Basic Concepts to Know for Teaching Science

1. Basic Concepts to Know for Teaching Science

2. Characteristics of living vs. nonliving things • Life cycles of plants and animals -Plants and Animals • Habitat and adaptation - Teacher Resources - About Our Earth • Types of plants and animals and their classification – a type of organism is a species; a group of species can interbreed and produce fertile offspring • Change and evolution – environments change over time; as environments change, animals and plants adapt - Understanding Evolution - Conceptual Framework Life Science

3. Types of materials and states of matter • Force and motion • Magnetism and electricity – magnets repel each other at like poles and attract at opposite poles; electric current is generated when a wire coil is rotated in a magnetic field • Properties of light, heat, and sound – light and sound are waves; sound waves are produced by a vibrating object; light is produced by vibrating electric charges; waves are bent or refracted as they pass through different mediums Physical Science

4. Work and simple machines – the amount of work it takes to move an object depends on the force acting on the object • Simple machines (levers, inclined planes, pulleys) are devices that manipulate variables to reduce the amount of force needed • Chemical changes – occur when one substance reacts with another to produce a third substance – carbon and oxygen react in the burning of wood; oxygen and iron react to cause rusting Physical Science (continued)

5. Composition of the Earth – composed of layers of different materials • Atmosphere – mainly nitrogen and oxygen with smaller amounts of other gases such as water vapor and carbon dioxide – surface of earth made of rocks, soils, and bodies of water • Landforms and water bodies – surface constantly reshaped by actions of wind, water, ice, and internal heat and pressure • Erosion, deposition, and uplift produce landforms (mountains, valleys, canyons, beaches, dunes. Earth and Space Science

6. Climate and weather – climate conditions are directly related to variables such as temperature, seasons, precipitation, and humidity (variables influenced by latitude, prevailing winds, and proximity of oceans or mountains) • Water cycle constantly moves water from oceans, lakes and ponds into the atmosphere, where it condenses and falls as rain or snow Earth and Space Science (continued)

7. Sources of energy – most energy comes from burning of fossil fuels, such as oil, natural gas, and coal • Moon is satellite of the Earth and surface has impact craters – changes phases as it revolves around the Earth; gravitational pull causes ocean tides • Structure of solar system – made up of planets and smaller bodies – asteroids and comets which revolve around the sun; four inner planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are rocky; four outer planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are gas giants; Earth is the third planet from the sun Earth and Space Science (continued)

8. Stars and other objects in universe – stars including the sun are balls of dense gas that exists at high temperature; young stars are made up of hydrogen; hydrogen fuses into helium; a process that releases energy in form of heat and light; our solar system is part of the Milky Way galaxy Earth and Space Science (continued)