NSES standards - electricity (content only)

K-4

LIGHT, HEAT, ELECTRICITY, AND MAGNETISM

• Light travels in a straight line until it strikes an object. Light can be reflected by a mirror, refracted by a lens, or absorbed by the object.
• Heat can be produced in many ways, such as burning, rubbing, or mixing one substance with another. Heat can move from one object to another by conduction.
• Electricity in circuits can produce light, heat, sound, and magnetic effects. Electrical circuits require a complete loop through which an electrical current can pass.
• Magnets attract and repel each other and certain kinds of other materials.

5-8
TRANSFER OF ENERGY

• Energy is a property of many substances and is associated with heat, light, electricity, mechanical motion, sound, nuclei, and the nature of a chemical. Energy is transferred in many ways.
• Heat moves in predictable ways, flowing from warmer objects to cooler ones, until both reach the same temperature.
• Light interacts with matter by transmission (including refraction), absorption, or scattering (including reflection). To see an object, light from that object-emitted by or scattered from it-must enter the eye.
• Electrical circuits provide a means of transferring electrical energy when heat, light, sound, and chemical changes are produced.
• In most chemical and nuclear reactions, energy is transferred into or out of a system. Heat, light, mechanical motion, or electricity might all be involved in such transfers.See Unifying Concepts and Processes
• The sun is a major source of energy for changes on the earth's surface. The sun loses energy by emitting light. A tiny fraction of that light reaches the earth, transferring energy from the sun to the earth. The sun's energy arrives as light with a range of wavelengths, consisting of visible light, infrared, and ultraviolet radiation.

Alaska standards: electricity (content standards only)

Ages 8-10
A5: A student who meets the content standard should understand the strength and effects of the forces of nature, including gravity and electromagnetic radiation (Forces of Nature).
Students observe the force and energy manifestations of nature, such as gravity, magnetism, light and electricity and their interactions with a variety of materials.

A16: A student who meets the content standard should understand models describing the nature of molecules, atoms, and sub-atomic particles and the relation of the models to the structure and behavior of matter (Structure of Matter).

Ages 11-13
A1: A student who meets the content standard should understand models describing the nature of molecules, atoms, and sub-atomic particles and the relation of the models to the structure and behavior of matter.
Students develop and use models to demonstrate how atoms and elements form molecules and compounds, and how properties such as density can be measured and compared.

A5: A student who meets the content standard should understand the strength and effects of the forces of nature, including gravity and electromagnetic radiation (Forces of Nature).
Students describe gravity as the force that governs orbital motion in the solar system and motion of the tides on the Earth, and describe light as radiation that travels in a straight line that can be reflected, refracted, or absorbed by matter.

A8a: A student who meets the content standard should understand the scientific principles and models that describe the nature of physical, chemical, and nuclear reactions (Energy Transformations).
Students investigate common physical and chemical changes and the characteristics associated with each type of change, and relate these changes to simple rearrangements of atoms.

A8b: A student who meets the content standard should understand the scientific principles and models that state whenever energy is reduced in one place, it is increased somewhere else by the same amount (Energy Transformations).
Students observe and describe energy changes that take place around them.

A8c: A student who meets the content standard should understand the scientific principles and models that state that whenever there is a transformation of energy, some energy is spent in ways that make it unavailable for use (Energy Transformations).
Students examine energy transfers and identify energy that is useful vs. energy that is unavailable.

A9: A student who meets the content standard should understand the transfers and transformations of matter and energy that link living things and their physical environment from molecules to ecosystems (Flow of Matter and Energy).
Students create an ecosystem and explain physical and chemical changes that take place as energy flows and matter cycles within that ecosystem.

California state standards: electricity unit

www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/scmain.asp

content
grade 3:
1. Energy and matter have multiple forms and can be changed from one form to another. As a basis for understanding this concept:
1. Students know energy comes from the Sun to Earth in the form of light.
2. Students know sources of stored energy take many forms, such as food, fuel, and batteries.
3. Students know machines and living things convert stored energy to motion and heat.
4. Students know energy can be carried from one place to another by waves, such as water waves and sound waves, by electric current, and by moving objects.
8. Students know all matter is made of small particles called atoms, too small to see with the naked eye.
9. Students know people once thought that earth, wind, fire, and water were the basic elements that made up all matter. Science experiments show that there are more than 100 different types of atoms, which are presented on the periodic table of the elements.

