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Course Standards
General Course Information and Notes
General Notes
If this course is to be used in a STEM sequence in place of either the comprehensive or subject specific course sequences, teachers should refer to the test item specifications for the 8th grade SSA for information on tested standards which can be found at: https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/5663/urlt/swsatisG8.pdf.
This course is an integrated Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) course for middle school students. M/J STEM Life Science includes an integration of standards from science, mathematics, and english language arts (ELA) through the application to STEM problem solving using life science knowledge and science and engineering practices. Life science through applications such as biotechnology and biomedical engineering, are emphasized in this course. Laboratory investigations that include the use of scientific inquiry, research, measurement, problem solving, laboratory apparatus and technologies, experimental procedures, and safety procedures are an integral part of this course. The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) recommends that at the middle school level, all students should have multiple opportunities every week to explore science laboratory investigations (labs). School laboratory investigations are defined by the National Research Council (NRC) as an experience in the laboratory, classroom, or the field that provides students with opportunities to interact directly with natural phenomena or with data collected by others using tools, materials, data collection techniques, and models (NRC, 2006, p. 3). Laboratory investigations in the middle school classroom should help all students develop a growing understanding of the complexity and ambiguity of empirical work, as well as the skills to calibrate and troubleshoot equipment used to make observations. Learners should understand measurement error; and have the skills to aggregate, interpret, and present the resulting data (NRC 2006, p. 77; NSTA, 2007).
Special Notes:
Instructional Practices
Teaching from a range of complex text is optimized when teachers in all subject areas implement the following strategies on a routine basis:
- Ensuring wide reading from complex text that varies in length.
- Making close reading and rereading of texts central to lessons.
- Emphasizing text-specific complex questions, and cognitively complex tasks, reinforce focus on the text and cultivate independence.
- Emphasizing students supporting answers based upon evidence from the text.
- Providing extensive research and writing opportunities (claims and evidence).
Science and Engineering Practices (NRC Framework for K-12 Science Education, 2010)
- Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering).
- Developing and using models.
- Planning and carrying out investigations.
- Analyzing and interpreting data.
- Using mathematics, information and computer technology, and computational thinking.
- Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering).
- Engaging in argument from evidence.
- Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information.
ISTE Standards (http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/20-14_ISTE_Standards-S_PDF.pdf) should be incorporated in many contexts throughout the course.
Engineering Practices are emphasized in the course http://www.nextgenscience.org/sites/ngss/files/Appendix%20F%20%20Science%20and%20Engineering%20Practices%20in%20the%20NGSS%20-%20FINAL%20060513.pdf
Course Standards
NOTE: Use grade appropriate Nature of Science and mathematics content benchmarks (i.e. if this course is offered to seventh grade students, then the SC.7.N benchmarks should be integrated into the course content, and SC.6.N and SC.8.N benchmarks should be omitted from the seventh grade course).
Literacy Standards in Science
Secondary science courses include reading standards for literacy in science and technical subjects 6-12 and writing standards for literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects 6-12. The courses also include speaking and listening standards. For a complete list of standards required for this course click on the blue tile labeled course standards. You may also download the complete course including all required standards and notes sections using the export function located at the top of this page.
English Language Development ELD Standards
Teachers are required to provide listening, speaking, reading and writing instruction that allows English language learners (ELL) to communicate information, ideas and concepts for academic success in the content area of Science. For the given level of English language proficiency and with visual, graphic, or interactive support, students will interact with grade level words, expressions, sentences and discourse to process or produce language necessary for academic success The ELD standard should specify a relevant content area concept or topic of study chosen by curriculum developers and teachers which maximizes an ELL’s need for communication and social skills. To access an ELL supporting document which delineates performance definitions and descriptors, please click on the following link: https://cpalmsmediaprod.blob.core.windows.net/uploads/docs/standards/eld/sc.pdf.
General Information
- Class Size Core Required
Educator Certifications
Student Resources
Original Student Tutorials
Learn how scientific research is done based society's goals and what current group needs as you complete this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how different scientists all over the world use vastly different skills to work toward the common goal of understanding and fighting an emerging disease in this interactive tutorial
Type: Original Student Tutorial
You'll explore how science does and does not influence decision-making about climate change, sea turtles, and human health, in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn the importance of replication and repetition in science as you investigate the composition of a penny with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how innovation is important in moving scientific thinking forward with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about scientific theories and how they can change when new information is presented with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Explore how we define and describe scientific phenomena using scientific laws in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how math models can show why social distancing during a epidemic or pandemic is important in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about scientific theories and how they can change in this space-themed, interactive tutorial
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Investigate the benefits and limitations of experiments, observational studies, and comparative studies with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about different types of scientific investigations as you discover the Zebra Longwing, a special type of butterfly that calls Florida home. In this interactive tutorial, you'll also learn how scientists collaborate with each other and share empirical evidence.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Help Ryan revise his soccer science experiment to make it replicable. In this interactive tutorial, you'll learn what "replicable" means and why it's so important in science.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about the tools of science as we look at the mystery of bird migrations in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how scientific knowledge is open to change and how the knowledge about the Earth's surface has changed in the past 100 years as you complete this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Science isn't just about experiments! Learn about other ways to do science such as observational and comparative studies in this interactive tutorial. Science is varied and interesting as we use scientific skills to learn about the world!
