3) Appendix: Correlation With New York Sate Learning Standards

• 1.1c Science provides knowledge, but values are also essential to making effective and
• ethical decisions about the application of scientific knowledge.

• 1.2a Inquiry involves asking questions and locating, interpreting, and processing information from a variety of sources.
• 1.2b Inquiry involves making judgments about the reliability of the source and relevance of information.

• 1.4a Well-accepted theories are ones that are supported by different kinds of scientific investigations often involving the contributions of individuals from different disciplines.

• 2.2a Development of a research plan involves researching background information and understanding the major concepts in the area being investigated. Recommendations for methodologies, use of technologies, proper equipment, and safety precautions should also be included.

• 2.3a Hypotheses are predictions based upon both research and observation.
• 2.3b Hypotheses are widely used in science for determining what data to collect and as a guide for interpreting the data.
• 2.3c Development of a research plan for testing a hypothesis requires planning to avoid bias (e.g., repeated trials, large sample size, and objective data-collection techniques).

• 3.1a Interpretation of data leads to development of additional hypotheses, the formulation of generalizations, or explanations of natural phenomena.

• 3.4a Hypotheses are valuable, even if they turn out not to be true, because they may lead to further investigation.
• 3.4b Claims should be questioned if the data are based on samples that are very small, biased, or inadequately controlled or if the conclusions are based on the faulty, incomplete, or misleading use of numbers.
• 3.4c Claims should be questioned if fact and opinion are intermingled, if adequate evidence is not cited, or if the conclusions do not follow logically from the evidence given.

• 3.5b Scientists use peer review to evaluate the results of scientific investigations and the explanations proposed by other scientists. They analyze the experimental procedures, examine the evidence, identify faulty reasoning, point out statements that go beyond the evidence, and suggest alternative explanations for the same observations.

• 1.1a Populations can be categorized by the function they serve. Food webs identify the relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers carrying out either autotropic or heterotropic nutrition.
• 1.1b An ecosystem is shaped by the nonliving environment as well as its interacting species. The world contains a wide diversity of physical conditions, which creates a variety of environments.
• 1.1c In all environments, organisms compete for vital resources. The linked and changing interactions of populations and the environment compose the total ecosystem.
• 1.1d The interdependence of organisms in an established ecosystem often results in approximate stability over hundreds and thousands of years. For example, as one population increases, it is held in check by one or more environmental factors or another species.
• 1.1e Ecosystems, like many other complex systems, tend to show cyclic changes around a state of approximate equilibrium.
• 1.1f Every population is linked, directly or indirectly, with many others in an ecosystem. Disruptions in the numbers and types of species and environmental changes can upset ecosystem stability.

3.1f Species evolve over time. Evolution is the consequence of the interactions of (1) the potential for a species to increase its numbers, (2) the genetic variability of offspring due to mutation and recombination of genes, (3) a finite supply of the resources required for life, and (4) the ensuing selection by the environment of those offspring better able to survive and leave offspring.

3.1h The variation of organisms within a species increases the likelihood that at least some members of the species will survive under changed environmental conditions.

3.1l Extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the adaptive
characteristics of a species are insufficient to allow its survival. Fossils indicate that
many organisms that lived long ago are extinct. Extinction of species is common; most of the species that have lived on Earth no longer exist.

• 6.1a Energy flows through ecosystems in one direction, typically from the Sun, through photosynthetic organisms including green plants and algae, to herbivores to carnivores and decomposers.
• 6.1b The atoms and molecules on the Earth cycle among the living and nonliving components of the biosphere. For example, carbon dioxide and water molecules used in photosynthesis to form energy-rich organic compounds are returned to the environment when the energy in these compounds is eventually released by cells. Continual input of energy from sunlight keeps the process going. This concept may be illustrated with an energy pyramid.
• 6.1c The chemical elements, such as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, that make up the molecules of living things pass through food webs and are combined and recombined in different ways. At each link in a food web, some energy is stored in newly made structures but much is dissipated into the environment as heat.
  
• 6.1d The number of organisms any habitat can support (carrying capacity) is limited by the available energy, water, oxygen, and minerals, and by the ability of ecosystems to recycle the residue of dead organisms through the activities of bacteria and fungi.
  
• 6.1e In any particular environment, the growth and survival of organisms depend on
  the physical conditions including light intensity, temperature range, mineral availability, soil/rock type, and relative acidity (pH).
• 6.1f Living organisms have the capacity to produce populations of unlimited size, but
  environments and resources are finite. This has profound effects on the interactions among organisms.
• 6.1g Relationships between organisms may be negative, neutral, or positive. Some organisms may interact with one another in several ways. They may be in a producer/consumer, predator/prey, or parasite/host relationship; or one organism may cause disease in, scavenge, or decompose another.
  

