High School Science NJSLS Standards

The ability to ethically integrate new technologies requires deciding whether to introduce a technology, taking into consideration local resources and the role of culture in acceptance.Consequences of technological use may be different for different groups of people and may change over time.Since technological decisions can have ethical implications, it is essential that individuals analyze issues by gathering evidence from multiple perspectives and conceiving of alternative possibilities before proposing solutions.

Ethics & Culture

Development and modification of any technological system needs to take into account how the operation of the system will affect natural resources and ecosystems.Impacts of technological systems on the environment need to be monitored and must inform decision-making.Many technologies have been designed to have a positive impact on the environment and to monitor environmental change over time.

Effects of Technology on the Natural World

Engineers use science, mathematics, and other disciplines to improve technology. Increased collaboration among engineers, scientists, and mathematicians can improve their work and designs.Technology, product, or system redesign can be more difficult than the original design.

Nature of Technology

Changes caused by the introduction and use of a new technology can range from gradual to rapid and from subtle to obvious and can change over time. These changes may vary from society to society as a result of differences in a society's economy, politics, and culture.

Decisions to develop new technology are driven by societal and cultural opinions and demands that differ from culture to culture.

Interaction of Technology and Humans

Engineering design evaluation, a process for determining how well a solution meets requirements, involves systematic comparisons between requirements, specifications, and constraints.

Engineering design is a complex process in which creativity, content knowledge, research, and analysis are used to address local and global problems.Decisions on trade-offs involve systematic comparisons of all costs and benefits, and final steps that may involve redesigning for optimization.

Engineering Design

Design Thinking

Complex programs are developed, tested, and analyzed by teams drawing on the members' diverse strengths using a variety of resources, libraries, and tools.

Complex programs are designed as a system of interacting modules, each with a specific role, coordinating for a common overall purpose. Modules allow for better management of complex tasks.

Trade-offs related to implementation, readability, and program performance are considered when selecting and combining control structures.

Programmers choose data structures to manage program complexity based on functionality, storage, and performance trade-offs.

Individuals evaluate and select algorithms based on performance, reusability, and ease of implementation.

Algorithms & Programming

The accuracy of predictions or inferences made from a computer model is affected by the amount quality, and diversity of data.

Large data sets can be transformed, generalized, simplified, and presented in different ways to influence how individuals interpret and understand the underlying information.

Choices individuals make about how and where data is organized and stored affects cost, speed, reliability, accessibility, privacy, and integrity.

Individuals select digital tools and design automated processes to collect, transform, generalize, simplify, and present large data sets in different ways to influence how other people interpret and understand the underlying information.

Data & Analysis

The design and use of computing technologies and artifacts can positively or negatively affect equitable access to information and opportunities.

Impacts of Computing

Network security depends on a combination of hardware, software, and practices that protect data while it is at rest, in transit, and in use.The needs of users and the sensitivity of data determine the elvel of security implemented. Advanced attacks take advantage of common security vulnerabilities.

The scalability and reliability of the Internet are enabled by the hierarchy and redundancy in networks.Network topology is determined by many characteristics.

Successful troubleshooting of complex problems involves multiple approaches including research, analysis, reflection, interaction with peers, and drawing on past experiences.

A computing system involves interaction among the user, hardware, application software, and system software.

The usability, dependability, security, and accessibility of devices within integrated systems are important considerations in their design as they evolve.

Computer Science

Design algorithms to solve computational problems using a combination of original and existing algorithms.

Create generalized computational solutions using collections instead of repeatedly using simple variables.

Select and combine control structures for a specific application based upon performance and readability, and identify trade-offs to justify the choice.

Design and iteratively develop computational artifacts for practical intent, personal expression, or to address a societal issue.

Decompose problems into smaller components through systematic analysis, using constructs such as procedures, modules, and/or objects.

Create artifacts by using procedures within a program, combinations of data and procedures, or independent but interrelated programs.

Collaboratively design and develop programs and artifacts for broad audiences by incorporating feedback from users.

Evaluate and refine computational artifacts to make them more usable and accessible.

Collaboratively document and present design decisions in the development of complex programs.

Computing Systems

Describe ways in which integrated systems hide underlying implementation details to simplify user experiences.

Model interactions between application software, system software, and hardware.

Compare the functions of application software, system software, and hardware.

Develop guidelines that convey systematic troubleshooting strategies that others can use to identify and fix errors.

Create interactive data visualizations using software tools to help others better understand real world phenomena, including climate change.

Describe the trade-offs in how and where data is organized and stored.

Translate between decimal numbers and binary numbers.

Explain the relationship between binary numbers and the storage and use of data in a computing device.

Create data visualizations from large data sets to summarize, communicate, and support different interpretations of real-world phenomena.

Create and refine computational models to better represent the relationships among different elements of data collected from a phenomenon or process.