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn the differences between science and pseudoscience in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how science can help us make informed decisions that improve our lives as you complete this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Explore the processes of science and how it changes over time. This interactive tutorial uses the historical development of The Cell Theory to illustrate these ideas.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Engineering and science may be similar but their goals are somewhat different. In this interactive tutorial, learn about engineers; some of the different fields of engineering, where engineers work, what they do, and some of their goals.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about the work of geo-scientists: What they do, where they work and the types of questions they strive to answer in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about the world of physics and explore what physicists do. In this interactive tutorial, you'll discover where they work and what kinds of questions they try to answer.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about the work of chemists, various fields of chemistry, where chemists work and the types of questions they strive to answer in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about the varied job of a biologist; where they work, what they do and the types of questions they try to answer.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to interpret histograms to analyze data, and help an inventor predict the range of a catapult in part 2 of this interactive tutorial series. More specifically, you'll learn to describe the shape and spread of data distributions.
Click HERE to open part 1.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to create a histogram to display continuous data from projectiles launched by a catapult in this interactive tutorial.
This is part 1 in a 2-part series. Click HERE to open part 2.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to calculate and interpret the Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) of data sets in this travel-themed, interactive statistics tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how science relies on creative and innovative thinking as we explore the science of discovering exoplanets in this interactive tutorial. Science is a problem solving endeavor as we try and figure out and learn new things. The answers are hard to find, but if we keep asking questions and building on what we know, then we can solve problems to things we once were thought were impossible!
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to write an effective hypothesis with sharks as a focus in this interactive tutorial. A hypothesis should be testable and falsifiable.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about the amazing science discoveries by people from all over the world and all walks of life. In this interactive tutorial, you'll see that science is by and for everyone!
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to write a valid conclusion from a scientific investigation. In this interactive tutorial, you'll also learn how to answer questions using scientific reasoning.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how food is broken down to produce energy for cells in the in the form of ATP in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Come with me as we select Scientist's Next Top Model! When does an abstract idea become a real scientific model? When the model appears in scientific journals and textbooks all over the world. Before a model can grace the cover of these high profile, peer reviewed journals and textbooks it must go through a rigorous process. How does a model go from an idea to a scientific model? What took me 2000 years I am going to make happen for one lucky model in just 15 short minutes!
Competition is tough and each model will have to showcase why they are able to represent themselves as Scientist’s Next Top Model.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how evolution is influenced by genetic variation, natural selection, and allele frequency in this interactive tutorial.
This is part 1 in a two-part series. After you finish this tutorial, check out .
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Examine how evolution is influenced by genetic variation, natural selection, and allele frequency through the lens of organism genotype.
Click below to open part 1.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn to differentiate replication (by others) from repetition (multiple trials) in experimental design through the information and practice exercises in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to write the equation of a linear trend line when fitted to bivariate data in a scatterplot in this interactive tutorial.
This is part 4 in 6-part series. Click below to open the other tutorials in the series.
- Scatterplots Part 1: Graphing
- Scatterplots Part 2: Patterns, Associations and Correlations
- Scatterplots Part 3: Trend Lines
- Scatterplots Part 5: Interpreting the Equation of the Trend Line
- Scatterplots Part 6: Using Linear Models
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Explore informally fitting a trend line to data graphed in a scatter plot in this interactive online tutorial.
This is part 3 in 6-part series. Click below to open the other tutorials in the series.
