Ohio Academic Content Standards for Science
Benchmarks and Indicators

K-2 Science Benchmarks

By the end of the K-2 program:

Earth and Space Sciences	Life Sciences
A. Observe constant and changing patterns of objects in the day and night sky. B. Explain that living things cause changes on Earth. C. Observe, describe and measure changes in the weather, both long term and short term. D. Describe what resources are and recognize some are limited but can be extended through recycling or decreased use.	A. Discover that there are living things, non-living things and pretend things, and describe the basic needs of living things (organisms). B. Explain how organisms function and interact with their physical environment. C. Describe similarities and differences that exist among individuals of the same kind of plants and animals.

K-2 Science Benchmarks

By the end of the K-2 program:

Physical Sciences	Science and Technology
A. Discover that many objects are made of parts that have different characteristics. Describe these characteristics and recognize ways an object may change. B. Recognize that light, sound and objects move in different ways. C. Recognize sources of energy and their uses.	A. Explain why people, when building or making something, need to determine what it will be made of, how it will affect other people and the environment. B. Explain that to construct something requires planning, communication, problem solving and tools.

K-2 Science Benchmarks

By the end of the K-2 program:

Scientific Inquiry	Scientific Ways of Knowing
A. Ask a testable question. B. Design and conduct a simple investigation to explore a question. C. Gather and communicate information from careful observations and simple investigation through a variety of methods.	A. Recognize that there are different ways to carry out scientific investigations. Realize that investigations can be repeated under the same conditions with similar results and may have different explanations. B. Recognize the importance of respect for all living things. C. Recognize that diverse groups of people contribute to our understanding of the natural world.

Kindergarten

Earth and Space Sciences (K)

The Universe	1. Observe that the sun can be seen only in the daytime, but the moon can be seen sometimes at night and sometimes during the day.
Processes That Shape Earth	2. Explore that animals and plants cause changes to their surroundings. 3. Explore that sometimes change is too fast to see and sometimes change is too slow to see. 4. Observe and describe day-to-day weather changes (e.g., today is hot, yesterday we had rain). 5. Observe and describe seasonal changes in weather.

Life Sciences (K)

Characteristics and Structure of Life	1. Explore differences between living and non-living things (e.g., plant-rock). 2. Discover that stories (e.g., cartoons, movies, comics) sometimes give plants and animals characteristics they really do not have (e.g., talking flowers).
Heredity	3. Describe how plants and animals usually resemble their parents. 4. Investigate variations that exist among individuals of the same kind of plant or animal.
Diversity and Interdependence of Life	5. Investigate observable features of plants and animals that help them live in different kinds of places. 6. Investigate the habitats of many different kinds of local plants and animals and some of the ways in which animals depend on plants and each other in our community.

Physical Sciences (K)

Nature of Matter

1. Demonstrate that objects are made of parts (e.g., toys, chairs). 2. Examine and describe objects according to the materials that make up the object (e.g., wood, metal, plastic and cloth). 3. Describe and sort objects by one or more properties (e.g., size, color and shape).

Forces and Motion

4. Explore that things can be made to move in many different ways such as straight, zigzag, up and down, round and round, back and forth, or fast and slow. 5. Investigate ways to change how something is moving (e.g., push, pull).

Science and Technology (K)

Understanding Technology	1. Explore that objects can be sorted as "natural" or "man-made". 2. Explore that some materials can be used over and over again (e.g., plastic or glass containers, cardboard boxes and tubes).
Abilities To Do Technological Design	3. Explore that each kind of tool has an intended use, which can be helpful or harmful (e.g., scissors can be used to cut paper but they can also hurt you).

Scientific Inquiry (K)

Doing Scientific Inquiry

1. Ask "what if" questions. 2. Explore and pursue student-generated "what if" questions. 3. Use appropriate safety procedures when completing scientific investigations. 4. Use the five senses to make observations about the natural world. 5. Draw pictures that correctly portray features of the item being described. 6. Recognize that numbers can be used to count a collection of things. 7. Use appropriate tools and simple equipment/instruments to safely gather scientific data (e.g., magnifiers and other appropriate tools). 8. Measure the lengths of objects using non-standard methods of measurement (e.g., teddy bear counters and pennies). 9. Make pictographs and use them to describe observations and draw conclusions. 10. Make new observations when people give different descriptions for the same thing.

