switches, and a power source.



• Describe and practice appropriate safety precautions, particularly in regard to electricity.

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade ten students will be able to:

• Investigate and measure the responses of different materials to electrical forces.



• Construct a simple series, parallel or compound circuit.



• Measure all circuit values in a compound circuit.



• Demonstrate the relationship between electrical and magnetic fields of force.

  Curriculum Standard 5e

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade six students will be able to:

• Observe and describe objects in motion, including vibration motion.



• Define the force which causes an object to undergo a change in direction or speed.



• Design a simple experiment which demonstrates the effect of gravitational force on an object.



• Describe or conduct an investigation which illustrates that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade ten students will be able to:

• Formulate questions, design an exploration, and collect data about objects in motion.



• Demonstrate inertia as a property of an object which resists a change in motion and is directly related to its mass.



• Observe, describe, and identify basic properties of waves (transverse and longitudinal).



• Demonstrate the relationships among change in motion, applied force, and mass of an object.



• Identify friction as a force opposing motion.



• Identify and experimentally explore forces acting at a distance (gravity/electromagnetism)

  Curriculum Standard 5f

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade six students will be able to:

• Produce sounds by causing several types of objects to vibrate.



• Relate the pitch of a sound to the rapidity of an object's vibration.



• Use a prism to separate white light into the visible spectrum.



• Identify ways in which light can be generated, e.g. heat, electricity, chemicals.



• Distinguish among objects which are opaque, transparent, and translucent.

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade ten students will be able to:

• Distinguish among amplitude, wavelength, and frequency of longitudinal and transverse waves.



• Conduct investigations to demonstrate the properties of reflection, refraction and diffraction of light.



• Demonstrate the differences in sound quality produced by simple musical instruments, e.g. whistle, vibrating string, tapping water glasses.



• Identify and distinguish among the various forms of electromagnet radiation, e.g. visible light, microwaves, X-rays.



• Determine the speed of a wave using wave length and frequency.

  Curriculum Standard 5g

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade six students will be able to:

• Explore and identify sources of heat including chemical, mechanical, and absorption of radiation.



• Identify the effect of heat on common substances.

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade ten students will be able to:

• Formulate a series of explorations that distinguish between heat and temperature.



• Examine the relationship between the effects of heating and cooling and the motion of the molecules of the substance being heated or cooled.



• Sketch an experiment to show how most natural processes result in an increase in entropy of the system.