- Scatterplots Part 1: Graphing
- Scatterplots Part 2: Patterns, Associations and Correlations
- Scatterolots Part 4: Equation of the Trend Line
- Scatterplots Part 5: Interpreting the Equation of the Trend Line
- Scatterplots Part 6: Using Linear Models
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Explore how scientists have used scientific thinking and methods to develop hypotheses about the development of life on Earth. Throughout this interactive tutorial, you'll see how learning through science requires retesting data, reconsidering evidence, and debate between scientists.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to make and interpret boxplots in this pet-themed, interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Explore heredity--how genetic information in DNA is passed from parents to offspring. In this interactive tutorial, you'll see how inherited genetic information impacts traits in offspring.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Discover how to calculate and interpret the mean, median, mode and range of data sets from the zoo in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn to identify models and their use in science with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn to identify the independent variable and the dependent variable in an experiment with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn to identify the importance of scientific laws and how they are different from societal laws.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Investigate the limiting factors of a Florida ecosystem and describe how these limiting factors affect one native population-the Florida Scrub-Jay-with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how scientific knowledge can change when new evidence is discovered or new ideas are developed. In this interactive tutorial, you'll look at some famous example from the history of science, including the cell theory and the theory of plate tectonics.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn what genetic engineering is and some of the applications of this technology. In this interactive tutorial, you’ll gain an understanding of some of the benefits and potential drawbacks of genetic engineering. Ultimately, you’ll be able to think critically about genetic engineering and write an argument describing your own perspective on its impacts.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to recognize that fossil evidence is consistent with the scientific theory of evolution, that living things evolved from earlier species by natural selection, with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Follow our quest to learn how the element carbon is cycled on Earth with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how matter and energy are continuously transferred within and between organisms and their physical environment and cite evidence that living systems follow the Laws of Conservation of Mass and Energy with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how the environment on Earth is constantly changing and that populations of organisms adapt to this change by evolving via natural selection. In this interactive tutorial, you'll discover how organisms do and do not avoid extinction.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn to recognize and explain the difference between scientific theories and scientific laws in this interactive tutorial. You'll also explore several examples of scientific theories and the evidence that supports them.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how scientists use models to simplify and understand the world around us. In this interactive tutorial, you'll also explore the benefits and limitations of scientific models.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Explore methods used in scientific inquiry by following an actual astronomer in search of new planets within our solar system in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Educational Game
Students attempt to save towns from damage prior to the arrival of several different natural disasters. Students will learn the importance of early prevention and actions to protect others, themselves and their property when faced with a natural disaster. Certain disasters are more appropriate for particular grade levels. Each scenario takes between 20 and 45 minutes to play, depending on the disaster for which your students are trying to prepare. There are five scenarios available, hurricane, tsunami, flood, earthquake, and wildfire. Each scenario can be played on easy, medium or hard difficulty levels. As with life, there are no "perfect solutions" to each scenario and no "perfect score", so students can play multiple times and the scenarios will still be slightly different.These simulation are part of a larger website that provides multiple links for natural disasters.
Type: Educational Game
Image/Photograph
This site uses text and images to describe methods that the U.S. Geological Survey measures water temperature, pH, specific conductance, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, hardness, and suspended sediment.
Type: Image/Photograph
Perspectives Video: Expert
Some scientists' labs are outside! Learn all about a large-scale environmental model called LILA!
Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.
Type: Perspectives Video: Expert
Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast
Find out how math and technology can help you (try to) get away from civilization.
Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.
Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast
Presentation/Slideshows
This interactive tutorial explores the evolution of time measurement through the ages, beginning with Stonehenge and ancient calendar systems. It progresses through sun and water clocks, mechanical and quartz-movement clocks, and atomic clocks.
Type: Presentation/Slideshow
Resource provides a succinct overview of the nature of science; what science is and is not. Information includes the aims of scientific pursuits, principles, process and thinking.
Type: Presentation/Slideshow
Problem-Solving Tasks
Students are given a context and a dotplot and are asked a number of questions regarding shape, center, and spread of the data.
Type: Problem-Solving Task
Students are given a context and a series of questions and are asked to identify whether each question is statistical and to provide their reasoning. Students are asked to compose an original statistical question for the given context.
Type: Problem-Solving Task
Using the information provided, create an appropriate graphical display and answer the questions regarding shape, center and variability.
Type: Problem-Solving Task
Student Center Activities
Students can practice answering mathematics questions on a variety of topics. With an account, students can save their work and send it to their teacher when complete.
Type: Student Center Activity
Students can practice answering mathematics questions on a variety of topics. With an account, students can save their work and send it to their teacher when complete.
Type: Student Center Activity
Text Resources
This resource comes from the Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory: DNA from the Beginning online module series. There are 41 modules located on this site all focused on DNA and organized by individual concepts. The science behind each concept is explained in each module by: animations, an image gallery, video interviews, problems, biographies, and additional links. This is the 2nd module in the series, and it is focused on how genes come in pairs.
Type: Text Resource
This Frequently Asked Question page can be used by educators and students as a scientific resource to answer the question, "Why isn't Pluto a planet?". From the International Astronomical Union, the definitive answer from the governing body that classified Pluto as a dwarf planet.
Type: Text Resource
Tutorials
In this video, you will practice describing the shape of distributions as skewed left, skewed right, or symmetrical.
