SECOND GRADE SCIENCE

Alaska Content Standards

 

Standard A.  A student should understand scientific facts, concepts, 

                        principles, and theories.

Standard B.  A student should possess and understand the skills of

                        scientific inquiry.

Standard C.  A student should understand the nature and history of

                        science.

Standard D.  A student should be apply scientific knowledge and skills

                        to make reasoned decisions about the use of science and

                        scientific innovations.

 

Second Grade students will investigate new plants, air and weather, and balance and motion.  The science process skills for the second grade include: observing, communicating, classifying, measuring, hypothesizing, carrying out experiments, making conclusions from data, and designing investigations.

·        Use at least one indirect method of gathering information to explore a topic

·        Develop ideas about what is happening in observations of activities

·        Write or draw descriptions of a sequence of steps, events, and observations

·        Accurately use an ordering system to group objects or events according to characteristics

·        Propose possible relationships among events, objects, and ideas

·        Measure length, weight, temperature, and liquid volume with appropriate tools and express those measurements in standard metric system units

·        Use data in tables, graphs, maps or diagrams to answer simple questions

·        Recognize evidence that contradicts their own ideas or theories

·        Follow oral instructions for a scientific investigation

 

 

Alaska Science Performance Standards

 

A 1.  Students use models to represent structures and identify different scale relationships.

A 2.  Students observe physical properties of substances and observe that a substance maintains many of the same properties whether it is big or small.

A 3.  Students make observations of the daytime and nighttime sky over a period of time and chart the movement of objects.

A 4.  Students observe natural events and identify patterns in the weather and the seasons.

A 5.  Students show how objects can be moved without being touched, and how shadows are formed by light.

A 6.  Students observe and record changes in an object’s position and motion when applying a push or pull.

A 7.  Students observe and describe earth materials such as clay, silt, sand, rocks, and pebbles that exist in a variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and hardness.

A 8a.  Students observe and describe changes in matter and identify some changes that are easily reversible, and some that are not.

A 8b.  Students observe that the sun warms the land, air and water.

A 8c.  Students observe that there are many ways to produce heat and other forms of energy.

A 9.  Students identify examples of living and non-living things in their environment and demonstrate understanding that things change over time.

A 10.  Students use a hand lens to observe minute details of living things.

A 11.  Students identify similarities and differences between offspring and their parents.

A 12.  Students sort plants and animals into groups using consistent criteria, and describe how some characteristics are for the survival of the plant or animal.

A 13.  Students describe organisms that once lived on earth, but have completely disappeared.

A 14a.  Students identify those things which plants and animals need in order to survive and reproduce.

A 14b.  Students identify local animals that live together in groups.

A 14c.  Students listen to a story (from the past or present) that describes how a shortage or surplus of resources affects the survival of plants and animals.

A 15.  Students identify local landforms and resources.

B 1.  Students observe and describe their world.

B 2.  Students use appropriate measuring and observation instruments to explore the natural world around them.

B 3.  Students ask questions about the natural world.

B 4.  Students collaborate to investigative the natural world.

B 5.  Students differentiate between what they observe with their senses and what they interpret about those observations.

B 6.  Student learn classroom safety procedures, identify consequences or unsafe behavior, and practice safe behavior in the classroom and laboratory.

C 1.  Students will use observations to collect and identify facts.

C 2.  Students will compare observations and/or repeat observations to check for validity of results.

C 3.  Students recite a tribal folk lore describing a scientific event.

C 4.  Students observe a phenomenon and record a personal (non-scientific) belief about that phenomenon.

C 5.  Students work together to explore and share scientific discoveries about their environment.

C 6.  Students share information about their world that they have learned through observation.

C 7.  Students examine inventions and describe the human efforts required to produce it.

C 8.  Students observe and discuss phenomena that conflict with common sense.

D 1.  Students use science knowledge to describe everyday events.

D 2.  Students role-play and discuss the positive and negative consequences of a single scientific or technological event.

D 3.  Students propose and discuss solutions to simple problems.

D 4.  Students describe simple technology used in everyday life.

D 5.  Students discuss how tools are used to observe, measure, and make things that help us.

D 6.  Students retell examples of consequences that have resulted from their actions.

 

CORE CONCEPTS

 

Life Science

·        Develop a curiosity and interest in plants as living things

·        Identify environments that support various types of living organisms

·        Experience some of the diversity of forms in the plant kingdom

·        Determine the needs of plants i.e., air, water, nutrients, light

·        Provide for the needs of growing plants

·        Observe and describe the changes that occur as plants grow and develop

·        Become familiar with structures and functions of flowering plants i.e., root, stem, leaf, bud, flower, seed

·        Discover various ways that new plants can develop from mature plants

·        Compare change over time in different kinds of plants

·        Organize and communicate observations through drawing and writing

·        Compare and contrast life cycles of different plants

·        Recognize that green plants need energy from sunlight and various raw materials to live, and animals consume plants and other organisms to live

Physical Science

·        Develop a growing curiosity and interest in the motion of objects

·        Investigate materials constructively during free exploration and in a guided discovery mode

·        Solve problems through trial and error

·        Develop persistence in tackling a problem

·        Explore concepts of balance, counterweight, and stability

·        Observe the ways in which things move e.g., straight, zigzag, round and round, back and forth, fast and slow

·        Observe that movement can be affected by pushing or pulling

·        Observe that objects can move steadily or change direction

·        Observe systems that are unstable and modify them to reach equilibrium

·        Discover different ways to produce rotational motion

·        Construct and observe toys that spin

·        Explore and describe some of the variables that influence the spinning of objects

·        Observe and compare rolling systems with different sized wheels

·        Explore and describe the motion of rolling spheres

 

 

Earth/Space Science

·        Develop an interest in air and weather

·        Experience air as a material that takes up space and can be compressed into a smaller space

·        Observe the force of air pressure pushing on objects and materials

·        Observe and compare how moving air interacts with objects

·        Observe and describe changes that occur in weather over time

·        Become familiar with instruments used by meteorologists to monitor air and weather

·        Compare monthly and seasonal weather conditions using bar graphs

·        Recognize that the Sun is a principal source of Earth’s heat and light

·        Observe the location of the Sun and the Moon in the sky over a day and the change in the appearance of the Moon over a month

·        Organize and communicate observations through drawing and writing

·        Identify types of precipitation, variation in wind, sky conditions and day and night changes

·        Observe the seasonal and daily changes in weather: similarities and differences, temperature changes

·        Recognize that humans are affected by natural events e.g., earthquakes, volcanoes, floods

World of Work

·        Explores careers in science that are available in the community. Ask community members how science is used in their occupations B.1,2,7; C.4,8; D. 6,7;

·        Practices work readiness skills in the classroom  B.7; C.8; D.7;

·        Discusses why safety is important in science careers B.5; D.7;

·        Identifies personal interests, capabilities, and strengths which may lead to future careers B.4,7; C.8; D.7;

·        Create graphs of occupations in the community that use science B.7; D.7

 

 

Textbook:
ISBN#:
Publisher:
New Plants 4A-742-7166 Foss
Balance & Motion 4A-742-7023 Foss
Air & Weather 4A-742-7001 Foss