Strange Matter: Curriculum Connections

Experience Strange Matter!

Use the first chart to connect your Strange Matter school visit with the National Science Education Standards (U.S.). Further down the page are curriculum connections for Ontario teachers.

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS for Strange Matter Exhibits based on the National Science Education Standards
Science As Inquiry, Content Standard A: Grades 5-8: Understandings About Scientific Inquiry	Different kinds of questions suggest different kinds of scientific investigations. Some investigations involve observing and describing objects, organisms, or events; some involve collecting specimens; some involve experiment; some involve seeking more information; some involve discovery of new objects and phenomena; and some involve making models.	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Physical Science, Content Standard B: Grades 5-8: Properties And Changes Of Properties In Matter	A substance has characteristic properties, such as density, a boiling point, and solubility, all of which are independent of the amount of the sample. A mixture of substances often can be separated into the original substances using one or more of the characteristic properties.	•							•	•	•
Physical Science, Content Standard B: Grades 5-8: Transfer Of Energy	Energy is a property of many substances and is associated with heat, light, electricity, mechanical motion, sound, nuclei, and the nature of a chemical. Energy is transferred in many ways.		•	•	•		•	•	•		•
Physical Science, Content Standard B: Grades 5-8: Properties And Changes Of Properties In Matter	Substances react chemically in characteristic ways with other substances to form new substances (compounds) with different characteristic properties. In chemical reactions, the total mass is conserved. Substances often are placed in categories or groups if they react in similar ways; metals is an example of such a group.	•	•	•	•			•	•
Physical Science, Content Standard B: Grades 5-8: Motions And Forces	The motion of an object can be described by its position, direction of motion, and speed. That motion can be measured and represented on a graph.		•	•			•
Science And Technology, Content Standard E: Grades 5-8: Understandings About Science And Technology	Scientific inquiry and technological design have similarities and differences. Scientists propose explanations for questions about the natural world, and engineers propose solutions relating to human problems, needs, and aspirations technological solutions are temporary; technologies exist within nature and so they cannot contravene physical or biological principles; technological solutions have side effects; and technologies cost, carry risks, and provide benefits.	•	•	•	•	•	•			•		•
Science And Technology, Content Standard E: Grades 5-8: Understandings About Science And Technology	Technological designs have constraints. Some constraints are unavoidable, for example, properties of materials, or effects of weather and friction; other constraints limit choices in the design, for example, environmental protection, human safety, and aesthetics.	•	•	•	•			•	•	•	•	•
Science In Personal And Social Perspectives, Content Standard F: Grades 5-8: Science And Technology In Society	Science influences society through its knowledge and world view. Scientific knowledge and the procedures used by scientists influence the way many individuals in society think about themselves, others, and the environment. The effect of science on society is neither entirely beneficial nor entirely detrimental.											•
Science In Personal And Social Perspectives, Content Standard F: Grades 5-8: Science And Technology In Society	Societal challenges often inspire questions for scientific research, and social priorities often influence research priorities through the availability of funding for research.											•
Science In Personal And Social Perspectives, Content Standard F: Grades 5-8: Science And Technology In Society	Technology influences society through its products and processes. Technology influences the quality of life and the ways people act and interact. Technological changes are often accompanied by social, political, and economic changes that can be beneficial or detrimental to individuals and to society. Social needs, attitudes, and values influence the direction of technological development.	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Science In Personal And Social Perspectives, Content Standard F: Grades 5-8: Science And Technology In Society	Science and technology have advanced through contributions of many different people, in different cultures, at different times in history. Science and technology have contributed enormously to economic growth and productivity among societies and groups within societies.											•
History And Nature Of Science, Content Standard G: Grades 5-8: Science As A Human Endeavor	Science requires different abilities, depending on such factors as the field of study and type of inquiry. Science is very much a human endeavor, and the work of science relies on basic human qualities, such as reasoning, insight, energy, skill, and creativity – as well as on scientific habits of mind, such as intellectual honesty, tolerance of ambiguity, skepticism, and openness to new ideas.											•
History And Nature Of Science, Content Standard G: Grades 5-8: Nature Of Science	Scientists formulate and test their explanations of nature using observation, experiments, and theoretical and mathematical models. Although all scientific ideas are tentative and subject to change and improvement in principle, for most major ideas in science there is much experimental and observational confirmation. Those ideas are not likely to change greatly in the future. Scientists do and have changed their ideas about nature when they encounter new experimental evidence that does not match their existing explanations.	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
History And Nature Of Science, Content Standard G: Grades 5-8: Nature Of Science	It is part of scientific inquiry to evaluate the results of scientific investigations, experiments, observations, theoretical models, and the explanations proposed by other scientists. Evaluation includes reviewing the experimental procedures, examining the evidence, identifying faulty reasoning, pointing out statements that go beyond the evidence, and suggesting alternative explanations for the same observations. Although scientists may disagree about explanations of phenomena, about interpretations of data, or about the value of rival theories, they do agree that questioning, response to criticism, and open communication are integral to the process of science. As scientific knowledge evolves, major disagreements are eventually resolved through such interactions between scientists.	•	•	•	•			•	•			•

