STANDARD 1: Analysis, Inquiry, and Design
Key Idea 1:
Engineering design is an iterative process involving modeling and optimization (finding the best solution within given constraints); this process is used to develop technological solutions to problems within given constraints.
T1.1 Identify needs and opportunities for technical solutions from an investigation of situations of general or social interest.
T1.1a Identify a scientific or human need that is subject to a technological solution which applies scientific principles
T1.2 Locate and utilize a range of printed, electronic, and human information resources to obtain ideas.
T1.2a Use all available information systems for a preliminary search that addresses the need
Standard 4: The Living Environment
LE 3.2a In all environments, organisms with similar needs may compete with one anotherfor resources.
LE 5.1c All organisms require energy to survive. The amount of energy needed and the method for obtaining this energy vary among cells. Some cells use oxygen to release the energy stored in food.
LE 5.1d The methods for obtaining nutrients vary among organisms. Producers, such as green plants, use light energy to make their food. Consumers, such as animals, take in energy-rich foods.
LE 5.1e Herbivores obtain energy from plants. Carnivores obtain energy from animals. Omnivores obtain energy from both plants and animals. Decomposers, such as bacteria and fungi, obtain energy by consuming wastes and/or dead organisms.
LE 5.2a Food provides molecules that serve as fuel and building material for all organisms. All living things, including plants, must release energy from their food, using it to carry on their life processes.
LE 6.1 a Energy flows through ecosystems in one direction, usually from the Sun, through producers to consumers and then to decomposers. This process may be visualized with food chains or energy pyramids
LE 6.1 b Food webs identify feeding relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem.
LE 6.2a Photosynthesis is carried on by green plants and other organisms containing chlorophyll. In this process, the Sun’s energy is converted into and stored as chemical energy in the form of a sugar. The quantity of sugar molecules increases in green plants during photosynthesis in the presence of sunlight.
LE 7.1a A population consists of all individuals of a species that are found together at a given place and time. Populations living in one place form a community. The community and the physical factors with which it interacts compose an ecosystem.
LE 7.2b Given adequate resources and no disease or predators, populations (including humans) increase. Lack of resources, habitat destruction, and other factors such as predation and climate limit the growth of certain populations in the ecosystem.
LE 7.2c In all environments, organisms interact with one another in many ways. Relationships among organisms may be competitive, harmful, or beneficial. Some species have adapted to be dependent upon each other with the result that neither could survive without the other.
LE 7.2d Some microorganisms are essential to the survival of other living things.
7.1e The environment may contain dangerous levels of substances (pollutants) that are harmful to organisms. Therefore, the good health of environments and individuals requires the monitoring of soil, air, and water, and taking steps to keep them safe.
