State Curriculum - Science

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Grade 4 Grade 5
Standard 6.0 Environmental Science: Students will use scientific skills and processes to explain the interactions of environmental factors (living and non-living) and analyze their impact from a local to a global perspective. Standard 6.0 Environmental Science: Students will use scientific skills and processes to explain the interactions of environmental factors (living and non-living) and analyze their impact from a local to a global perspective.
A. Natural Resources and Human Needs A. Natural Resources and Human Needs
1. Recognize and explain how renewable and nonrenewable natural resources are used by humans in Maryland to meet basic needs.
  a. Identify and compare Maryland's renewable resources and nonrenewable resources.
  b. Describe how humans use renewable natural resources, such as plants, soil, water, animals.
  c. Describe how humans use nonrenewable natural resources, such as oil, coal, natural gas, minerals, including metals
B. Environmental Issues B. Environmental Issues
1. Recognize and describe that people in Maryland depend on, change, and are affected by the environment.
 		1. Recognize and explain that decisions influencing the use of natural resources may have benefits, drawbacks, unexpected consequences, and tradeoffs.
a. Identify and describe that human activities in a community or region are affected by environmental factors
 a. Identify and describe personal and community behaviors that waste natural resources and/or cause environmental harm and those behaviors that maintain or improve the environment.
  b. Identify and describe that individuals and groups assess and manage risk to the environment differently.
2. Recognize and describe that consequences may occur when Earth's natural resources are used.
  a. Explain how human activities may have positive consequences on the natural environment.
  • Recycling centers
  • Native plantings
  • Good farming practice
  b. Explain how human activities may have a negative consequence on the natural environment.
  c. Identify and describe that an environmental issue affects individual people and groups of people differently.
 

Note: Highlighting identifies assessment limits. All highlighted Indicators will be tested on the Grades 5 and 8 MSA. The highlighted Objectives under each highlighted Indicator identify the limit to which MSA items can be written. Although all content standards are tested on MSA, not all Indicators and Objectives are tested. Objectives that are not highlighted will not be tested on MSA, however are an integral part of Instruction.

 

MSDE has developed a toolkit for these standards which can be found online at: http://mdk12.org/instruction/curriculum/science/vsc_toolkit.html.

 

January 2008