SCIENCE

Competency Goal 1: The learner will conduct investigations to build an understanding of the interdependence of plants and animals.

Objectives

1.01 Describe and compare several common ecosystems (communities of organisms and their interaction with the environment).

1.02 Identify and analyze the functions of organisms within the population of the ecosystem:

• Producers.
• Consumers.
• Decomposers.

1.03 Explain why an ecosystem can support a variety of organisms.

1.04 Discuss and determine the role of light, temperature, and soil composition in an ecosystem's capacity to support life.

1.05 Determine the interaction of organisms within an ecosystem.

1.06 Explain and evaluate some ways that humans affect ecosystems.

• Habitat reduction due to development.
• Pollutants.
• Increased nutrients.

1.07 Determine how materials are recycled in nature.

Competency Goal 2: The learner will make observations and conduct investigations to build an understanding of landforms.

Objectives

2.01 Identify and analyze forces that cause change in landforms over time including.

• Water and Ice.
• Wind.
• Gravity.

2.02 Investigate and discuss the role of the water cycle and how movement of water over and through the landscape helps shape land forms.

2.03 Discuss and consider the wearing away and movement of rock and soil in erosion and its importance in forming:

• Canyons.
• Valleys.
• Meanders.
• Tributaries.

2.04 Describe the deposition of eroded material and its importance in establishing landforms including:

• Deltas.
• Flood Plains.

2.05 Discuss how the flow of water and the slope of the land affect erosion.

2.06 Identify and use models, maps, and aerial photographs as ways of representing landforms.

2.07 Discuss and analyze how humans influence erosion and deposition in local communities, including school grounds, as a result of:

• Clearing land.
• Planting vegetation.
• Building dams.
  

Competency Goal 3: The learner will conduct investigations and use appropriate technology to build an understanding of weather and climate.

Objectives

3.01 Investigate the water cycle including the processes of:

• Evaporation.
• Condensation.
• Precipitation.
• Run-off.

3.02 Discuss and determine how the following are affected by predictable patterns of weather:

• Temperature.
• Wind direction and speed.
• Precipitation.
• Cloud cover.
• Air pressure.

3.03 Describe and analyze the formation of various types of clouds and discuss their relation to weather systems.

3.04 Explain how global atmospheric movement patterns affect local weather.

3.05 Compile and use weather data to establish a climate record and reveal any trends.

3.06 Discuss and determine the influence of geography on weather and climate:

• Mountains
• Sea breezes
• Water bodies.
  

Competency Goal 4: The learner will conduct investigations and use appropriate technologies to build an understanding of forces and motion in technological designs.

Objectives

4.01 Determine the motion of an object by following and measuring its position over time.

4.02 Evaluate how pushing or pulling forces can change the position and motion of an object.

4.03 Explain how energy is needed to make machines move.

• Moving air.
• Gravity.

4.04 Determine that an unbalanced force is needed to move an object or change its direction.

4.05 Determine factors that affect motion including:

• Force
• Friction.
• Inertia.
• Momentum

4.06 Build and use a model to solve a mechanical design problem.

• Devise a test for the model.
• Evaluate the results of test.

4.07 Determine how people use simple machines to solve problems.