Polar Bears or Penguins?
Correlations to National Science Standards
Grades K-4
Life Science - Content Standard C
Understanding the Characteristics of Organisms
- The world has many different environments, and distinct environments support the life of different types of organisms.
Earth and Space Science - Content Standard D
Structure of the Earth System
- Water, which covers the majority of the Earth's surface, circulates through the crust, oceans, and atmosphere (and cryosphere) in what is known as the "water cycle."
Understanding Organisms and Environments
- Humans depend on their natural and constructed environments. Humans change environments in ways that can be either beneficial or detrimental for themselves and other organisms.
Science and Technology - Content Standard E
Understanding about Science and Technology
- People have always had questions about their world. Science is one way of answering questions and explaining the natural world.
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives - Content Standard F
Changes in Environments
- Environments are the space, conditions, and factors that affect an individual's and a population's ability to survive and their quality of life.
National Standards for Social Studies
Early Grades
III. People, Places, and Environments
School Applications
- Stimulate learners' interest in things distant and unfamiliar and help lay the foundation for concern about the use and abuse of the physical environment.
IV. Geography
- Provide learners with experiences that give them an understanding of the characteristics and purposes of geographic representations, such as maps, globes, and satellite-produced images. Learners can be taught the location of major physical and human features in the United States and on Earth. Learners in the early grades can be introduced to the spatial dimensions of social and environmental problems.
Grades 5-8
Life Science- Content Standard C
Understanding Populations And Ecosystems
- A population consists of all individuals of a species that occur together at a given place and time. All populations living together and the physical factors with which they interact compose an ecosystem.
Earth and Space Science - Content Standard D
Understanding the Structure of the Earth System
- Water, which covers the majority of the earth's surface, circulates through the crust, oceans, and atmosphere (and cryosphere) in what is known as the "water cycle."
- Global patterns of atmospheric movement influence local weather. Oceans have a major effect on climate, because water in the oceans holds a large amount of heat.
September 30, 2009
