Science Now
A newsletter from Paula and Suzette at the MCESC
Paula Roberts
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Suzette Jackson
Testing Updates
Science grade level/course tested 2015-16
Grade 5 Science
Grade 8 Science
Biology End of Course Exam(EOC)
*Physical Science course no longer has an EOC. Sophomores (class of 2018) are the only students who may have the opportunity to retake the physical science EOC.
What science tests should students be taking in 2015-16?
School districts will select either 10 consecutive days (for paper tests) or 15 consecutive days (for online tests).
Science tests – Fall Dates: Dec. 8 to Jan. 8, paper; Nov. 30 to Jan. 8, online Spring Dates: April 4 to May 6, paper ; April 4 to May 13, online
Districts will have the flexibility to choose one or two sets of test dates. They can either select a) the same set of consecutive days for all tests (10 days for paper or 15 days for online); or b) one set of 10 or 15 days for the English language arts and a later set of 10 or 15 days for the tests in the other content areas (math, science and social studies). Those districts selecting option b may overlap the two sets of dates.
Check with your administrator for your district's testing schedule.
Where is Science in Autumn???? Look below...
Elementary Science
- ESS Topic: Daily and Seasonal Changes
Have you started a weather journal yet? A daily or weekly tracking of weather is a great way to observe the patterns of the seasons.
*Go to page 17 of the model curriculum to find ideas on collecting weather data.
First grade
- ESS Content Statement: The sun is the principal source of energy.
Have you noticed how the day is getting shorter? How does this impact the warming of the air, water, and soil? Take some measurements to begin a study !
- LS Topic: Basic Needs of Living Things
With the changing of the season comes a change in the exposure to sunlight. How does this impact the living things here in Northeast Ohio as well as other parts of Ohio?
Second grade
- ESS Content Statement: Long- and short-term weather changes occur due to changes in energy.
A weather journal that includes temperature, air pressure, wind speed and direction, and precipitation allows students to collect data. This data can be used to help students make inferences about how the change in energy impacts the weather.
*Page 64 of the model curriculum includes ideas on weather-related investigations.
Third grade
- LS Content Statement: Plants and animals have life cycles that are part of their adaptations for survival in their natural environments.
Bring in your hanging baskets from the summer and try to keep them alive through the winter. Students can investigate factors that influence the survival of the plants. Students may also try their hands at growing plants from seeds during these months.
Fourth grade
- LS Content Statement: Changes in an organism's environment are sometimes beneficial to its survival and sometimes harmful.
Autumn is a great time to investigate and research the changes that have occurred in the environments here in Ohio.
*Page 118 of the model curriculum offers some ideas for research and presentations.
Middle School Science: Content Statements for the season no matter where you are in the curriculum
- ESS Content Statement: Most of the cycles and patterns of motion between the Earth and sun are predictable.
Time to get out the flashlights and globes see if students can figure out why the days are shorter, temperatures are cooler and how the weather is affected throughout the world.
Tie this phenomenon into the use of solar energy.
- LS Content Statement: All of the processes that take place within organisms require energy.
Less sun, less green on plants...what does this mean for the ecosystem?
- PS Content Statement: Light and sound are forms of energy that behave in predictable ways.
Investigate what happens to the intensity of light as the directed angle changes. Green, yellow, red, orange leaves....how can this be?
Sixth grade:
- ESS Content Statement: Soil is unconsolidated material that contains nutrient matter and weathered rock.
- PS Content Statement: There are two categories of energy: kinetic and potential.
Consider the leaves on those trees. What is up must come down. Do all the trees on a tree have the same gravitational potential energy?
Seventh grade:
- LS Content Statement: Matter is transferred continuously between one organism to another and between organisms and their physical environments.
Energy is transferred between organisms but what happens when energy production(photosynthesis) is reduced as with the loss of green leaves in the autumn?
- PS Content Statement: The properties of matter are determined by the arrangement of atoms.
What effect will the falling leaves have on the pH of water? How will that affect the organisms living in the area?
Eighth grade
- LS Content Statement: Diversity of species occurs through gradual processes over many generations. Fossil records provide evidence that changes have occurred in number and types of species.
What variations allow organisms to survive in a climate that changes throughout the year?
High School Science
- Consider the difference in radiant energy in the autumn versus the winter and spring. This is a great time to take measurements and make comparisons as the seasons change.
- Where can you go with Forces and Motion regarding those geese in the picture
Biology
- What is happening with photosynthesis this time of year?
- What do reduced environmental temperatures have to do with oxygen demand on the part of living organisms?
Physics
- Look at the V formation of flight of the geese. To what extent does the V reduce air resistance? Does the change out of head goose occur at regular intervals?
Environmental Science
- Consider population dynamics. What's happening this time of year?
- How does the migration of populations affect an ecosystem?
Come Join Us for a Science Content Meeting...
All participants will receive:
1. Resources
2. Refreshments
3. Certificates of attendance for each meeting. (Participants must be in attendance for the entire 2 hours to receive a certificate.)
To register for this event go to the MCESC website and click on the calendar. If you have not registered for an event on the website in the past you will need to create an account before you can register.
Thursday, Oct 22, 2015, 04:30 PM
Mahoning County Career and Technical Center (Joyce Brooks Center), Palmyra Rd., Canfield, Ohio
Elementary Content Meeting
Registration: 4:00-4:30 PM Meeting: 4:30-6:30 PM
All participants will receive:
1. Resources
2. Refreshments
3. Certificates of attendance for each meeting. (Participants must be in attendance for the entire 2 hours to receive a certificate.)
To register for this event go to the MCESC website and click on the calendar. If you have not registered for an event on the website in the past you will need to create an account before you can register.