Students examine information on the periodic table to recognize that elements are grouped into families. In addition, students demonstrate that exothermic and endothermic chemical reactions indicate that energy is lost or gained during a chemical reaction. Interactions in matter and energy are explored in solar, weather, and ocean systems. Students identify the origin of waves and investigate their ability to travel through different media. Students predict possible outcomes that result from different genetic combinations and explore the extinction of some species.
Science is a way of learning about the natural world.
Students should know how science has built a vast body of changing and increasing knowledge described by physical, mathematical, and conceptual models, and also should know that science may not answer all questions. A system is a collection of cycles, structures, and processes that interact. Students should understand a whole in terms of its components and how these components relate to each other and to the whole. All systems have basic properties that can be described in terms of space, time, energy, and matter. Change and constancy occur in systems and can be observed and measured as patterns.