Scientific Ways of Knowing (K)

Nature of Science	1. Recognize that scientific investigations involve asking open-ended questions. (How? What if?) 2. Recognize that people are more likely to accept your ideas if you can give good reasons for them.
Ethical Practices	3. Interact with living things and the environment in ways that promote respect.
Science and Society	4. Demonstrate ways science is practiced by people everyday (children and adults).

Grade One

Earth and Space Sciences (1)

Earth Systems	1. Identify that resources are things that we get from the living (e.g., forests) and nonliving (e.g., minerals, water) environment and that resources are necessary to meet the needs and wants of a population. 2. Explain that the supply of many resources is limited but the supply can be extended through careful use, decreased use, reusing and/or recycling.
Processes That Shape Earth	3. Explain that all organisms cause changes in the environment where they live; the changes can be very noticeable or slightly noticeable, fast or slow (e.g., spread of grass cover slowing soil erosion, tree roots slowly breaking sidewalks).

Life Sciences (1)

Characteristics and Structure of Life

1. Explore that organisms, including people, have basic needs which include air, water, food, living space and shelter. 2. Explain that food comes from sources other than grocery stores (e.g., farm crops, farm animals, oceans, lakes and forests). 3. Explore that humans and other animals have body parts that help to seek, find and take in food when they are hungry (e.g., sharp teeth, flat teeth, good nose and sharp vision).

Diversity and Interdependence of Life

4. Investigate that animals eat plants and/or other animals for food and may also use plants or other animals for shelter and nesting. 5. Recognize that seasonal changes can influence the health, survival or activities of organisms.

Physical Sciences (1)

Nature of Matter	1. Classify objects according to the materials they are made of and their physical properties. 2. Investigate that water can change from liquid to solid or solid to liquid. 3. Explore and observe that things can be done to materials to change their properties (e.g., heating, freezing, mixing, cutting, wetting, dissolving, bending and exposing to light).
		4. Explore changes that greatly change the properties of an object (e.g., burning paper) and changes that leave the properties largely unchanged (e.g., tearing paper).
Forces and Motion		5. Explore the effects some objects have on others even when the two objects might not touch (e.g., magnets). 6. Investigate a variety of ways to make things move and what causes them to change speed, direction and/or stop.
Nature of Energy		7. Explore how energy makes things work (e.g., batteries in a toy and electricity turning fan blades). 8. Recognize that the sun is an energy source that warms the land, air and water. 9. Describe that energy can be obtained from many sources in many ways (e.g., food, gasoline, electricity or batteries).

Science and Technology (1)

Understanding Technology

1. Explore that some kinds of materials are better suited than others for making something new (e.g., the building materials used in the Three Little Pigs). 2. Explain that when trying to build something or get something to work better, it helps to follow directions and ask someone who has done it before. 3. Identify some materials that can be saved for community recycling projects (e.g., newspapers, glass and aluminum). 4. Explore ways people use energy to cook their food and warm their homes (e.g., wood, coal, natural gas and electricity). 5. Identify how people can save energy by turning things off when they are not using them (e.g., lights and motors).

Abilities To Do Technological Design

6. Investigate that tools are used to help make things and some things cannot be made without tools. 7. Explore that several steps are usually needed to make things (e.g., building with blocks). 8. Investigate that when parts are put together they can do things that they could not do by themselves (e.g., blocks, gears and wheels).

Scientific Inquiry (1)

Doing Scientific Inquiry

1. Ask "what happens when" questions. 2. Explore and pursue student-generated "what happens when" questions. 3. Use appropriate safety procedures when completing scientific investigations. 4. Work in a small group to complete an investigation and then share findings with others. 5. Create individual conclusions about group findings. 6. Use appropriate tools and simple equipment/instruments to safely gather scientific data (e.g., magnifiers, timers and simple balances and other appropriate tools). 7. Make estimates to compare familiar lengths, weights and time intervals. 8. Use oral, written and pictorial representation to communicate work. 9. Describe things as accurately as possible and compare with the observations of others.

