SPACE EXPLORATION
Standards
TAG Advanced Communication Skills
• Use written, spoken, and technological media to convey new learning or challenge existing ideas.
• Produce written and/or oral work that is complex, purposeful, and organized, includes relevant supporting examples and manipulation of language.
• Create products and/or presentations that synthesize information from diverse sources and communicate expertise to a variety of authentic audiences.
• Use a variety of multi‐media and innovative technology to create illustrations, models, charts, tables, and graphs as tools for communication.
• Apply interviewing techniques for a variety of purposes.
• Anticipate and address potential misunderstandings, biases, and expectations in communication with others.
• Respond to contributions of others, considering all available information.
• Participate in small group discussions to argue persuasively or reinforce others’ good points.
• Maintain a journal or log for self‐reflection and/or self‐evaluation.
• Support and defend one’s own opinions while respecting the opinions of others.
TAG Creative Thinking & Creative Problem Solving
• Question accepted practices, rules, and existing principles to discover new knowledge.
• Design, apply, evaluate, and adapt a variety of innovative strategies when problem solving (e.g., recognizes problems, defines problems, identifies possible solutions, selects optimal solution, implements solution, and evaluates solution).
• Incorporate brainstorming and other idea‐generating techniques (synectics, SCAMPER, etc.) to solve problems or create new products.
• Demonstrate skills in fluency and flexibility to solve problems or create new products.
• Develop original ideas, presentations, or products through synthesis and evaluation.
• Clarify, illustrate, or elaborate on an idea for product improvement.
• Use analogies, metaphors, illustrations, and/or models to explain complex concepts.
• Tolerate ambiguity when solving problems.
• Recognize and assume risks as a necessary part of problem solving.
• Monitor and reflect on the creative process of problem solving for future applications.
TAG Advanced Research Skills
• Use a variety of print and non‐print resources to investigate a topic of interest.
• Formulate original and appropriate questions to test the limits of an existing body of knowledge.
• Use concepts within and across disciplines to develop valid hypotheses, thesis statements, or alternative interpretations of data.
Science Content Standards
S4E1. Students will compare and contrast the physical attributes of stars, star pattern
and planets.
a. Recognize the physical attributes of stars in the night sky such as number, size, color and pa
b. Compare the similarities and differences of planets to the stars in appearance, position, and motion in the night sky.
c. Explain why the pattern of stars in a constellation stays the same, but a planet can be seen in different locations at different times.
d. Identify how technology is used to observe distant objects in the sky.
S4E2. Students will model the position and motion of the earth in the solar system and
explain the role of relative position and motion in determining sequence of the phases
of the moon.
a. Explain the day/night cycle of the earth using a model.
b. Explain the sequence of the phases of the moon.
c. Demonstrate the revolution of the earth around the sun and the earth’s tilt to explain the seas changes.
d. Demonstrate the relative size and order from the sun of the planets in the solar system.
S4P3. Students will demonstrate the relationship between the application of a force and the
resulting change in position and motion on an object.
a. Identify simple machines and explain their uses (lever, pulley, wedge, inclined plane, screw, and axle).
b. Using different size objects, observe how force affects speed and motion.
c. Explain what happens to the speed or direction of an object when a greater force than the initial force is applied.
d. Demonstrate the effect of gravitational force on the motion of an object.
S4L2. Students will identify factors that affect the survival or extinction of organisms
as adaptation, variation of behaviors (hibernation), and external features
(camouflage and protection).
a. Identify external features of organisms that allow them to survive or reproduce better than
organisms that do not have these features (for example: camouflage, hibernation, protection,
b. Identify factors that may have led to the extinction of some organisms.
Science Characteristics Standards
S4CS1. Students will be aware of the importance of curiosity, honesty, openness, and
skepticism in science and will exhibit these traits in their own efforts to understand h
world works.
b. Carefully distinguish observations from ideas and speculation about those observations.
c. Offer reasons for findings and consider reasons suggested by others.
S4CS4. Students will use ideas of system, model, change, and scale in exploring scient
and technological matters.
a. Observe and describe how parts influence one another in things with many parts.
b. Use geometric figures, number sequences, graphs, diagrams, sketches, number lines, maps, stories to represent corresponding features of objects, events, and processes in the real world Identify ways in which the representations do not match their original counterparts.
c. Identify patterns of change in things—such as steady, repetitive, or irregular change—using tables, or graphs of measurements where appropriate.
S4CS5. Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly.
b. Make sketches to aid in explaining scientific procedures or ideas.
c. Use numerical data in describing and comparing objects and events.
d. Locate scientific information in reference books, back issues of newspapers and magazines, CD-ROMs, and computer databases.
S4CS6. Students will question scientific claims and arguments effectively.
a. Support statements with facts found in books, articles, and databases, and identify the source
b. Identify when comparisons might not be fair because some conditions are different.
S4CS8. Students will understand important features of the process of scientific inquiry
Students will apply the following to inquiry learning practices:
a. Scientific investigations may take many different forms, including observing what things are what is happening somewhere, collecting specimens for analysis, and doing experiments.
b. Clear and active communication is an essential part of doing science. It enables scientists to others about their work, expose their ideas to criticism by other scientists, and stay informed scientific discoveries around the world.
c. Scientists use technology to increase their power to observe things and to measure and compare things accurately.
d. Science involves many different kinds of work and engages men and women of all ages and b
Standards
TAG Advanced Communication Skills
• Use written, spoken, and technological media to convey new learning or challenge existing ideas.
• Produce written and/or oral work that is complex, purposeful, and organized, includes relevant supporting examples and manipulation of language.
• Create products and/or presentations that synthesize information from diverse sources and communicate expertise to a variety of authentic audiences.
• Use a variety of multi‐media and innovative technology to create illustrations, models, charts, tables, and graphs as tools for communication.
• Apply interviewing techniques for a variety of purposes.
• Anticipate and address potential misunderstandings, biases, and expectations in communication with others.
• Respond to contributions of others, considering all available information.
• Participate in small group discussions to argue persuasively or reinforce others’ good points.
• Maintain a journal or log for self‐reflection and/or self‐evaluation.
• Support and defend one’s own opinions while respecting the opinions of others.
TAG Creative Thinking & Creative Problem Solving
• Question accepted practices, rules, and existing principles to discover new knowledge.
• Design, apply, evaluate, and adapt a variety of innovative strategies when problem solving (e.g., recognizes problems, defines problems, identifies possible solutions, selects optimal solution, implements solution, and evaluates solution).
• Incorporate brainstorming and other idea‐generating techniques (synectics, SCAMPER, etc.) to solve problems or create new products.
• Demonstrate skills in fluency and flexibility to solve problems or create new products.
• Develop original ideas, presentations, or products through synthesis and evaluation.
• Clarify, illustrate, or elaborate on an idea for product improvement.
• Use analogies, metaphors, illustrations, and/or models to explain complex concepts.
• Tolerate ambiguity when solving problems.
• Recognize and assume risks as a necessary part of problem solving.
• Monitor and reflect on the creative process of problem solving for future applications.
TAG Advanced Research Skills
• Use a variety of print and non‐print resources to investigate a topic of interest.
• Formulate original and appropriate questions to test the limits of an existing body of knowledge.
• Use concepts within and across disciplines to develop valid hypotheses, thesis statements, or alternative interpretations of data.
Science Content Standards
S4E1. Students will compare and contrast the physical attributes of stars, star pattern
and planets.
a. Recognize the physical attributes of stars in the night sky such as number, size, color and pa
b. Compare the similarities and differences of planets to the stars in appearance, position, and motion in the night sky.
c. Explain why the pattern of stars in a constellation stays the same, but a planet can be seen in different locations at different times.
d. Identify how technology is used to observe distant objects in the sky.
S4E2. Students will model the position and motion of the earth in the solar system and
explain the role of relative position and motion in determining sequence of the phases
of the moon.
a. Explain the day/night cycle of the earth using a model.
b. Explain the sequence of the phases of the moon.
c. Demonstrate the revolution of the earth around the sun and the earth’s tilt to explain the seas changes.
d. Demonstrate the relative size and order from the sun of the planets in the solar system.
S4P3. Students will demonstrate the relationship between the application of a force and the
resulting change in position and motion on an object.
a. Identify simple machines and explain their uses (lever, pulley, wedge, inclined plane, screw, and axle).
b. Using different size objects, observe how force affects speed and motion.
c. Explain what happens to the speed or direction of an object when a greater force than the initial force is applied.
d. Demonstrate the effect of gravitational force on the motion of an object.
S4L2. Students will identify factors that affect the survival or extinction of organisms
as adaptation, variation of behaviors (hibernation), and external features
(camouflage and protection).
a. Identify external features of organisms that allow them to survive or reproduce better than
organisms that do not have these features (for example: camouflage, hibernation, protection,
b. Identify factors that may have led to the extinction of some organisms.
Science Characteristics Standards
S4CS1. Students will be aware of the importance of curiosity, honesty, openness, and
skepticism in science and will exhibit these traits in their own efforts to understand h
world works.
b. Carefully distinguish observations from ideas and speculation about those observations.
c. Offer reasons for findings and consider reasons suggested by others.
S4CS4. Students will use ideas of system, model, change, and scale in exploring scient
and technological matters.
a. Observe and describe how parts influence one another in things with many parts.
b. Use geometric figures, number sequences, graphs, diagrams, sketches, number lines, maps, stories to represent corresponding features of objects, events, and processes in the real world Identify ways in which the representations do not match their original counterparts.
c. Identify patterns of change in things—such as steady, repetitive, or irregular change—using tables, or graphs of measurements where appropriate.
S4CS5. Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly.
b. Make sketches to aid in explaining scientific procedures or ideas.
c. Use numerical data in describing and comparing objects and events.
d. Locate scientific information in reference books, back issues of newspapers and magazines, CD-ROMs, and computer databases.
S4CS6. Students will question scientific claims and arguments effectively.
a. Support statements with facts found in books, articles, and databases, and identify the source
b. Identify when comparisons might not be fair because some conditions are different.
S4CS8. Students will understand important features of the process of scientific inquiry
Students will apply the following to inquiry learning practices:
a. Scientific investigations may take many different forms, including observing what things are what is happening somewhere, collecting specimens for analysis, and doing experiments.
b. Clear and active communication is an essential part of doing science. It enables scientists to others about their work, expose their ideas to criticism by other scientists, and stay informed scientific discoveries around the world.
c. Scientists use technology to increase their power to observe things and to measure and compare things accurately.
d. Science involves many different kinds of work and engages men and women of all ages and b