NRC National Science Standards
Science as Inquiry
CONTENT STANDARD A: As a result of activities in grades 9-12,
all students should develop
- Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
- Understandings about scientific inquiry
Content Standard : Physical Science 9-12
Motions and Forces
- Objects change their motion only when a net force is applied. Laws of motion
are used to calculate precisely the effects of forces on the motion of objects.
The magnitude of the change in motion can be calculated using the relationship F=ma, which is
independent of the nature of the force. Whenever one object exerts force on another, a force equal
in magnitude and opposite in direction is exerted on the first object.
AAAS Benchmarks
By the end of the 12th grade, students should know that
- Content Standards - Physical Science
- The change in motion of an object is proportional to the
applied force and inversely proportional to the mass.
- Common Themes
- Systems
- A system usually has some properties that are
different from those of its parts, but appear because of the interaction of
those parts.
- The successful operation of a designed system usually involves
feedback. The feedback of output from some parts of a system to input of other
parts can be used to encourage what is going on in a system, discourage it, or
reduce its discrepancy from some desired value. The stability of a system can
be greater when it includes appropriate feedback mechanisms. Even in some very simple systems,
it may not always be possible to predict accurately the result of changing some part or
connection.
- Models
- The basic idea of mathematical modeling is to find a
mathematical relationship that behaves in the same ways as the objects or
processes under investigation. A mathematical model may give insight about how
something really works or may fit observations very well without any intuitive
meaning.
- Computers have greatly improved the power and use of
mathematical models by performing computations that are very long, very
complicated, or repetitive. Therefore computers can show the consequences of
applying complex rules or of changing the rules. The graphic capabilities of
computers make them useful in the design and testing of devices and structures
and in the simulation of complicated processes.
- The
usefulness of a model can be tested by comparing its predictions to actual
observations in the real world. But a close match does not necessarily mean
that the model is the only "true" model or the only one that would
work.
- Constancy and Change
- A system in equilibrium may return to the same state of
equilibrium if the disturbances it experiences are small. But large
disturbances may cause it to escape that equilibrium and eventually settle into
some other state of equilibrium.
- Graphs and equations are useful (and often equivalent) ways
for depicting and analyzing patterns of change.
- In many physical, biological, and social systems, changes in
one direction tend to produce opposing (but somewhat delayed) influences,
leading to repetitive cycles of behavior.
Maryland Science Core Learning Goals