|
|
|
|
|
 |
ZOOM activities are not only fun--they're educational. Public schools today follow standards that outline content kids should know and skills they should be able to use at specific grade levels. When kids try out ZOOM activities, they're gaining knowledge and practicing skills that align with these standards. The list below shows the national content standards for science that ZOOM activities address. Grades K-4
Content Standard A: Science as Inquiry Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry:
- Ask a question.
- Plan and conduct a simple investigation.
- Use simple equipment to gather data and extend the senses.
- Use data to construct a reasonable explanation.
- Communicate investigations and explanations.
Content Standard E: Science and Technology Abilities of technological design:
- Identify a problem.
- Propose a solution.
- Implement a proposed solution.
- Evaluate a product or design.
- Communicate a problem, design, and solution.
Understandings about technological design:
- People have always had problems and invented tools and techniques to solve problems. Trying to determine the effects of solutions helps people avoid some new problems.
- Scientists and engineers often work in teams with different individuals doing different things that contribute to the results.
- Women and men of all ages, backgrounds, and groups engage in a variety of scientific and technological work.
Grades 5-8
Content Standard A: Science as Inquiry Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry:
- Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations.
- Design and conduct a scientific investigation.
- Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret data.
- Develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models using evidence.
- Think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence and explanations.
- Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and predictions.
- Communicate scientific procedures and explanations.
- Use mathematics in all aspects of scientific inquiry.
Content Standard E: Science and Technology Abilities of technological design:
- Identify appropriate problems for technological design.
- Design a solution or product.
- Implement a proposed design.
- Evaluate completed technological designs or products.
- Communicate the process of technological design.
Understandings about technological design:
- Scientific inquiry and technological design have similarities and differences. Scientists propose explanations for questions about the natural world, and engineers propose solutions relating to human problems, needs, and aspirations. Technological solutions are temporary; technologies exist within nature and so they cannot contravene physical or biological principles; technological solutions have side effects; and technologies cost, carry risks, and provide benefits.
- Many different people in different cultures have made and continue to make contributions to science and technology.
- Perfectly designed solutions do not exist. All technological solutions have tradeoffs, such as safety, cost, efficiency, and appearance. Engineers often build in back-up systems to provide safety. Risk is part of living in a highly technological world. Reducing risk often results in new technology.
- Technological designs have constraints. Some constraints are unavoidable, for example, properties of materials, or effects of weather and friction; other constraints limit choices in the design, for example, environmental protection, human safety, and aesthetics.
- Technological solutions have intended benefits and unintended consequences. Some consequences can be predicted, others cannot.
From National Science Education Standards. Copyright 1996 by the National Academy of Sciences. Available from the National Academy Press, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, D.C. 20055.
 Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
