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National Science Standards

The EMS materials are aligned with the following Standards:

Science as Inquiry, 9-12 Standards

• Identify questions and concepts that guide scientific investigations.

• Formulate and revise scientific explanations and models using logic and evidence.
  
  
  • formulate an explanation or model as a result of inquiry
  • engage in arguments that result in the revision of their models
  • use scientific knowledge, logic, and evidence to discuss their models

• Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and models.
  
  
  • weigh evidence
  • examine logic
  • use scientific criteria to judge models or explanations

• Communicate and defend a scientific argument.
  
  
  • express concepts
  • summarize data
  • use of appropriate language
  • develop diagrams and charts
  • speak clearly and logically
  • construct a reasoned argument
  • respond appropriately to critical comments
    
    
• Understandings about scientific inquiry
  
  
  • Scientists usually inquire about how physical, living, or designed systems function.
  • Scientists conduct investigations to explain phenomena (partial).
  • Scientists rely on technology to enhance the gathering and manipulation of data.
  • Scientific explanations must adhere to criteria such as: a proposed explanation must be logically consistent; it must abide by the rules of evidence; it must be open to questions and possible modification; and it must be based on historical and current scientific knowledge.

History and Nature of Science, 9-12 Standards

• Nature of scientific knowledge

• Science is a unique way of knowing due to its use of empirical standards, logical arguments, and skepticism.
• Scientists strive for the best possible explanations about the natural world.
• Scientific explanations must meet certain criteria: they must be consistent with experimental and observational evidence about nature, and must make accurate predictions, when appropriate, about systems being studied; they should also be logical, respect the rules of evidence, be open to criticism . . .(partial)
• All scientific knowledge is, in principle, subject to change as new evidence becomes available.

Earth and Space Science, 5-8 Standards

• Earth in the solar system

• Most objects in the solar system are in regular and predictable motion. Those motions explain such phenomena as the day, the year, phases of the moon, and eclipses.
• The sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on the earth’s surface, such as growth of plants, winds, ocean currents, and the water cycle (partial). Seasons result from variations in the amount of the sun’s energy hitting the surface, due to the tilt of the earth’s rotation on its axis and the length of the day.

Physical Science, 9-12 Standards

• Motions and forces
  
  
  • Objects change their motion only when a new force is applied.

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