MHS Science Curriculum
ALL CURRICULUM DOCUMENTS ARE ACTIVE DRAFTS
Integrated Science
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Prioritized Standards
Prioritized Standard: Predict and diagram bonding between atoms. Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between polarity and solubility. Predict properties of elements based on patterns of electrons in atoms to demonstrate an understanding of the properties and behavior of matter.
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Prioritized Standard: Demonstrate an understanding of interactions between water and Earth’s environment (including watersheds and water cycles).
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Prioritized Standard: Evaluate/assess issues specific to our region that pertain to humans’ contribution to runoff and I can propose specific solutions to mitigate the associated negative effects.
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Prioritized Standard: I demonstrate an understanding of Earth’s atmosphere as it relates to coevolution.
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Prioritized Standard: Model/explain the relationships between external factors and the flow of matter and of heat energy within Earth’s systems resulting in changes in Earth’s temperature (putting it all together).
Applied Chemistry
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Prioritized Standard: Reason quantitatively and use units to solve problems.
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Prioritized Standard: Use understanding of atomic structure and patterns in periodic table to predict properties of atoms and how they bond
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Prioritized Standard: Define the design of a chemical system by specifying a change in conditions that would produce increased amounts of products at equilibrium HS-PS1-2
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Prioritized Standard: Communicate scientific and technical information about why the molecular-level structure is important in the functioning of designed materials HS-PS2-6
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Prioritized Standard: Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that feedback mechanisms maintain homeostasis HS-LS1-3
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Prioritized Standard: Use mathematical representations to support claim that atoms and mass are conserved during a reaction. HS-PS1-7
Physics
Chemistry II
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Prioritized Standard:
Structure, Function, Change, and Energy: Demonstrate an understanding of the models of how chemical bonds form, the resulting molecular structure and relation to function, and that atomic structure, bonding, molecular shape and chemical reactions are, in part, driven by energy and energy transformations.
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Prioritized Standard:
Thermodynamics (Enthalpy, Entropy, Gibbs Free Energy): Demonstrate an understanding of the thermodynamic quantities enthalpy, entropy and Gibbs Free Energy, and the relationship of these quantities to what drives physical and chemical changes and the establishment of equilibrium.
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Prioritized Standard:
Reaction Rates (Kinetics): Demonstrates an understanding of the atomic-scale factors that affect how fast chemical changes happen; including, what defines the fraction of particles with enough energy to react, and temperature, concentration and catalyst effects.
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Prioritized Standard:
Equilibrium: Demonstrate an understanding of the atomic scale factors that drive chemical and physical changes, and what drives these changes to stop; including the balance between low energy (stability) and high entropy (characterized by a relatively high number of microstates).
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Prioritized Standard:
Meeting Human Energy Demands (Electrochemistry, Nuclear Chemistry): Demonstrate an understanding of the transformation of potential energy stored in electrons and in the nuclei of atoms in oxidation-reduction reactions (electrochemistry) and nuclear transmutation and radioactive decay (nuclear chemistry).
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Prioritized Standard:
Sustainable Energy Plan: Evaluate and/or design a sustainable energy plan that will satisfy the energy demands of the human population living at an average industrial-world standard of living. The text ‘Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air’ (MacKay) provides the framework for these energy plans… based on the central argument that humans will switch primarily to electricity to power their lifestyles, and the plans will produce electricity sustainably, including considerations of reducing CO2 emissions.
AP Biology
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Prioritized Standard:
Describe the structure and function of biological macromolecules and describe the relationship between structure and function in macromolecules.
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Prioritized Standard:
Explain how the structure of subcellular components and organelles contributes to the function of the cell.
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Prioritized Standard:
Explain how enzymes affect the rate of biological reactions; Explain how cells capture light energy and transfer it to biological molecules. Describe the processes that allow organisms to use energy stored in biological macromolecules.
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Prioritized Standard:
Describe how changes in the environment or structure of the signaling molecule can affect the signaling pathway (including response).
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Prioritized Standard:
Explain how the process of meiosis generates genetic diversity. Explain Mendelian inheritance patterns (including solving problems). Explain how chromosomal inheritance generates genetic variation.
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Prioritized Standard:
Describe the connection between the regulation of gene expression and observed differences between individuals in a population.
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Prioritized Standard:
Analyze data/use a model to explain how natural selection affects populations. Describe the conditions under which allele and genotype frequencies will change in populations. Describe the types of evidence that can be used to infer an evolutionary relationship
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Prioritized Standard:
Explain how a system’s interactions are directly related to the system’s available energy and its ability to evolve and respond to changes in its environment.
