Science Framework: State Agencies of Education
Most state curricular guidelines differ from one another, sometimes substantially...
Links
http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/teachers_resources/index.htmlMost state curricular guidelines differ from one another, sometimes substantially.
Developing Educational Standards catalogs standards by state and by subject matter. It is updated regularly.
The New Jersey CCC, a new NSF lifelong learning project, shows links between effective models of Internet projects and core content curriculum standards in the arts, career ed, health and PE, language arts, math, science, social studies and world languages education. Billed as unofficial, the goal of this site is to enable schools to meet NJ technology grant requirements. Users can add resources to the site.
Here are some excerpts on the topic of energy from the 1990 California framework (pp.61-67, 139, 142) for grades 6-9:
When systems interact, energy is often transferred from one system to another. When energy conversion takes place, the total energy is conserved...Under nuclear conditions, when the energy of a substance is changed, its mass does not change... The unit of energy is the joule...and the basic unit of power is the watt...Conversion of energy...usually has some effect on the surroundings...Heat engines inevitably produce a certain amount amount of waste heat...Heat energy i the total kinetic and potential energy of the random motions of the particles of a substance...Energy transfers are essential to all living organisms...Heat and temperature are not the same thing but are related to one another...Heat energy can be transferred from one place to another by processes called conduction, convection, and radiation...It is possible to make heat energy flow from a cooler object to a warmer one but only at the cost of other energy...
Energy and matter are transferred among organisms...Because energy is either used by the consumer or lost to the environment as heat energy, its flow through a food chain can be represented as a pyramid...Ecosystems ...exist in a fragile balance... Pollution, which can be defined as an unnatural excess... is a primary human cause of local extinction...With careful planning humans can manage ecosystems to preserve their diversity and natural beauty, while allowing human use...
Correlating standards from a state educational agency with its complement in other government entities, such as Energy, naturally expand the available resources. Courtesy of the California Department of Energy, we learn that 1 BTU=1 Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwhich, for instance.
Annotation
Both the national and state examples demonstrate a systemic perspective towards energy and the environment. The content concepts differ slightly. A comparison of national and state benchmarks in other states could reveal more variation. Particularly, if you serve as curriculum specialist, it would be helpful to students in this era of mobile families to peruse comparisons among states so that the best mix is designed.
