The content objectives and classroom connectors on this page were written by selected Tennessee teachers of science and are congruent with the CE/CE Content Topics listed for Second Grade Science. In addition, Standards and Benchmarks have been added to each classroom connector in compliance with the Four Components of Science Education derived from a unique curricular concept. The grade level presentations prepared by the CE/CE represent one of many ways the classroom connectors can be organized.

GOAL: To develop an understanding of the interdependence of all organisms and the need for conserving natural resources

• National Science Education Standards' Content Standards, Content Topics, and Rationale
  • CE/CE Concepts and CE/CE Content Objectives Based on CE/CE Content Topics as Defined by NSES Rationale

NSES Content Standard

• Science and Technology K-4

• Abilities to distinguish between natural objects and objects made by humans

  Some objects occur in nature while others have been designed and made by people to solve human problems.

  Objects can be categorized into two groups, natural and designed.

• Science and Technology K-4

• Abilities of technological design

  Identify a simple problem. In problem identification, children should develop the ability to explain a problem in their own words and identify a specific task and solution related to the problem.

  Propose a solution. Students should make proposals to build something or get something to work better; they should be able to describe and communicate their ideas. Students should recognize that designing a solution may have constraints, such as cost, materials time, space, and safety.

  Implementing proposed solutions. Children should develop abilities to work individually and collaboratively, and to use suitable tools, techniques, and quantitative measurements where appropriate. Students should demonstrate the ability to balance simple constraints in problem solving.

  Evaluate a product or design. Students should evaluate their results or solutions to problems, and those of other children, by considering how well they meet the challenge to solve the problem. When possible, they should use measurements and include constraints and other criteria in their evaluation. Students should modify the design based on the results of the evaluation.

  Communicate a problem, design, and solution. Student abilities should include oral, written, and pictorial communication of both the design process and product. The communication may take the form of show and tell, group discussions, short written reports, or pictures depending on the students' abilities and the design project.

• Science and Technology K-4

• Understanding about science and technology

  Tools help scientists make better observations, measurements, and equipment for investigations. They help scientists see, measure, and do things that they could not otherwise see, measure and do.

  People have always had problems and invented tools and techniques (ways of doing something) to solve problems. Trying to determine the effects of solution helps people avoid some new problems.

• Science in Personal and Social perspectives K-4

• Science and technology in local challenges

  People continue inventing new ways of doing things, solving problems, and getting work done. These new ideas and inventions often affect other people, sometimes the effects are good and sometimes they are bad. It is helpful to try and figure out ahead of time how ideas and inventions will affect other people.

  CE/CE Concept A:

  • Machines use energy to make work easier.

  CE/CE Content Objectives:

  • 3A1

    To understand the scientific meaning of work

  • 3A2

    To understand the types of simple machines and how they use energy

  • 3A3

    To understand the occurrence of friction

  • 3A4

    To understand force and how it can be applied

  • 3A5

    To understand the importance of safety in the use of machines

NSES Content Standard

• Physical Science K-4

• Properties of objects and materials

  Objects have many observable properties, including size, weight, shape, color, temperature, and the ability to react with other substances. These properties can be measured using tools such as rulers, balances, and thermometers.

  Objects are made of one or more materials, such as paper, wood, and metal. -Objects can be described by the properties of the materials from which they are made, and these properties can be used to separate or sort a group of objects or materials.

  Materials have different states - solid, liquid, and gas. Some common materials such as water can be changed from one state to another by heating or cooling.

CE/CE Concept Da:
• All matter is made up of atoms in constant motion.

CE/CE Content Objectives:

• 3D1

  To understand the basic components of matter

CE/CE Concept Db:
• Solids, liquids, and gases have identifying properties.

CE/CE Content Objectives:

• 3D2

  To understand the properties of the three states of matter

CE/CE Concept Dc:
• Matter undergoes physical and chemical changes.

CE/CE Content Objectives:

• 3D3

  To understand physical and chemical changes in matter

NSES Content Standard

• Life Science K-4

• The characteristics of organisms

  Plants require air, water and light.

  Each plant or animal has different structures which serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction. For example, humans have distinct structures of the body for walking, holding, seeing, and talking.

• Life Science K-4

• Life Cycles of organisms

  Plants and animals have life cycles that include being born, developing into adults, reproducing, and eventually dying. The details of this life cycle are different for different organisms.

  Plants and animals closely resemble their parents.

  Many characteristics of an organism are inherited from the parents of the organism, but other characteristics result from, an individual's interactions with the environment. Inherited characteristic include the color of flowers and the number of limbs of an animal. Other features such as the ability to play a musical instrument, are learned through interactions with the environment.

• Life Science K-4

• Organisms and their environments

  All animals depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food. Other animals eat animals that eat the plants.

CE/CE Concept Fa:
• Living things are composed of one or more cells.

CE/CE Content Objectives:

• 3F1

  To recognize the basic parts of a plant

TN Concept Fb:
• Plants reproduce and grow in various ways.

TN Content Objectives:

• 3F2

  To understand the functions of the parts of a flowering plant

• 3F3

  To understand how flowering plants reproduce

• 3F4

  To understand environmental factors which affect plant growth and how plants adapt to the environment

CE/CE Concept Fc:
• A plant's growth is influenced by the environment.

