Download K-12 Climate Change Science Education Current K

K-12 Climate Change Science Education
Current K-12 AZ Science Education Standards and Performance Objectives - Examples
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives: Changes in Environments
Describe the interactions between human populations, natural hazards, and the environment.
Grade 4:
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Evaluate the consequences of environmental occurrences that happen either rapidly (e.g.
fire, flood, tornado) or over a long period of time (e.g., drought, melting ice caps, the greenhouse effect,
erosion).
Grade 5:
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Explain the impacts of natural hazards on habitats (e.g., global warming, floods, asteroid or
large meteor impacts).
Evaluate the possible strengths and weaknesses of a proposed solution to a specific
problem relevant to human, animal, or habitat needs.
Grade 7:
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Analyze environmental risks (e.g., pollution, destruction of habitat) caused by human interaction with
biological or geological systems.
Analyze environmental benefits of the following human interactions with biological or geological systems.
Propose possible solutions to address the environmental risks in biological or geological systems.
Grade 8:
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Analyze the risk factors associated with natural, human induced, and/or biological hazards, including
waste disposal of industrial chemicals
greenhouse gases
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Analyze possible solutions to address the environmental risks associated with chemicals and biological
systems.
High School
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Evaluate how the processes of natural ecosystems affect, and are affected by, humans.
Evaluate the following factors that affect the quality of the environment:
Evaluate the effectiveness of conservation practices and preservation techniques on environmental
quality and biodiversity.
Earth and Space Science: Grades 9-12
Analyze the interactions between the Earth’s structures, atmosphere, and geochemical cycles.
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Identify ways materials are cycled within the Earth system (i.e., carbon cycle, water cycle, rock cycle).
Describe factors that impact current and future water quantity and quality including surface, ground, and
local water issues.
Understand the relationships between the Earth’s land masses, oceans, and atmosphere.
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Explain the causes and/or effects of climate changes over long periods of time (e.g., glaciation,
desertification, solar activity, greenhouse effect).
Investigate the effects of acid rain, smoke, volcanic dust, urban development, and greenhouse gases, on
climate change over various periods of time.
Next Generation Science Standards
The Next Generation Science Standards are based on the Framework for K–12 Science Education
developed by the National Research Council.
Shifts in Science Education
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K-12 Science Education Should Reflect the Interconnected Nature of Science as it is Practiced
and Experienced in the Real World.
The NGSS Focus on Deeper Understanding of Content as well as Application of Content.
Science and Engineering are Integrated in the NGSS, from K–12.
Science and Engineering Practices
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Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)
Developing and using models
Planning and carrying out investigations
Analyzing and interpreting data
Using mathematics and computational thinking
Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)
Engaging in argument from evidence
Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
Crosscutting Concepts
Patterns. Observed patterns of forms and events guide organization and classification, and they prompt questions
about relationships and the factors that influence them.
Cause and effect: Mechanism and explanation. Events have causes, sometimes simple, sometimes multifaceted.
A major activity of science is investigating and explaining causal relationships and the mechanisms by which they
are mediated. Such mechanisms can then be tested across given contexts and used to predict and explain events
in new contexts.
Scale, proportion, and quantity. In considering phenomena, it is critical to recognize what is relevant at different
measures of size, time, and energy and to recognize how changes in scale, proportion, or quantity affect a
system’s structure or performance.
Systems and system models. Defining the system under study—specifying its boundaries and making explicit a
model of that system—provides tools for understanding and testing ideas that are applicable throughout science
and engineering.
Energy and matter: Flows, cycles, and conservation. Tracking fluxes of energy and matter into, out of, and within
systems helps one understand the systems’ possibilities and limitations.
Structure and function. The way in which an object or living thing is shaped and its substructure determine many
of its properties and functions.
Stability and change. For natural and built systems alike, conditions of stability and determinants of rates of
change or evolution of a system are critical elements of study.
References:
Arizona Department of Education Science Standards
http://www.azed.gov/standards-practices/academic-standards/science/
Next Generation Science Standards
http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards