Energy is a property of many substances and is associated with heat, light, electricity and sound. Energy is transferred in many ways.

Investigate potential and kinetic energy transfer by measuring and recording in standard and metric units the change in height of the sphere and the distance moved by the glider. Identify variables that affect the results.

Demonstrate and explain energy transfer in an energy chain. Explain by using the terms energy source, energy receiver, energy transfer, evidence of energy transfer through systems and subsystems such as in a simple circuit.

Identify and describe evidence of energy transfer by conducting controlled experiments with a rotoplane system.

Heat energy moves in predictable ways flowing from warmer objects to cooler ones, until both objects reach the same temperature.

Investigate factors that affect the melting rate of ice.

Predict, investigate, and record temperature changes when warm and cold water are mixed.

Light energy interacts with matter by transmission (including refraction), absorption, or scattering (including reflection).

Demonstrate the changes of a shadow when the light source is moved around an object.

Describe how a magnifying glass bends light.

Construct a model to show how light travels from one point to another.

Use color filters to create different colors of light.

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 Earth, transferring energy from the Sun to the Earth.

Identify the variables that affect the amount of solar energy transferred to samples of water and to a solar cell.

Give an example of an energy chain starting with the sun and moving through a food chain or food web.

Explain the use of insulators to prevent energy transfer.

Give an example of the conversion of solar energy to electrical energy.

Electrical circuits provide a means of transferring electrical energy when heat, light, sound, and chemical changes are produced.

Identify food items that can act like a battery when placed in a circuit.

Observe a light bulb when it is lit and when it is not lit. Explain how it works.

Compare and contrast the use of parallel and series circuits to light a bulb.

Water, which covers the majority of the Earth’s surface, circulates through the crust, oceans, and atmosphere in what is known as the water cycle. Water dissolves minerals and gases and may carry them to the oceans.

Describe the conditions necessary for evaporation and condensation of water.

Design a model of the water cycle through the interaction of heat and cold.

A relatively thin blanket of air called the atmosphere surrounds Earth. The atmosphere is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and trace gases that include water vapor. The atmosphere has different properties at different elevations.

Use common and advanced technological tools (i.e., anemometer, barometer, hygrometer) to measure and collect atmospheric data. Base conclusions and predictions of weather changes on collected data.

The Sun is the major source of energy of the Earth. The water cycle, winds, ocean currents and growth of plants are affected by the Sun’s energy. Seasons result from variations in the amount of the Sun’s energy hitting Earth’s surface.

Create a water cycle model using a container of water inside an enclosed container with a heat source outside. Vary the relative position of the heat source to the water container and predict the different amounts of condensation on the walls of the container.

Graph weather data (i.e. rainfall) that occurs as the result of a weather system moving across the continental U.S. (Use the National Weather Service as a source of data.)

Compare average temperature and rainfall in various agricultural zones of the U.S. during the growing seasons.

Build a model terrarium. Compare inside and outside temperature when placed in the sun. Explain how the model demonstrates the greenhouse effect.

Living systems at all levels of organization demonstrate the complementary nature of structure and function. Important levels of organization for structure and function include cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, organisms, (e.g. bacteria, protests, fungi, plants, animals, and ecosystems.)

Explain how the function of an appendage (or other body part) relates to the body as a part of a system and how this adaptation helps the animal obtain food, move, defend, reproduce, and survive.

Using a microscope, observe samples of living and nonliving things found in the classroom. Compare/contrast observations.

Label the parts of a seed and describe the function of each part.

Teeth have different functions depending on their shape, size and location. Illustrate and describe the function of three different tooth shapes.

All organisms are composed of cells, the fundamental unit of life. Most organisms are single cell; other organisms, including plants and animals are multicellular.

Observe plant and animal cells using a microscope.

Compare and contrast the structure of plant and animal cells.

Create a simple model of a single cell.

A population consists of all individuals of a species that occur together at a given place and time. All populations living together and the physical factors with which they interact compose an ecosystem.

Investigate a habitat (a crack in a sidewalk, a rotting log, or small pond) and determine the number of different species that occur together.

Design an experiment to find out why populations decline after a period of active growth. Based on the results, explain the concept of biotic potential.

Populations of organisms can be categorized by the function they serve in an ecosystem. Plants and some microorganisms are producers because they make their own food. All animals including humans, are consumers, and obtain their food by eating other organisms. Decomposers, primarily bacteria and fungi, are consumers that use waste materials and dead organisms for food. Food webs identify the relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem.

Observe, describe, and diagram feeding interactions among populations of plants and animals as a food web.

Dissect an owl pellet. Diagram a food chain or web in which the owl is a 2^nd or 3^rd order consumer.

Use a terrarium containing producers and consumers. Explain the food relationships from this model to a real world ecosystem to include a variety of additional types of producers and consumers.

Set up an aquarium to simulate a balanced pond (fresh water) ecosystem. Explain what part of the design made it "balanced."

For most ecosystems, the major source of energy is sunlight. Energy enters ecosystems as sunlight is transferred (through photosynthesis) by producers into chemical energy. Energy then passes from organism to organism in food webs.

Observe, describe, and diagram the energy path of sunlight through the food web.

Illustrate and explain the process of photosynthesis.

Design investigations to observe the carbon dioxide/oxygen exchange between plants and animals.

Use tincture of iodine to test for stored food (starch) in various plant parts such as potatoes, peas, lima beans, corn etc.

Use bromothymol blue (BTB) as an indicator to demonstrate the exchange of gases (carbon dioxide and oxygen) in plants in the light and dark.

The number of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the resources available and abiotic factors (quality of light and water, range of temperatures, soil composition). Given adequate biotic and

abiotic resources and no disease or predators, populations (including humans) increase at rapid rates. Lack of resources and other factors, such as predation and climate, limit the growth of populations in specific niches in the ecosystem.

Design an investigation to identify environmental factors that affect growth rate, development, or behavior of animals and plants.

Based upon observations of a living system, identify factors that limit the number of organisms that a system can support.

Find out how the population fluctuates over several weeks in a fruit fly culture where the food is not replenished.