Academic Expectations and Demonstrators
Middle School
Goal 2: Students shall develop their
abilities to apply core concepts and principles from
mathematics, the sciences, the arts, the humanities, social
studies, practical living studies, and vocational studies to
what they will encounter throughout their lives.
2.1 - Students understand scientific ways
of thinking and working and use those methods to solve
real-life problems.
Middle School Demonstrators
- Design and conduct a controlled experiment based upon
student-generated observations and hypotheses.
- Identify significant variables that affect the outcome
of an experiment and design controls for the experiment.
- Formulate models to illustrate or predict phenomena.
- Interpret data to infer relationships and apply to new
situations.
- Construct operational definitions to explain concepts or
facilitate experiments/investigations.
- Classify objects using multiple criteria.
- Communicate measurements made with common and advanced
technological tools.
Sample Teaching/Assessment Strategies
- Collaborative Process: Peer Tutoring
- Community-Based Instruction: Networking
- Continuous Progress Assessment: Observation, Portfolio
Development, Performance Events/Exhibitions
- Graphic Organizers: Mapping/Webbing, Venn Diagram
- Problem Solving: Inquiry, Formulating Models,
Simulations
- Technology/Tools: Computers,
- Manipulatives
- Whole Language Approach
- Writing Process.
2.2 - Students identify, analyze, and use
patterns such as cycles and trends to understand past and
present events and predict possible future events.
Middle School Demonstrators
- Investigate the relationships and interactions of two or
more patterns.
- Investigate the existence of small-scale variations
within a large-scale pattern.
- Formulate a pattern that represents an observed set of
occurrences (e.g., data tables, equations).
- analyze collected data to discover patterns and predict
outcomes.
- Identify causes of observed patterns.
Sample Teaching/Assessment Strategies
- Collaborative Process
- Community-Based Instruction: Networking, Field Studies
- Continuous Progress Assessment: Portfolio Development,
Performance Events/Exhibitions
- Problem Solving: Inquiry, Formulating Models, Research,
Interviews, Surveys, Polls
- Technology/Tools
- Whole Language Approach
- Writing Process
2.3 - Students identify and analyze
systems and the ways their components work together or affect
each other.
Middle School Demonstrators
- Design a new system or modify an existing one. Analyze
the effects and limitations.
- Evaluate the effects of subsystems and their components
on a system.
- Investigate the role of energy flow in systems.
- Demonstrate how a single system can have multiple
functions and applications.
- Investigate and illustrate a system; identify its
components and interrelationships with other systems.
Sample Teaching/Assessment Strategies
- Community-Based Instruction: Field Studies, Service
Learning
- Continuous Progress Assessment: Portfolio
Development, Performance Events/Exhibitions
- Graphic Organizers: Heuristics, Venn Diagrams
- Technology/Tools
- Whole Language Approach
- Writing Process
2.4 - Students use the concept of scale
and scientific models to explain the organization and
functioning of living and nonliving things and predict other
characteristics that might be observed.
Middle School Demonstrators
- Investigate properties that change or remain constant
with changes in scale.
- Evaluate the functions, behaviors, and limitations
implied by a model.
- Formulate multiple perspectives through the use of a
model.
Sample
Teaching/Assessment Strategies
Collaborative
Process: Cooperative Learning · Community-Based Instruction:
Field Studies · Continuous Progress Assessment: Conferencing,
Self-assessment · Graphic Organizers: Advance Organizers, KWL
· Problem Solving: Heuristics, Case Studies, Debate ·
Technology/Tools: Distance Learning, Telecommunications ·
Whole Language Approach · Writing Process.
2.5 - Students understand that under
certain conditions nature tends to remain the same or move
toward a balance.
Middle School Demonstrators
- Apply constancy concepts to make hypotheses and
predictions.
- Investigate the characteristics and effects (e.g.,
nature, size, frequency) of a disruption to a steady state
system.
- Analyze the relationship between scale and the
appearance of constancy.
- Analyze the relationship between change and constancy.
Sample
Teaching/Assessment Strategies
- Collaborative Process
- Community-Based Instruction: Service
Learning, Networking, Mentoring
- Continuous Progress Assessment:
Anecdotal Records
- Problem Solving: Investigation,
Simulation, Formulating Models
- Technology/Tools
- Whole Language Approach
- Writing Process
2.6 - Students understand how living
and nonliving things change over time and the factors that
influence the changes.
Middle School Demonstrators
- Evaluate the impact of a disruption on the evolution of
a system.
- Predict the future state of an evolving system.
- Investigate evolutionary change, and evaluate factors
(e.g., random and predictable) responsible for change.
- Illustrate evolution in a variety of contexts (e.g.,
biological, physical, social).
Sample
Teaching/Assessment Strategies
- Collaborative Process: Reciprocal
Teaching
- Community-Based Instruction: Service
Learning
- Continuous Progress Assessment:
Portfolio Development, Anecdotal Records, Self-assessment
- Graphic Organizers: Flowchart,
Storyboard
- Problem Solving: Brainstorming, Future
Problem Solving
- Whole Language Approach
- Writing Process
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