What does a student learn in StateWashington,GradeGrade 9,SubjectScience?

Matter and its Interactions

From Molecule to Organisms: Structures and Processes

Earth’s Place in the Universe

Use modeling, investigation, and data to design, evaluate, and refine solutions to complex problems that can be solved through engineering; consider real-world criteria such as social, cultural, and environmental impacts in addition to constraints such as safety and reliability.

Earth’s Systems

Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

Earth and Human Activity

Energy

Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

Engage in place-based learning to understand how the natural world, urban systems, and the economy interact, and through project-based learning, identify and address environmental problems to support equitable and sustainable systems in scales from local to global.

Apply understanding of ecological, social, and economic systems to develop and communicate solutions for environmental issues at local, regional, national, tribal, and global scales.

Engage in place-based inquiry to gather, analyze, and evaluate information, modeling connections that explain one or more ways that humans can support natural and human-built environments for environmental sustainability or climate change resiliency.

Conduct a project that specifies a local influence on a global environmental problem, identifies solution paths, takes steps to solve the problem, and reports results to demonstrate the knowledge, attitudes, and understanding of personal and civic responsibility required to ensure environmental justice and sustainable communities.

Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and constraints for solutions that account for societal needs and wants. [Climate] [ESE]

Design a solution to a complex real-world problem by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable problems that can be solved through engineering. [Climate] [ESE]

Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts. [Climate] [ESE]

Use a computer simulation to model the impact of proposed solutions to a complex real-world problem with numerous criteria and constraints on interactions within and between systems relevant to the problem. [Climate] [ESE]

Use mathematical and computational thinking to qualitatively predict the motion of objects in the solar system, describe that the processes and elements produced within stars depend on the mass and age of the star, and apply evidence to construct an account of Earth’s formation and early history.

Develop a model based on evidence to illustrate the life span of the sun and the role of nuclear fusion in the sun’s core to release energy in the form of radiation.

Construct an explanation of the Big Bang theory based on astronomical evidence of light spectra, motion of distant galaxies, and composition of matter in the universe.

Communicate scientific ideas about the way stars, over their life cycle, produce elements.

Use mathematical or computational representations to predict the motion of orbiting objects in the solar system.

Evaluate evidence of the past and current movements of continental and oceanic crust and the theory of plate tectonics to explain the ages of crustal rocks.

Apply scientific reasoning and evidence from ancient Earth materials, meteorites, and other planetary surfaces to construct an account of Earth’s formation and early history.

Use evidence and develop models to explain the functioning of cells within organisms, including how cells use matter to create structures like proteins and more cells, and how cells transfer, store, and use energy.

Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the structure of DNA determines the structure of proteins which carry out the essential functions of life through systems of specialized cells.

Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms.

Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that feedback mechanisms maintain homeostasis.

Use a model to illustrate the role of cellular division (mitosis) and differentiation in producing and maintaining complex organisms.

Use a model to illustrate how photosynthesis transforms light energy into stored chemical energy.

Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for how carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen from sugar molecules may combine with other elements to form amino acids and/or other large carbon-based molecules.

Use a model to illustrate that cellular respiration is a chemical process whereby the bonds of food molecules and oxygen molecules are broken and the bonds in new compounds are formed resulting in a net transfer of energy.

Develop and use models of atomic structures and patterns in data to understand the chemical properties of matter including outcomes of chemical reactions, nuclear reactions, and structures of substances. Apply this understanding to the energy of reactions, including rates and equilibrium with a refined design to increase the products of a reaction.

Use the periodic table as a model to predict the relative properties of elements based on the patterns of electrons in the outermost energy level of atoms.

Construct and revise an explanation for the outcome of a simple chemical reaction based on the outermost electron states of atoms, trends in the periodic table, and knowledge of the patterns of chemical properties.

Plan and conduct an investigation to gather evidence to compare the structure of substances at the bulk scale to infer the strength of electrical forces between particles.

Develop a model to illustrate that the release or absorption of energy from a chemical reaction system depends upon the changes in total bond energy.

Apply scientific principles and evidence to provide an explanation about the effects of changing the temperature or concentration of the reacting particles on the rate at which the reaction occurs. [ESE]

Refine the design of a chemical system by specifying a change in conditions that would produce increased amounts of products at equilibrium. [Engineering]

Use mathematical representations to support the claim that atoms, and therefore mass, are conserved during a chemical reaction.

Develop model to illustrate the changes in composition of the nucleus of the atom and the energy released during the processes of fission, fusion, and radioactive decay.

Develop and use models based on data and evidence to describe how changes in Earth’s internal and surface processes, especially climate, are caused by variations in energy flow into and out of Earth's systems at different size and time scales.

Develop a model to illustrate how Earth’s internal and surface processes operate at different spatial and temporal scales to form continental and ocean-floor features.

Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems. [ESE]

Develop a model based on evidence of Earth’s interior to describe the cycling of matter by thermal convection.

Use a model to describe how variation in the flow of energy into and out of Earth’s systems result in changes in climate. [Climate] [ESE]

Plan and conduct an investigation of the properties of water and its effects on Earth materials and surface processes. [ESE]

Develop a quantitative model to describe the cycling of carbon among the hydrosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere. [Climate] [ESE]

Construct an argument based on evidence about the simultaneous coevolution of Earth’s systems and life on Earth.

