California Science Content Standards in Investigation and Experimentation

Investigation and Experimentation

1. 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 four strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will:

a. Select and use appropriate tools and technology (such as computer-linked probes, spreadsheets, and graphing calculators) to perform tests, collect data, analyze relationships, and display data.

b. Identify and communicate sources of unavoidable experimental error.

c. Identify possible reasons for inconsistent results, such as sources of error or uncontrolled conditions.

d. Formulate explanations by using logic and evidence.

e. Solve scientific problems by using quadratic equations and simple trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic functions.

• Vector Components and Resolution: Part 1
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/5c.asp
  
• Vector Components and Resolution: Part 2
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/5d.asp
  

f. Distinguish between hypothesis and theory as scientific terms.
• Types of Scientific Laws
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/1c.asp
  

g. Recognize the usefulness and limitations of models and theories as scientific representations of reality.
• Types of Scientific Laws
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/1c.asp
  

h. Read and interpret topographic and geologic maps.

i. Analyze the locations, sequences, or time intervals that are characteristic of natural phenomena (e.g., relative ages of rocks, locations of planets over time, and succession of species in an ecosystem).

• Geologic Time Scale
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/ear82/10a.asp
  
• Geologic Timetable
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/lif72/1e.asp
  
• Ecological Succession
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/lif72/9d.asp
  

j. Recognize the issues of statistical variability and the need for controlled tests.

k. Recognize the cumulative nature of scientific evidence.

• Atoms and Their Structure
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc92/1e.asp
  
• Avogadro's Hypothesis
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc92/10f.asp
  
• The Laws of Physical Science
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/1.asp
  
• What and How
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/1a.asp
  
• Types of Scientific Laws
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/1c.asp
  
• Mathematics: The Language of Physical Science
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/2.asp
  
• The Notion of Motion
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/3.asp
  
• Free Fall: Acceleration Due to Gravity
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/3f.asp
  
• Newton's Laws of Motion: Movin' On
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/4.asp
  
• Planetary Motion
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/9.asp
  
• Kepler's Laws
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/9a.asp
  
• Universal Gravitation
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/9b.asp
  
• Alfred Wegener and Continental Drift
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/ear82/2a.asp
  
• Geologic History
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/ear82/10.asp
  

l. Analyze situations and solve problems that require combining and applying concepts from more than one area of science.

Students can use the content from Beyond Books Science programs to help achieve this standard.


m. Investigate a science-based societal issue by researching the literature, analyzing data, and communicating the findings. Examples of issues include irradiation of food, cloning of animals by somatic cell nuclear transfer, choice of energy sources, and land and water use decisions in California.

Students can use the content from Beyond Books Science programs to help achieve this standard.


n. Know that when an observation does not agree with an accepted scientific theory, the observation is sometimes mistaken or fraudulent (e.g., the Piltdown Man fossil or unidentified flying objects) and that the theory is sometimes wrong(e.g., the Ptolemaic model of the movement of the Sun, Moon, and planets).

• What and How
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/1a.asp
  
• Planetary Motion
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/9.asp
  
• Kepler's Laws
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/9a.asp
  
• Evolution of the Solar-Centric Model
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/ear81/1a.asp