• 6.2a As a result of evolutionary processes, there is a diversity of organisms and roles in ecosystems. This diversity of species increases the chance that at least some will survive in the face of large environmental changes. Biodiversity increases the stability of the ecosystem.
• 6.2b Biodiversity also ensures the availability of a rich variety of genetic material that may lead to future agricultural or medical discoveries with significant value to humankind. As diversity is lost, potential sources of these materials may be lost with it.

• 6.3a The interrelationships and interdependencies of organisms affect the development of stable ecosystems.
• 6.3b Through ecological succession, all ecosystems progress through a sequence of changes during which one ecological community modifies the environment, making it more suitable for another community. These long-term gradual changes result in the community reaching a point of stability that can last for hundreds or thousands of years.
• 6.3c A stable ecosystem can be altered, either rapidly or slowly, through the activities of organisms (including humans), or through climatic changes or natural disasters. The altered ecosystem can usually recover through gradual changes back to a point of longterm stability.

• 7.1b Natural ecosystems provide an array of basic processes that affect humans. Those processes include but are not limited to: maintenance of the quality of the atmosphere, generation of soils, control of the water cycle, removal of wastes, energy flow, and recycling of nutrients. Humans are changing many of these basic processes and the changes may be detrimental.
• 7.1c Human beings are part of the EarthÕs ecosystems. Human activities can, deliberately or inadvertently, alter the equilibrium in ecosystems. Humans modify ecosystems as a result of population growth, consumption, and technology. Human destruction of habitats through direct harvesting, pollution, atmospheric changes, and other factors is threatening current global stability, and if not addressed, ecosystems may be irreversibly affected.

• 7.2a Human activities that degrade ecosystems result in a loss of diversity of the living and nonliving environment. For example, the influence of humans on other organisms occurs through land use and pollution. Land use decreases the space and resources available to other species, and pollution changes the chemical composition of air, soil, and water.
• 7.2b When humans alter ecosystems either by adding or removing specific organisms, serious consequences may result. For example, planting large expanses of one crop reduces the biodiversity of the area.
• 7.2c Industrialization brings an increased demand for and use of energy and other resources including fossil and nuclear fuels. This usage can have positive and negative effects on humans and ecosystems.

• 7.3a Societies must decide on proposals which involve the introduction of new technologies. Individuals need to make decisions which will assess risks, costs, benefits, and trade-offs.
• 7.3b The decisions of one generation both provide and limit the range of possibilities open to the next generation.

English Language Arts: Standard 1: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.

Key idea: As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas, discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.

Performance Indicators:

• interpret and analyze complex informational texts and presentations, including technical manuals, professional journals, newspaper and broadcast editorials, electronic networks, political speeches and debates, and primary source material in their subject area courses

• synthesize information from diverse sources and identify complexities and discrepancies in the information
  

• make distinctions about the relative value and significance of specific data, facts, and ideas

• Use both primary and secondary sources of information for research

• Select and limit topics for informational writing, with assistance

• Analyze data and facts to communicate information

• Apply new information in different contexts and situations

• Use paraphrase and quotation in order to communicate information most effectively

• Prepare and give presentations on a range of informational topics

• determine the relative value of different reference materials for a particular research question.

• write a report of a scientific inquiry that observes the conventions of scientific writing, the rules of evidence, and the correct usage of technical terms

English Language Arts: Standard 3: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and evaluation

Key idea: As listeners and readers, students will analyze experiences, ideas, information, and issues presented

by others using a variety of established criteria.

Performance Indicators:

• Analyze and evaluate nonfiction texts to determine the significance and reliability of information and focus on key words/phrases that signal that the text is heading in a particular direction

• Analyze a variety of texts using resources such as knowledge from school subjects, readings, and personal

  experiences

• Use visuals and technology to enhance presentation

• Ask and respond to questions to seek clarity

English Language Arts: Standard 4: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction.

Key idea: Students will use oral and written language for effective social communication with a wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the social communications of others to enrich their understanding of people and their views.

Performance Indicators:

• engage in conversations and discussions on academic, technical, and community subjects, anticipating listeners’ needs and skillfully addressing them

• make effective use of language and style to connect message with the audience and context

• express their thoughts and views clearly with attention to the perspectives and voiced concerns of the others in the conversation

• Speaking informally with familiar and unfamiliar people, individually and in group settings

• Select language and behavior appropriate to the purpose, occasion, and listener