Use mathematical representations and models to understand stability and change within ecosystems, considering the cycling of energy and matter, biodiversity, and carrying capacity. Apply this understanding to design a solution that would reduce human impacts on an ecosystem.

Use mathematical and/or computational representations to support explanations of factors that affect carrying capacity of ecosystems at different scales. [Climate] [ESE]

Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems of different scales. [Climate] [ESE]

Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for the cycling of matter and flow of energy in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. [ESE]

Use mathematical representations to support claims or the cycling of matter and flow of energy among organisms in an ecosystem. [Climate] [ESE]

Develop a model to illustrate the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of carbon among the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere. [Climate] [ESE]

Evaluate claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem. [Climate] [ESE]

Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity. [Climate] [Engineering] [ESE]

Evaluate the evidence for the role of group behavior on individual and species’ chances to survive and reproduce.

Plan an investigation, collect data, and use representations to create claims about relationships between net force, mass, and acceleration of a single object and about gravitational and electrostatic forces between objects, including magnets. Apply this understanding to systems of objects, designed materials, and collisions.

Analyze data to support the claim that Newton’s second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration.

Use mathematical representations to support the claim that the total momentum of a system of objects is conserved when there is no net force on the system.

Apply scientific and engineering ideas to design, evaluate, and refine a device that minimizes the force on a macroscopic object during a collision. [Engineering]

Use mathematical representations of Newton’s Law of Gravitation and Coulomb’s Law to describe and predict the gravitational and electrostatic forces between objects.

Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that an electric current can produce a magnetic field and that a changing magnetic field can produce an electric current.

Communicate scientific and technical information about why the molecular-level structure is important in the functioning of designed materials. [Engineering]

Use computational representations based on evidence to explain how human activity modifies relationships between and among Earth’s systems and human activity and to predict how the rate of a changing climate can impact Earth’s systems and human activity. Apply this understanding to solutions that reduce the impacts of human activities on natural systems.

Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity. [Climate] [ESE]

Use models and investigations to represent and understand the energy within objects and energy changes in systems. Apply this understanding through engineering a device that converts energy between forms and by relating how fields can change the energy of an object.

Create a computational model to calculate the change in the energy of one component in a system when the change in energy of the other component(s) and energy flows in and out of the system are known.

Develop and use models to illustrate that energy at the macroscopic scale can be accounted for as a combination of energy associated with the motions of particles (objects) and energy associated with the relative positions of particles (objects).

Design, build, and refine a device that works within given constraints to convert one form of energy into another form of energy. [Engineering] [ESE]

Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that the transfer of thermal energy when two components of different temperature are combined within a closed system results in a more uniform energy distribution among the components in the system (second law of thermodynamics).

Develop and use a model of two objects interacting through electric or magnetic fields to illustrate the forces between objects and the changes in energy of the objects due to the interaction.

Ask questions and create claims to understand the relationship between traits in an organism and the role of DNA in inheriting expressed traits. Apply this understanding with concepts of statistics to explain the variation of traits in a population.

Ask questions to clarify relationships about the role of DNA and chromosomes in coding the instructions for characteristic traits passed from parents to offspring.

Make and defend a claim based on evidence that inheritable genetic variations may result from: (1) new genetic combinations through meiosis, (2) viable errors occurring during replication, and/or (3) mutations caused by environmental factors. [ESE]

Apply concepts of statistics and probability to explain the variation and distribution of expressed traits in a population.

Use data, evidence, and mathematical reasoning to explain the process of evolution via natural selection. Apply this understanding to a solution to mitigate the adverse impacts of human activity on biodiversity.

Communicate scientific information that common ancestry and biological evolution are supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence.

Construct an explanation based on evidence that the process of evolution primarily results from four factors: (1) the potential for a species to increase in number, (2) the heritable genetic variation of individuals in a species due to mutation and sexual reproduction, (3) competition for limited resources, and (4) the proliferation of those organisms that are better able to survive and reproduce in the environment. [ESE]

Apply concepts of statistics and probability to support explanations that organisms with an advantageous heritable trait tend to increase in proportion to organisms lacking this trait.

Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations.

Evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental conditions may result in (1) increases in the number of individuals of some species, (2) the emergence of new species over time, and (3) the extinction of other species. [Climate] [ESE]

Create or revise a simulation to test a solution to mitigate adverse impacts of human activity on biodiversity. [Climate] [Engineering] [ESE]

Evaluate the validity and reliability of claims behind the idea that electromagnetic radiation can be described by a wave model and a particle model, the effects different frequencies of electromagnetic radiation have when absorbed by matter, and how the interactions of electromagnetic radiation with matter can be used by technological devices to capture, store, and transmit information and energy.

Use mathematical representations to support a claim regarding relationships among the frequency, wavelength, and speed of waves traveling in various media.

Evaluate questions about the advantages of using digital transmission and storage of information.

Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning behind the idea that electromagnetic radiation can be described either by a wave model or a particle model, and that for some situations one model is more useful than the other.

Evaluate the validity and reliability of claims in published materials of the effects that different frequencies of electromatic radiation have when absorbed by matter. [Climate]

Communicate technical information about how some technological devices use the principles of wave behavior and wave interactions with matter to transmit and capture information and energy. [Engineering]