Evaluate the ways computing impacts personal, ethical, social, economic, and cultural practices.

Test and refine computational artifacts ot reduce bias and equity deficits

Predict the potential impacts and implications of emerging technologies on larger social, economic, and political structures, using evidence from credible sources.

Networks and the Internet

Evaluate the scalability and reliability of networks, by describing the relationship between routers, switches, servers, topology, and addressing.

Evaluate security measures to address various common security threats.

Explain how the needs of users and the sensitivity of data determine the level of security implemented.

Explain how decisions on methods to protect data are influenced by whether the data is at rest, in transit, or in use.

Analyze controversial technological issues and determine the degree to which individuals, businesses, and governments have an ethical roles in decisions that are made.

Assess the positive and negative impacts of emerging technologies on developing countries and evaluate how individuals, non-profit organizations, and governments have responded.

Synthesize data, analyze trends, and draw conclusions regarding the effect of a technology on the individual, culture, society, and environment and share this information with the appropriate audience.

Research historical tensions between environmental and economic considerations as driven by human needs and wants in the development of a technological product and present the competing viewpoints.

Use research to design and create a product or system that addresses a problem and make modifications based on input from potential consumers.

Create scaled engineering drawings for a new product or system and make modification to increase optimization based on feedback.

Evaluate several models of the same type of product and make recommendations for a new design based on a cost benefit analysis.

Design a product or system that addresses a global problem and document decisions made based on research, constraints, trade-offs and aesthetic and ethical considerations and share this information with an appropriate audience.

Evaluate the effectiveness of a product or system based on factors that are related to its requirements, specifications, and constraints (e.g., safety, reliability, economic considerations, quality control, environmental concerns, manufacturability, maintenance and repair, ergonomics).

Analyze the effects of changing resources when designing a specific product or system (e.g., materials, energy, tools, capital, labor).

Evaluate ethical considerations regarding the sustainability of environmental resources that are used for the design, creation, and maintenance of a chosen product.

Synthesize and analyze data collected to monitor the effects of a technological product or system on the environment.

Identify a complex, global environmental or climate change issue, develop a systemic plan of investigation, and propose an innovative sustainable solution.

Analyze a product to determine the impact that economic, political, social, and/or cultural factors have had on its design, including its design constraints.

Propose an innovation to meet future demands supported by an analysis of the potential costs, benefits, trade-offs, and risks related to the use of the innovation.

Analyze the impact that globalization, social media, and access to open source technologies has had on innovation and on a society's economy, politics, and culture.

Explain how different groups can contribute to the overall design of a product.

Redesign an existing product to improve form or function.

Earth's Place in the Universe

Develop a model based on evidence to illustrate the life span of the sun and the role of nuclear fusion in the sun's core to release energy that eventually reaches Earth in the form of radiation.

Construct an explanation of the Big Bang theory based on astronomical evidence of light spectra, motion of distant galaxies, and composition of matter in the universe.

Communicate scientific ideas about the way stars, over their life cycle, produce elements.

Use mathematical or computational representations to predict the motion of orbiting objects in the solar system.

Evaluate evidence of the past and current movements of continental and oceanic crust and the theory of plate tectonics to explain the ages of crustal rocks.

Apply scientific reasoning and evidence from ancient Earth materials, meteorites, and other planetary surfaces to construct an account of Earth's formation and early history.

Earth's Systems

Develop a model to illustrate how Earth's internal and surface processes operate at different spatial and temporal scales to form continental and ocean-floor features.

Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth's surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.

Develop a model based on evidence of Earth's interior to describe the cycling of matter by thermal convection.

Use a model to describe how variations in the flow of energy into and out of Earth's systems result in changes in climate.

Plan and conduct an investigation of the properties of water and its effects on Earth materials and surface processes.

Develop a quantitative model to describe the cycling of carbon among the hydrosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere.

Construct an argument based on evidence about the simultaneous coevolution of Earth's systems and life on Earth.

Earth and Human Activity

Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and climate change have influenced human activity.

Evaluate competing design solutions for developing, managing, and utilizing energy and mineral resources based on cost-benefit ratios.

Create a computational simulation to illustrate the relationships among management of natural resources, the sustainability of human populations, and biodiversity.

Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on climate change and other natural systems.

Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth systems.

Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity (i.e., climate change).

Engineering Design

Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and constraints for solutions that account for societal needs and wants.

Design a solution to a complex real-world problem by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable problems that can be solved through engineering.

Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.

Use a computer simulation to model the impact of proposed solutions to a complex real-world problem with numerous criteria and constraints on interactions within and between systems relevant to the problem.

From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the structure of DNA determines the structure of proteins which carry out the essential functions of life through systems of specialized cells.

Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms.

Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that feedback mechanisms maintain homeostasis.

Use a model to illustrate the role of cellular division (mitosis) and differentiation in producing and maintaining complex organisms.

