National Science Education Standards
Journey
North's Mystery Class Project helps bring key National Science Education
Standards to life. As you link to and review the activities, consider
how you can adapt them to your unique context and students' abilities.
A. Science as Inquiry
B. Physical Science
C. Life Science
D. Earth and Space Science
| Journey North Mystery Class Lesson | |
| A.
SCIENCE AS INQUIRY |
|
| Ask a question about objects, organisms, events. (K-4) | The
entire Mystery Class challenge |
| Use data to conduct a reasonable explanation. (K-4) | Seeing
the Light: Recognizing the Sun's Role in Living Systems |
| Develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models using evidence. (5-8) | Seeing
the Light: Recognizing the Sun's Role in Living Systems The entire Mystery Class challenge |
| Think critically and logically to make relationship between evidence and explanations. (5-8) | Reasons for Seasons: Exploring the Astronomy of Spring The entire Mystery Class challenge |
| Use math in all aspects of scientific inquiry. (5-8) |
The entire Mystery Class challenge |
| UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT SCIENCE INQUIRY | |
| Science investigations involve asking and answering a question and comparing that to what scientists already know about the world. (K-4) | The "Powers" of the Equinox? |
| Scientists use different kinds of investigations depending on the questions they are trying to answer. Types of investigations include describing objects, events, and organisms; classifying them; and doing a fair test (experimenting). (K-4) | The "Powers" of the Equinox? |
| Scientists develop explanations using observations (evidence) and what they already know about the world. Good explanations are based on evidence from investigations. (K-4) | The entire Mystery Class challenge |
| Different kinds of questions suggest different kinds of scientific investigations. Some involve observing and describing objects, organisms, or events; some involve collecting specimens; some involve experiments; some involve seeking more information; some involve discovery of new objects and phenomena; and some involve making models. (5-8) | The "Powers" of the Equinox? |
| Mathematics is important in all aspects of scientific inquiry. (5-8) | The entire Mystery Class challenge |
| POSITION AND MOTION OF OBJECTS |
|
| An object's motion can be described by tracing and measuring its position over time. (K-4) | Reasons for Seasons: Exploring the Astronomy of Spring |
| TRANSFER OF ENERGY | |
| 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. (5-8) | Reasons for Seasons: Exploring the Astronomy of Spring |
| ORGANISMS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTS |
|
| All animals depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food. Others eat animals that eat plants. (K-4) | Seeing the Light: Recognizing the Sun's Role in Living Systems |
| POPULATIONS AND ECOSYSTEMS | |
| For ecosystems, the major source of energy is sunlight. Energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis. That energy then passes from organism to organism in food webs. (5-8) | .Seeing the Light: Recognizing the Sun's Role in Living Systems |
| OBJECTS IN THE SKY | |
| The sun, moon, stars, clouds, birds, and airplanes all have properties, locations, and movements that can be observed and described. (K-4) | Seeing
the Light: Recognizing the Sun's Role in Living Systems The entire Mystery Class challenge |
| The sun provides light and heat necessary to maintain the temperature of the earth. (K-4) | Seeing
the Light: Recognizing the Sun's Role in Living The entire Mystery Class challenge |
| CHANGES IN THE EARTH AND SKY | |
| Objects in the sky have patterns of movement. The sun, for example, appears to move across the sky in the same way every day, but its path changes slowly over the seasons. The moon moves across the sky on a daily basis much like the sun. The observable shape of the moon changes from day to day in a cycle that lasts about a month. (K-4) | Exploring
Shadows and Sunlight |
| EARTH IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM | |
| Most objects in the solar system are in regular and predictable motion. Those motions explain phenomena such as the day, the year, phases of the moon, and eclipses. (5-8) | Kids
Calculating Photoperiods Exploring Shadows and Sunlight Follow the Sun Does the Sun Really "Rise" and "Set"? World Clocks X. |
| The sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on the earth's surface, such as growth of plants, winds, ocean currents, and the water cycle. Seasons result from variations in the amount of sun's energy hitting the surface, due to the tilt of the earth's rotation on its axis and the length of the day. (5-8) | Seeing
the Light: Recognizing the Sun's Role in Living Systems The entire Mystery Class challenge |
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2005 Journey North. All Rights Reserved.
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