Biology
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Prioritized Standard: Use a model of the cell membrane to predict the direction of movement of materials across the membrane based on concentration gradients and semi-permeability. (NGSS: HS-LS1-2)
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Prioritized Standard: Illustrate and explain that cellular respiration is a multi-step chemical process whereby the bonds of matter (reactants) are broken and bonds in new compounds (products) are formed resulting in a net transfer of energy. Show and explain the reactants and products in the three stages of cellular respiration. NGSS: HS LS1-7
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Prioritized Standard: Illustrate and explain that photosynthesis is a multi-step process that transforms light energy into stored chemical energy at the cellular level. Show and explain the reactants and products in the light dependent and light independent reactions. NGSS: HS LS1-5
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Prioritized Standard: Demonstrate the role of cell division (mitosis) in producing and maintaining complex organisms and the role of meiosis in generating inheritable genetic diversity. (NGSS: HS LS1-4, HS LS3-2)
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Prioritized Standard: Create and label a model of the molecular structure of DNA. Include: Double helix, nucleotide, 5’ and 3’ ends, base-pairs and associated chemical bonds. Use a model to explain how DNA structure and semi-conservative replication create precise copies of the genetic code. (NGSS: HS-LS1-1)
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Prioritized Standard: Explain how DNA is used to determine the structure of proteins which carry out the essential functions of life through systems of specialized cells. (NGSS: HS-LS1-1)
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Prioritized Standards:
Explain that common ancestry and biological evolution are supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence. Represent evolutionary relationships on a cladogram.(HS LS4-1).
Construct an explanation based on evidence that the process of evolution primarily results from four factors. (HS-LS4-2)
Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of population. (HS LS4-4)
Engineering
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Prioritized Standards: Plan an investigation or test a design individually and collaboratively to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence as part of building and revising models, supporting explanations for phenomena, or testing solutions to problems. Consider possible variables or effects and evaluate the confounding investigation’s design to ensure variables are controlled.
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Prioritized Standards:
Develop, revise, and/or use a model based on evidence to illustrate and/or predict the relationships between systems or between components of a system.
Both physical models and computers can be used in various ways to aid in the engineering design process. Computers are useful for a variety of purposes, such as running simulations to test different ways of solving a problem or to see which one is most efficient or economical; and in making a persuasive presentation to a client about how a given design will meet his or her needs.
Use a model to provide mechanistic accounts of phenomena.
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Prioritized Standards:
The iterative process of testing the most promising solutions and modifying what is proposed on the basis of the test results leads to greater refinement and ultimately to an optimal solution.
Criteria may need to be broken down into simpler ones that can be approached systematically, and decisions about the priority of certain criteria over others (trade-offs) may be needed.
Chemistry
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Prioritized Standard:
Nature of Science (NOS): Demonstrate an understanding that science is a body of knowledge and a process, based in experiments for the purpose of collecting qualitative and quantitative objective data that is analyzed to provide an understanding of the nature of the natural world
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Prioritized Standard:
Nature of Matter, Energy and Change: Classify matter, energy and change on the human scale to provide a foundation to interpret matter, energy and change on the atomic scale, including the Laws of Conservation of Energy and Matter.
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Prioritized Standard:
Atomic Structure: Matter is composed of small particles called atoms. These in turn are composed of smaller components (protons, neutrons, and electrons). Demonstrate an understanding of the structure of the atom and how the structure/organization of these atomic components forms the basis for the properties, and patterns in the properties, of the 118 naturally occurring and synthetic elements.
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Prioritized Standard:
Bonding, Structure and Properties: Demonstrate an understanding that the electronic structure of atoms is a fundamental driving force for which atoms bond in which proportions to form the stable pieces of the substances of the universe; and that, the type of bonding and the proportions of the atoms of the elements in these pieces determines their shape, and their shape determines their properties.
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Prioritized Standard:
Structure, Function and Physical Change: Demonstrate an understanding that the structure of the stable pieces of substances determines how those pieces stick together (or not) in the three common states of matter (gas, liquid and solid) and the nature and energy associated with changes between those states of matter.
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Prioritized Standard:
Stoichiometry of Chemical Change: Chemistry happens at the atomic scale, and humans directly experience and exploit chemistry at the human scale. Demonstrate and understanding how the Mole is used as the bridge between these scales and allows humans to interpret and make use of the observations and measurements on the human scale in terms of what is happening at the atomic scale
Face the Rivers
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Prioritized Standard:
NGSS Standard: HS-ESS2-5 Earth's Systems: Plan and conduct an investigation of the properties of water and its effects on Earth's materials and surface processes.
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Prioritized Standard:
NGSS Standard: HS-LS2-6 Life Science: 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.
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NGSS Standard: HS-ETS1-3 Engineering Design: 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.
Enviro Apps: Human
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Prioritized Standard:
Design and evaluate a solution that reduces the impacts of human activities on the environment and communities.
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Prioritized Standard:
Analyze data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem. (HS-LS2-1)
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Enviro Apps: Climate Crisis
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Prioritized Standard:
Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth's surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems. (HS-ESS2-2)
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Prioritized Standard:
Analyze the effect of policies and technology regarding management of natural resources on the sustainability of human populations and biodiversity. (HS-ESS3-4)