Use a model to illustrate how photosynthesis transforms light energy into stored chemical energy.

Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for how carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen from sugar molecules may combine with other elements to form amino acids and/or other large carbon-based molecules.

Use a model to illustrate that cellular respiration is a chemical process whereby the bonds of food molecules and oxygen molecules are broken and the bonds in new compounds are formed resulting in a net transfer of energy.

Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

Use mathematical and/or computational representations to support explanations of factors that affect carrying capacity of ecosystems at different scales.

Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems of different scales.

Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for the cycling of matter and flow of energy in aerobic and anaerobic conditions.

Use mathematical representations to support claims for the cycling of matter and flow of energy among organisms in an ecosystem.

Develop a model to illustrate the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of carbon among the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere.

Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.

Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.

Evaluate the evidence for the role of group behavior on individual and species' chances to survive and reproduce.

Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

Ask questions to clarify relationships about the role of DNA and chromosomes in coding the instructions for characteristic traits passed from parents to offspring.

Make and defend a claim based on evidence that inheritable genetic variations may result from: (1) new genetic combinations through meiosis, (2) viable errors occurring during replication, and/or (3) mutations caused by environmental factors.

Apply concepts of statistics and probability to explain the variation and distribution of expressed traits in a population.

Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

Communicate scientific information that common ancestry and biological evolution are supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence.

Construct an explanation based on evidence that the process of evolution primarily results from four factors: (1) the potential for a species to increase in number, (2) the heritable genetic variation of individuals in a species due to mutation and sexual reproduction, (3) competition for limited resources, and (4) the proliferation of those organisms that are better able to survive and reproduce in the environment.

Apply concepts of statistics and probability to support explanations that organisms with an advantageous heritable trait tend to increase in proportion to organisms lacking this trait.

Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations.

Evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental conditions may result in: (1) increases in the number of individuals of some species, (2) the emergence of new species over time, and (3) the extinction of other species.

Create or revise a simulation to test a solution to mitigate adverse impacts of human activity on biodiversity.

Matter and Its Interactions

Use the periodic table as a model to predict the relative properties of elements based on the patterns of electrons in the outermost energy level of atoms.

Construct and revise an explanation for the outcome of a simple chemical reaction based on the outermost electron states of atoms, trends in the periodic table, and knowledge of the patterns of chemical properties.

Plan and conduct an investigation to gather evidence to compare the structure of substances at the bulk scale to infer the strength of electrical forces between particles.

Develop a model to illustrate that the release or absorption of energy from a chemical reaction system depends upon the changes in total bond energy.

Apply scientific principles and evidence to provide an explanation about the effects of changing the temperature or concentration of the reacting particles on the rate at which a reaction occurs.

Refine the design of a chemical system by specifying a change in conditions that would produce increased amounts of products at equilibrium.

Use mathematical representations to support the claim that atoms, and therefore mass, are conserved during a chemical reaction.

Develop models to illustrate the changes in the composition of the nucleus of the atom and the energy released during the processes of fission, fusion, and radioactive decay.

Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

Analyze data to support the claim that Newton's second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration.

Use mathematical representations to support the claim that the total momentum of a system of objects is conserved when there is no net force on the system.

Apply scientific and engineering ideas to design, evaluate, and refine a device that minimizes the force on a macroscopic object during a collision.

Use mathematical representations of Newton's Law of Gravitation and Coulomb's Law to describe and predict the gravitational and electrostatic forces between objects.

Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that an electric current can produce a magnetic field and that a changing magnetic field can produce an electric current.

Communicate scientific and technical information about why the molecular-level structure is important in the functioning of designed materials.

Energy

Create a computational model to calculate the change in the energy of one component in a system when the change in energy of the other component(s) and energy flows in and out of the system are known.

Develop and use models to illustrate that energy at the macroscopic scale can be accounted for as a combination of energy associated with the motions of particles (objects) and energy associated with the relative position of particles (objects).

Design, build, and refine a device that works within given constraints to convert one form of energy into another form of energy.

Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that the transfer of thermal energy when two components of different temperature are combined within a closed system results in a more uniform energy distribution among the components in the system (second law of thermodynamics).

Develop and use a model of two objects interacting through electric or magnetic fields to illustrate the forces between objects and the changes in energy of the objects due to the interaction.

Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

Use mathematical representations to support a claim regarding relationships among the frequency, wavelength, and speed of waves traveling in various media.

Evaluate questions about the advantages of using a digital transmission and storage of information.

Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning behind the idea that electromagnetic radiation can be described either by a wave model or a particle model, and that for some situations one model is more useful than the other.

Evaluate the validity and reliability of claims in published materials of the effects that different frequencies of electromagnetic radiation have when absorbed by matter.

Communicate technical information about how some technological devices use the principles of wave behavior and wave interactions with matter to transmit and capture information and energy.