Scientific Ways of Knowing (1)

Nature of Science	1. Discover that when a science investigation is done the same way multiple times, one can expect to get very similar results each time it is performed. 2. Demonstrate good explanations based on evidence from investigations and observations.
Science and Society	3. Explain that everybody can do science, invent things and have scientific ideas no matter where they live.

A C A D E M I C C O N T E N T S TA N D A R D S

Grade Two

Earth and Space Sciences (2)

The Universe	1. Recognize that there are more stars in the sky than anyone can easily count. 2. Observe and describe how the sun, moon and stars all appear to move slowly across the sky. 3. Observe and describe how the moon appears a little different every day but looks nearly the same again about every four weeks.
Earth Systems	4. Observe and describe that some weather changes occur throughout the day and some changes occur in a repeating seasonal pattern. 5. Describe weather by measurable quantities such as temperature and precipitation.

Life Sciences (2)

Characteristics and Structure of Life	1. Explain that animals, including people, need air, water, food, living space and shelter; plants need air, water, nutrients (e.g., minerals), living space and light to survive. 2. Identify that there are many distinct environments that support different kinds of organisms. 3. Explain why organisms can survive only in environments that meet their needs (e.g., organisms that once lived on Earth have disappeared for different reasons such as natural forces or human-caused effects).
Heredity	4. Compare similarities and differences among individuals of the same kind of plants and animals, including people.
Diversity and Interdependence of Life	5. Explain that food is a basic need of plants and animals (e.g., plants need sunlight to make food and to grow, animals eat plants and/or other animals for food, food chain) and is important because it is a source of energy (e.g., energy used to play, ride bicycles, read, etc.). 6. Investigate the different structures of plants and animals that help them live in different environments (e.g., lungs, gills, leaves and roots). 7. Compare the habitats of many different kinds of Ohio plants and animals and some of the ways animals depend on plants and each other.

8. Compare the activities of Ohio's common animals (e.g., squirrels, chipmunks, deer, butterflies, bees, ants, bats and frogs) during the different seasons by describing changes in their behaviors and body covering.

9. Compare Ohio plants during the different seasons by describing changes in their appearance.

Physical Sciences (2)

Forces and Motion

1. Explore how things make sound (e.g., rubber bands, tuning fork and strings). 2. Explore and describe sounds (e.g., high, low, soft and loud) produced by vibrating objects. 3. Explore with flashlights and shadows that light travels in a straight line until it strikes an object.

Science and Technology (2)

Understanding Technology	1. Explain that developing and using technology involves benefits and risks. 2. Investigate why people make new products or invent new ways to meet their individual wants and needs. 3. Predict how building or trying something new might affect other people and the environment.
Abilities To Do Technological Design	4. Communicate orally, pictorially, or in written form the design process used to make something.

Scientific Inquiry (2)

Doing Scientific Inquiry

1. Ask "how can I/we" questions. 2. Ask "how do you know" questions (not "why" questions) in appropriate situations and attempt to give reasonable answers when others ask questions. 3. Explore and pursue student-generated "how" questions. 4. Use appropriate safety procedures when completing scientific investigations. 5. Use evidence to develop explanations of scientific investigations. (What do you think? How do you know?)

6. Recognize that explanations are generated in response to observations, events and phenomena.

7. Use appropriate tools and simple equipment/instruments to safely gather scientific data (e.g., magnifiers, non-breakable thermometers, timers, rulers, balances and calculators and other appropriate tools).

8. Measure properties of objects using tools such as rulers, balances and thermometers.

9. Use whole numbers to order, count, identify, measure and describe things and experiences.

10. Share explanations with others to provide opportunities to ask questions, examine evidence and suggest alternative explanations.

Scientific Ways of Knowing (2)

Nature of Science	1. Describe that scientific investigations generally work the same way under the same conditions. 2. Explain why scientists review and ask questions about the results of other scientists' work.
Ethical Practices	3. Describe ways in which using the solution to a problem might affect other people and the environment.
Science and Society	4. Demonstrate that in science it is helpful to work with a team and share findings with others.