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS for Strange Matter Exhibits based on The Ontario Curriculum (Grades 1-8): Science and Technology Strand: Matter and Materials
Grade Three: Magnetic and Charged Materials	• demonstrate an understanding of the properties of materials that can be magnetized or charged and of how materials are affected by magnets or static electric charges	•					•					•
	• identify and describe, using their observations, ways in which static electric charges are made in everyday materials, as well as different types of interactions that take place both between charged materials and between magnetized materials	•
	• identify familiar uses of magnets and give examples of static electric charges that are created in the home or at school	•										•
Grade Four: Materials that Transmit, Reflect, or Absorb Light or Sound	• demonstrate understanding that certain materials can transmit, reflect, or absorb light or sound			•		•	•	•
	• investigate materials that transmit, reflect, or absorb light or sound and use their findings in designing objects and choosing materials from which to construct them			•			•
	• explain why materials that transmit, reflect, or absorb light and/or sound are used in a variety of consumer products			•		•	•
Grade Five: Properties of and Changes in Matter	• demonstrate an understanding of the three states of matter and of changes in state	•					•		•
	• investigate common changes of state (e.g., melting, freezing, condensing, evaporating) and make informed choices about materials when finding solutions to problems in designing and constructing objects	•					•		•
	• identify the properties that make different materials useful in everyday products and discuss the environmental impact of their use	•	•	•		•	•	•				•
Grade Six: Properties of Air and Characteristics of Flight	• demonstrate an understanding of the properties of air (e.g., air and other gases have mass) and explain how these can be applied to the principles of flight							•
Grade Seven: Pure Substances and Mixtures	• demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics of mechanical mixtures (heterogeneous) and solutions (homogeneous) and describe these characteristics using a scientific model (the particle theory)	•	•	•		•	•	•	•	•	•
	• investigate properties of different kinds of mechanical mixtures and solutions that make them useful in manufacturing products for particular purposes	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
	• identify human uses of mixtures and solutions in everyday life, and evaluate the environmental impact of some of these uses	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Grade Eight: Fluids	• demonstrate an understanding of the properties (e.g., viscosity) and the buoyant force of fluids	•					•	•
	• investigate the buoyant force and other properties (e.g., viscosity) of fluids, and design and construct pneumatic or hydraulic systems that solve a problem in a given situation	•					•
	• describe how knowledge of the properties of fluids can help us to understand and influence organisms in the natural world, and to design and operate technological devices and to evaluate how efficiently different devices make use of these properties	•					•
Grade Eight: Optics (Under the "Energy and Control" strand)	• investigate the properties of visible light, including the effects of reflection and refraction, and recognize how these properties are used in optical devices			•	•	•				•
	• describe ways in which different sources of visible light and the properties of light, both natural and artificial, are used by humans for different purposes			•	•	•				•