Grade 4
1. Electricity and magnetism are related effects that have many useful applications in everyday life. As a basis for understanding this concept:
1. Students know how to design and build simple series and parallel circuits by using components such as wires, batteries, and bulbs.
2. Students know how to build a simple compass and use it to detect magnetic effects, including Earth's magnetic field.
3. Students know electric currents produce magnetic fields and know how to build a simple electromagnet.
4. Students know the role of electromagnets in the construction of electric motors, electric generators, and simple devices, such as doorbells and earphones.
5. Students know electrically charged objects attract or repel each other.
6. Students know that magnets have two poles (north and south) and that like poles repel each other while unlike poles attract each other.
7. Students know electrical energy can be converted to heat, light, and motion.

Grade 5

2. Students know all matter is made of atoms, which may combine to form molecules.
3. Students know metals have properties in common, such as high electrical and thermal conductivity.
4. Students know that each element is made of one kind of atom and that the elements are organized in the periodic table by their chemical properties.
5. Students know scientists have developed instruments that can create discrete images of atoms and molecules that show that the atoms and molecules often occur in well-ordered arrays.

Grade 6
3. Heat moves in a predictable flow from warmer objects to cooler objects until all the objects are at the same temperature. As a basis for understanding this concept:
1. Students know energy can be carried from one place to another by heat flow or by waves, including water, light and sound waves, or by moving objects.
2. Students know that when fuel is consumed, most of the energy released becomes heat energy.

6. Sources of energy and materials differ in amounts, distribution, usefulness, and the time required for their formation. As a basis for understanding this concept:
1. Students know the utility of energy sources is determined by factors that are involved in converting these sources to useful forms and the consequences of the conversion process.
2. Students know different natural energy and material resources, including air, soil, rocks, minerals, petroleum, fresh water, wildlife, and forests, and know how to classify them as renewable or nonrenewable.

Nature of science
Grade 3

Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will:
1. Repeat observations to improve accuracy and know that the results of similar scientific investigations seldom turn out exactly the same because of differences in the things being investigated, methods being used, or uncertainty in the observation.
2. Differentiate evidence from opinion and know that scientists do not rely on claims or conclusions unless they are backed by observations that can be confirmed.
3. Use numerical data in describing and comparing objects, events, and measurements.
4. Predict the outcome of a simple investigation and compare the result with the prediction.
5. Collect data in an investigation and analyze those data to develop a logical conclusion.

Grade 4
Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will:

1. Differentiate observation from inference (interpretation) and know scientists' explanations come partly from what they observe and partly from how they interpret their observations.
2. Measure and estimate the weight, length, or volume of objects.
3. Formulate and justify predictions based on cause-and-effect relationships.
4. Conduct multiple trials to test a prediction and draw conclusions about the relationships between predictions and results.
5. Construct and interpret graphs from measurements.
6. Follow a set of written instructions for a scientific investigation.

Grade 5
Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will:

1. Classify objects (e.g., rocks, plants, leaves) in accordance with appropriate criteria.
2. Develop a testable question.
3. Plan and conduct a simple investigation based on a student-developed question and write instructions others can follow to carry out the procedure.
4. Identify the dependent and controlled variables in an investigation.
5. Identify a single independent variable in a scientific investigation and explain how this variable can be used to collect information to answer a question about the results of the experiment.
6. Select appropriate tools (e.g., thermometers, meter sticks, balances, and graduated cylinders) and make quantitative observations.
7. Record data by using appropriate graphic representations (including charts, graphs, and labeled diagrams) and make inferences based on those data.
8. Draw conclusions from scientific evidence and indicate whether further information is needed to support a specific conclusion.
9. Write a report of an investigation that includes conducting tests, collecting data or examining evidence, and drawing conclusions.
Grade 6
Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will:

1. Develop a hypothesis.
2. Select and use appropriate tools and technology (including calculators, computers, balances, spring scales, microscopes, and binoculars) to perform tests, collect data, and display data.
3. Construct appropriate graphs from data and develop qualitative statements about the relationships between variables.
4. Communicate the steps and results from an investigation in written reports and oral presentations.
5. Recognize whether evidence is consistent with a proposed explanation.
6. Read a topographic map and a geologic map for evidence provided on the maps and construct and interpret a simple scale map.
7. Interpret events by sequence and time from natural phenomena (e.g., the relative ages of rocks and intrusions).
8. Identify changes in natural phenomena over time without manipulating the phenomena (e.g., a tree limb, a grove of trees, a stream, a hillslope).