1. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and
conducting careful investigations.
As a basis for understanding this
concept, and to address the content 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, spread sheets, 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 using logic and evidence.
e. solve scientific problems using quadratic equations, and simple
trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic functions.
f. distinguish between hypothesis and theory as science terms.
g. recognize the use and limitations of models and theories as
scientific representations of reality.
h. read and interpret topographic and geologic maps.
i. analyze the locations, sequences, or time intervals of natural
phenomena (e.g., relative ages of rocks, locations of planets over
time, and succession of species in an ecosystem).
j. recognize the issues of statistical variability and the need for
controlled tests.
k. recognize the cumulative nature of scientific
evidence.
l. analyze situations and solve problems that require combining and
applying concepts from more than one area of science.
m. investigate a science-based societal issue by researching
the literature, analyzing data, and communicating the findings.
Examples include irradiation of food, cloning of animals by
somatic cell nuclear transfer, choice of energy sources, and
land and water use decisions in California.
n. know that when an observation does not agree with an
accepted scientific theory, sometimes the observation is
mistaken or fraudulent (e.g., Piltdown Man fossil or
unidentified flying objects), and sometimes the theory is wrong
(e.g., Ptolemaic model of the movement of the sun, moon and
planets).