Texas Administrative Code › Title 19 - EDUCATION › Part 2 - TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY › Chapter 130 - TEXAS ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS FOR CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION › Subchapter A - AGRICULTURE, FOOD, AND NATURAL RESOURCES › Section 130.25 - Advanced Plant and Soil Science (One Credit)

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) General requirements. This course is
				  recommended for students in Grades 11 and 12. Recommended prerequisites:
				  Biology, Integrated Physics and Chemistry, Chemistry, or Physics and a minimum
				  of one credit from the courses in the Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources
				  Career Cluster. Students must meet the 40% laboratory and fieldwork
				  requirement. This course satisfies a high school science graduation
				  requirement. Students shall be awarded one credit for successful completion of
				  this course.
(b) Introduction.
(1) Career and technical education
				  instruction provides content aligned with challenging academic standards and
				  relevant technical knowledge and skills for students to further their education
				  and succeed in current or emerging professions.
(2) The Agriculture, Food, and Natural
				  Resources Career Cluster focuses on the production, processing, marketing,
				  distribution, financing, and development of agricultural commodities and
				  resources, including food, fiber, wood products, natural resources,
				  horticulture, and other plant and animal products/resources.
(3) Advanced Plant and Soil Science provides
				  a way of learning about the natural world. Students should know how plant and
				  soil science has influenced a vast body of knowledge, that there are still
				  applications to be discovered, and that plant and soil science is the basis for
				  many other fields of science. To prepare for careers in plant and soil science,
				  students must attain academic skills and knowledge, acquire technical knowledge
				  and skills related to plant and soil science and the workplace, and develop
				  knowledge and skills regarding career opportunities, entry requirements, and
				  industry expectations. To prepare for success, students need opportunities to
				  learn, reinforce, apply, and transfer their knowledge and skills and
				  technologies in a variety of settings.
(4) Science, as defined by the National
				  Academy of Sciences, is the "use of evidence to construct testable explanations
				  and predictions of natural phenomena, as well as the knowledge generated
				  through this process." This vast body of changing and increasing knowledge is
				  described by physical, mathematical, and conceptual models. Students should
				  know that some questions are outside the realm of science because they deal
				  with phenomena that are not scientifically testable.
(5) Scientific inquiry is the planned and
				  deliberate investigation of the natural world. Scientific methods of
				  investigation are experimental, descriptive, or comparative. The method chosen
				  should be appropriate to the question being asked.
(6) Scientific decision making is a way of
				  answering questions about the natural world. Students should be able to
				  distinguish between scientific decision-making methods (scientific methods) and
				  ethical and social decisions that involve science (the application of
				  scientific information).
(7) A
				  system is a collection of cycles, structures, and processes that interact. All
				  systems have basic properties that can be described in space, time, energy, and
				  matter. Change and constancy occur in systems as patterns and can be observed,
				  measured, and modeled. These patterns help to make predictions that can be
				  scientifically tested. Students should analyze a system in terms of its
				  components and how these components relate to each other, to the whole, and to
				  the external environment.
(8)
				  Students are encouraged to participate in extended learning experiences such as
				  career and technical student organizations and other leadership or
				  extracurricular organizations.
(9)
				  Statements that contain the word "including" reference content that must be
				  mastered, while those containing the phrase "such as" are intended as possible
				  illustrative examples.