CE/CE Content Objectives:

• 3F5

  To understand how green plants make and store their own food

NSES Content Standard

• Life Science K-4

• The characteristics of organisms

  Each plant or animal has different structures which serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction. For example, humans have distinct structures of the body for walking, holding, seeing, and talking.

• Science in Personal and Social perspectives K-4

• Personal health

  Different substances can damage the body and how it functions. Such substances include tobacco, alcohol, over-the-counter medicines, and illicit drugs. Students should understand that some substances such as prescription drugs can be beneficial but that any substance can be harmful.

CE/CE Concept G:
• The human body is supported and protected by various body systems.

CE/CE Content Objectives:

• 3G1

  To understand the function, growth, and development of various body systems

• 3G2

  To understand the importance of personal hygiene in maintaining healthy body systems

NSES Content Standard

• Life Science K-4

• Organisms and their environments

  All animals depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food. Other animals eat animals that eat the plants.

  An organism's patterns of behavior are related to the nature of that organism's environment, including the kinds and numbers of other organisms present, the availability of food and resources, and the physical characteristics of the environment. When the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce, and others die or move to new locations.

  All organisms cause changes in the environment where they live. Some of these changes are detrimental to themselves or other organisms, whereas others are beneficial.

  Humans depend on both their natural and their constructed environment. -Humans change environments in ways that can either be beneficial or detrimental for other organisms, including the humans themselves.

CE/CE Concept H:
• The habitat is the environment in which particular organisms live.

CE/CE Content Objectives:

• 3H1

  To understand the basic concept of habitat and how habitats can be preserved

NSES Content Standard

• Science in Personal and Social perspectives K-4

• Types of resources

  Resources include those things that we get from the living and nonliving environment to meet the needs and wants of a population.

  Some resources include basic materials, such as air, water, and soil; some are produced from basic resources, such as food, fuel, and building materials; and some resources are nonmaterial, such as quiet places, beauty, security, and safety.

  The supply of many resources is limited. If used, those materials can be extended through recycling and decreased use.

• Science in Personal and Social perspectives K-4

• Changes in environments

  Environments include the space, conditions, and factors that affect individual's and population's ability to survive and quality of life.

  Changes in environments can be natural or influenced by humans. Some changes are good, some neither good nor bad, and some are bad. Pollution is a change in the environment that can influence the health, survival, or activities of organisms, including humans.

  Some environmental changes occur slowly, and others occur rapidly. -Students should understand the differences and consequences of changing environments in small increments over long periods of time and changes that occur in large increments in short periods.

CE/CE Concept Ia:
• Living things are affected by changes in the environment.

CE/CE Content Objectives:

• 3I1

  To understand the effect of environmental change on inhabitants

CE/CE Concept Ib:
• Energy is often wasted in the home and community.

CE/CE Content Objectives:

• 3I2

  To understand how energy is wasted and how it can be conserved

NSES Content Standard

• Earth and Space Science K-4

• Objects in the sky

  The sun, moon, stars, clouds, birds, and airplanes all have properties, locations, and movements that can be described and that may change.

  Objects in the sky have patters of movement. The Sun, for example, appears to move across the sky in the same way every day, but its path changes slowly over the seasons. The moon moves across the sky on a daily basis much like the sun. The shape of the moon seems to change from day to day in a cycle that lasts about a month.

  The sun provides the light and heat necessary to maintain the temperature of the Earth.

CE/CE Concept Ja:
• Our solar system is composed of many objects which revolve around a star.

CE/CE Content Objectives:

• 3J1

  To understand the composition of our solar system including the similarities and differences among planets

• 3J2

  To understand the earth-sun-moon relationship

CE/CE Concept Jb:
• Day and night result from the rotation of the earth.

CE/CE Content Objectives:

• 3J3

  To understand the relationship of the earth and sun in changing from day to night

NSES Content Standard

• Earth and Space Science K-4

• Properties of Earth materials

  Earth materials are solid rocks and soils, liquid water, and the gases of the atmosphere. These varied materials have different physical and chemical properties. These properties make them useful, for example, as building materials, as sources of fuel, or for growing the plants we use as food.

  Earth materials provide many of the resources humans use.

  Soils have properties of color and texture, capacity to retain water and ability to support the growth of many kinds of plants, including those in our food supply. Other Earth materials are used to construct buildings, make plastics and provide fuel for generating electricity and operating cars and trucks.

  The surface of the Earth changes. Some changes are due to slow processes, such as erosion and weathering, and some changes are due to rapid processes such as landslides, volcanoes, and earthquakes.

  Fossils provide evidence about the plants and animals that lived long ago and nature of the environment at that time.

CE/CE Concept L:
• Rocks and soil move through a continuous cycle.

CE/CE Content Objectives:

• 3L1

  To understand some living and non-living components of soil

• 3L2

  To understand the different kinds of soil

• 3L3

  To understand the various kinds of rocks and how they are formed

• 3L4

  To understand the rock-soil cycle

• 3L5

  To understand factors which cause changes in the earth's surface

For more information please contact the CE/CE Online

This is the time this file has been accessed since 12/20/95.

The University of Tennessee at Martin is not responsible for the information or views expressed here.

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