Benchmarks for Science Literacy

• K-2: Some events in nature have a repeating pattern. The weather changes some from day to day, but things such as temperature and rain (or snow) tend to be high, low, or medium in the same months every year. Water can be a liquid or a solid and go back and forth from one form to the other. If water is turned into ice and then the ice is allowed to melt, the amount of water is the same as it was before freezing. Water left in an open container disappears, but water in a closed container does not disappear.
• 3-5: When liquid water disappears, it turns into a gas (vapor) in the air and can reappear as a liquid when cooled, or as a solid if cooled below the freezing point of water. Clouds and fog are made of tiny droplets of water. Air is a substance that surrounds us, takes up space, and whose movement we feel as wind.
• 6-8: Because the earth turns daily on an axis that is tilted on its orbit around the sun, sunlight falls more intensely on different parts of the earth during the year. The difference in the heating of the earth from the sun produces seasons and weather patterns. Climates sometimes change abruptly due to changes in earth’s crust (volcanic eruptions or meteor hitting surface of the earth). Even relatively small changes in atmospheric or ocean content can have widespread effects on climate if the change lasts long enough. Water cycling plays important role in climate patterns. Heat energy carried by ocean currents has strong influence on world’s climate. The atmosphere and oceans have limited capacity to absorb wastes and recycle materials naturally.
• 9-12: The force of gravity enables the planet to retain an adequate atmosphere and an intensity of radiation from the sun allows water to cycle between liquid and vapor. Weather (short) and climate (long) involve transfer of energy in and out of the atmosphere. Solar radiation heats the landmasses, ocean, and air. Transfer of heat energy at boundaries between atmosphere, the landmasses, and oceans result in layer of different temperatures and densities in both the ocean and atmosphere. The action of gravitational force on regions of different densities causes them to rise or fall – and such circulation, influenced by the rotation of the earth, produces winds and ocean currents.

Reference:

American Association for the Advancement of Science. 1994. Benchmarks for Science Literacy. New York: Oxford University Press. Note:  This document is also available on the web at:  http://www.project2061.org/publications/bsl/online/bolintro.htm