Type: Tutorial
In this video, you will see two ways to find the Mean Absolute Deviation of a data set.
Type: Tutorial
The focus of this video is to help you understand the core concepts of arithmetic mean, median, and mode.
Type: Tutorial
This video shows how to find the value of a missing piece of data if you know the mean of the data set.
Type: Tutorial
This video demonstrates how to construct a box plot, formerly known as a box and whisker plot.
Type: Tutorial
In this video, we organize data into frequency tables and dot plots (sometimes called line plots).
Type: Tutorial
Learn how to create histograms, which summarize data by sorting it into groups.
Type: Tutorial
Scatterplots are used to visualize the relationship between two quantitative variables in a binary relation. As an example, trends in the relationship between the height and weight of a group of people could be graphed and analyzed using a scatter plot.
Type: Tutorial
Video/Audio/Animations
With an often unexpected outcome from a simple experiment, students can discover the factors that cause and influence thermohaline circulation in our oceans. In two 45-minute class periods, students complete activities where they observe the melting of ice cubes in saltwater and freshwater, using basic materials: clear plastic cups, ice cubes, water, salt, food coloring, and thermometers. There are no prerequisites for this lesson but it is helpful if students are familiar with the concepts of density and buoyancy as well as the salinity of seawater. It is also helpful if students understand that dissolving salt in water will lower the freezing point of water. There are additional follow up investigations that help students appreciate and understand the importance of the ocean's influence on Earth's climate.
Type: Video/Audio/Animation
This 5-minute video provides an example of how to solve a problem using a trend line to estimate data through a problem called, "Smoking in 1945."
Type: Video/Audio/Animation
Ocean explorer Robert Ballard gives a TED Talk relating to the mysteries of the ocean, and the importance of its continued exploration.
Type: Video/Audio/Animation
This game aims at showing the use of model organisms in behavioral studies and in detecting the causes of certain diseases
Type: Video/Audio/Animation
A collection of crossword puzzles that test the knowledge of students about some of the terms, processes, and classifications covered in science topics
Type: Video/Audio/Animation
This website allows students and/or teachers to refresh their memory on terms such as DNA, traits, heredity, and genetics.
Type: Video/Audio/Animation
Khan Academy tutorial video that demonstrates with real-world data the use of Excel spreadsheet to fit a line to data and make predictions using that line.
Type: Video/Audio/Animation
This 13-minute video segment produced by NOVA Science Now explores the work by one committed family and researchers to identify patterns in the genetic information of autism patients.
Type: Video/Audio/Animation
Virtual Manipulatives
In this activity, students use preset data or enter in their own data to be represented in a box plot. This activity allows students to explore single as well as side-by-side box plots of different data. This activity includes supplemental materials, including background information about the topics covered, a description of how to use the application, and exploration questions for use with the Java applet.
Type: Virtual Manipulative
Using this virtual manipulative, students are able to graph a function and a set of ordered pairs on the same coordinate plane. The constants, coefficients, and exponents can be adjusted using slider bars, so the student can explore the affect on the graph as the function parameters are changed. Students can also examine the deviation of the data from the function. This activity includes supplemental materials, including background information about the topics covered, a description of how to use the application, and exploration questions for use with the java applet.
Type: Virtual Manipulative
This is an online graphing utility that can be used to create box plots, bubble graphs, scatterplots, histograms, and stem-and-leaf plots.
Type: Virtual Manipulative
Students will explore natural selection by controlling the environment and causing mutations in bunnies. This will demonstrate how natural selection works in nature. They will have the opportunity to throw in different variables to see what will make their species of rabbit survive.
Type: Virtual Manipulative
With a mouse, students will drag data points (with their error bars) and watch the best-fit polynomial curve form instantly. Students can choose the type of fit: linear, quadratic, cubic, or quartic. Best fit or adjustable fit can be displayed.
Type: Virtual Manipulative
Users select a data set or enter their own data to generate a box plot.
Type: Virtual Manipulative
This manipulative allows the user to enter multiple coordinates on a grid, estimate a line of best fit, and then determine the equation for a line of best fit.
Type: Virtual Manipulative
This virtual manipulative histogram tool can aid in analyzing the distribution of a dataset. It has 6 preset datasets and a function to add your own data for analysis.
Type: Virtual Manipulative
In this activity, students can create and view a histogram using existing data sets or original data entered. Students can adjust the interval size using a slider bar, and they can also adjust the other scales on the graph. This activity allows students to explore histograms as a way to represent data as well as the concepts of mean, standard deviation, and scale. This activity includes supplemental materials, including background information about the topics covered, a description of how to use the application, and exploration questions for use with the java applet.
Type: Virtual Manipulative
Congratulations
