Students will:

• Demonstrate an understanding of scientific and engineering practices.
• Investigate and understand that:
  • plants and animals have structures that distinguish them from one another and play vital roles in their ability to survive.
  • organisms, including humans, interact with one another and with the nonliving components in the ecosystem.
  • weather conditions and phenomena affect ecosystems and can be predicted.
  • Virginia has important natural resources.
• Understand:
  • Organisms are composed of parts that function as a system to carry out life processes such as obtaining energy and reproducing.
  • Ecosystems and their characteristics are the result of complex interactions with Earth's system. The life process of plants and animals are interdependent and contribute to the flow of energy and cycles of matter within an ecosystem.
  • Thermal energy transfer from the sun impacts air movement and weather conditions. Models constructed based on patterns in atmospheric conditions are used to predict weather.
  • The atmosphere is a dynamic system and changes in conditions cause weather phenomena that may affect an ecosystem.
  • Natural resources are necessary or useful to humans.

Extended Standards

In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning above, students who receive Full-Time Advanced Academic Services engage with these extensions.

• Explain how relationships between variables affect the outcome of an investigation.
• Synthesize data to identify short and long term consequences. 
  Explain implications of data considering multiple perspectives (i.e. environment, ecosystems, people, communities).
• Explain scientific understandings through a concept or “big idea” that supports interdisciplinary connections (i.e., change, systems, patterns, relationships, etc.).
• Communicate scientific information using evidence and data to support a claim, conclusion, or thesis statement.
• Explain how scientific understandings gained from investigations/experiments apply to real world problems, issues, and scenarios.
• Analyze the interdependent relationships between plants and animals within an ecosystem (obtain energy and reproduction).
  Describe long and short term consequences of human behaviors on populations, communities, and ecosystems.
• Explain how relationships lead to balance or imbalance within ecosystems (i.e., food webs, populations, communities, niches).
• Explain long and short term consequences of extreme events on ecosystems.
• Explain long and short term consequences of human behavior on Virginia’s natural resources.

Students will:

• Demonstrate an understanding of scientific and engineering practice.
• Investigate and understand that:
  • organisms, including humans, interact with one another & with the nonliving components in the ecosystem.
  • weather conditions and phenomena affect ecosystems and can be predicted.
  • there are relationships among Earth, the moon, and the sun.
  • the ocean environment has characteristics.
  • Virginia has important natural resources.

Students will understand:

• All living organisms are part of a system and are interrelated and dependent in some way on other living and nonliving factors in their environment for survival.
• Humans have varying degrees of impact on Earth’s surface through their everyday activities. With careful planning, the impact can be controlled.
• Scientists create models to develop or clarify explanations, demonstrate relationships, and solve needs.

Extended Standards

In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning above, students who receive Full-Time Advanced Academic Services engage with these extensions.

• Explain how relationships between variables affect the outcome of an investigation.
• Synthesize data to identify short and long term consequences. 
  Explain implications of data considering multiple perspectives (i.e., environment, ecosystems, people, communities).
• Explain scientific understandings through a concept or “big idea” that supports interdisciplinary connections (i.e., change, systems, patterns, relationships, etc.).
• Communicate scientific information using evidence and data to support a claim, conclusion, or thesis statement.
• Explain how scientific understandings gained from investigations/experiments apply to real world problems, issues, and scenarios.
• Describe long and short term consequences of human behaviors on populations, communities, and ecosystems.
• Explain how relationships lead to balance or imbalance within ecosystems (i.e., food webs, populations, communities, niches).
  Explain long and short term consequences of extreme events ecosystems.
• Describe how space bodies (sun, moon, planets) sizes, location, and movements impact Earth’s natural systems (tides, weather, seasons, night/day, etc.).
• Explain long and short term consequences of human behavior on ecosystems.
• Explain how relationships lead to balance or imbalances within an ecosystem.
• Communicate scientific information using evidence and data to support a claim, conclusion, or thesis related to the research about where organisms live.
• Explain long and short term consequences of human behavior on Virginia’s natural resources.

Students will

• Demonstrate an understanding of scientific and engineering practices.
• Investigate and understand that:
  • the planets have characteristics and a specific place in the solar system.
  • there are relationships among Earth, the moon, and the sun. 

Students will understand:

• Planets rotate on their axes and revolve around the sun
• Planets have characteristics and a specific order in the solar system
• The interactions and orientations of the sun, Earth, and moon lead to patterns that are evidenced in day and night, seasons, tides, and the phases of the moon.

Extended Standards

In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning above, students who receive Full-Time Advanced Academic Services engage with these extensions.

• Explain how relationships between variables affect the outcome of an investigation.
• Synthesize data to identify short and long term consequences.
• Explain implications of data considering multiple perspectives (i.e., environment, ecosystems, people, communities).
• Explain scientific understandings through a concept or “big idea” that supports interdisciplinary connections (i.e., change, systems, patterns, relationships, etc.).
• Communicate scientific information using evidence and data to support a claim, conclusion, or thesis statement.
• Explain how scientific understandings gained from investigations and experiments apply to real world problems, issues, and scenarios.
• Explain how scientific understanding of solar systems has changed over time.
• Describe how space bodies (sun, moon, planets) sizes, location, and movements impact Earth’s natural systems (tides, weather, seasons, night/day, etc.).