English Language Arts and Literacy | Grade : 6-8
Strand - Writing in the Content Areas
Cluster - Research to Build and Present Knowledge
[WCA.6-8.7] - Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.
- Research
Systematic inquiry into a subject or problem in order to discover, verify, or revise relevant facts or principles. - Source
Text used largely for informational purposes, as in research. - Synthesis (Synthesize)
Combination of information or other elements from different sources into a unified work with original structure and substance. In contrast to summary, synthesis is an advanced technique that both reflects understanding of the source texts and adds new insight to them.
[6.LS.1.3] -
Construct an argument supported by evidence that the body systems interact to carry out essential functions of life. Clarification Statements: Emphasis is on the functions and interactions of the body systems, not specific body parts or organs. An argument should convey that different types of cells can join together to form specialized tissues, which in turn may form organs that work together as body systems. Body systems to be included are the circulatory, digestive, respiratory, excretory, muscular/skeletal, and nervous systems. Essential functions of life include obtaining food and other nutrients (water, oxygen, minerals), releasing energy from food, removing wastes, responding to stimuli, maintaining internal conditions, and growing/developing. An example of interacting systems could include the respiratory system taking in oxygen from the environment which the circulatory system delivers to cells for cellular respiration, or the digestive system taking in nutrients which the circulatory system transports to cells around the body.State Assessment Boundaries: The mechanism of one body system independent of others or the biochemical processes involved in body systems are not expected in state assessment. Describing the function or comparing different types of cells, tissues, or organs are not expected in state assessment.
[6.PS.4.2] -
Use diagrams and other models to show that both light rays and mechanical waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials. Clarification Statements: Materials may include solids, liquids, and gases. Mechanical waves (including sound) need a material (medium) through which they are transmitted. Examples of models could include drawings, simulations, and written descriptions.
State Assessment Boundary: State assessment will be limited to qualitative applications.
[6.ETS.1.6] -
Communicate a design solution to an intended user, including design features and limitations of the solution. Clarification Statement: Examples of intended users can include students, parents, teachers, manufacturing personnel, engineers, and customers.
[7.ESS.2.4] -
Develop a model to explain how the energy of the Sun and Earth’s gravity drive the cycling of water, including changes of state, as it moves through multiple pathways in Earth’s hydrosphere. Clarification Statement: Examples of models can be conceptual or physical. State Assessment Boundary: A quantitative understanding of the latent heats of vaporization and fusion is not expected in state assessment.
[7.ESS.3.4] -
Construct an argument supported by evidence that human activities and technologies can mitigate the impact of increases in human population and per capita consumption of natural resources on the environment. Clarification Statements: Arguments should be based on examining historical data such as population graphs, natural resource distribution maps, and water quality studies over time. Examples of negative impacts can include changes to the amount and quality of natural resources such as water, mineral, and energy supplies.
[7.LS.2.2] -
Describe how relationships among and between organisms in an ecosystem can be competitive, predatory, parasitic, and mutually beneficial and that these interactions are found across multiple ecosystems. Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on describing consistent patterns of interactions in different ecosystems in terms of relationships among and between organisms.
[7.LS.2.3] -
Develop a model to describe that matter and energy are transferred among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem and that both matter and energy are conserved through these processes. Clarification Statements: Cycling of matter should include the role of photosynthesis, cellular respiration, and decomposition, as well as transfer among producers, consumers (primary, secondary, and tertiary), and decomposers. Models may include food webs and food chains. State Assessment Boundary: Cycling of specific atoms (such as carbon or oxygen), or the biochemical steps of photosynthesis, cellular respiration, and decomposition are not expected in state assessment.
[7.PS.3.2] -
Develop a model to describe the relationship between the relative positions of objects interacting at a distance and their relative potential energy in the system. Clarification Statements: Examples of objects within systems interacting at varying distances could include Earth and either a roller coaster cart at varying positions on a hill or objects at varying heights on shelves, changing the direction/orientation of a magnet, and a balloon with static electrical charge being brought closer to a stream of water. Examples of models could include representations, diagrams, pictures, and written descriptions of systems. State Assessment Boundaries: State assessment will be limited to electric, magnetic, and gravitational interactions and to interactions of two objects at a time. Calculations of potential energy are not expected in state assessment.
[7.PS.3.4] -
Conduct an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, how well the type of matter retains or radiates heat, the mass, and the change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample. State Assessment Boundary: Calculations of specific heat or the total amount of thermal energy transferred are not expected in state assessment.
[7.PS.3.6] -
Use a model to explain how thermal energy is transferred out of hotter regions or objects and into colder ones by convection, conduction, and radiation.
[7.ETS.3.4] -
Show how the components of a structural system work together to serve a structural function. Provide examples of physical structures and relate their design to their intended use. Clarification Statements: Examples of components of a structural system could include foundation, decking, wall, and roofing. Explanations of function should include identification of live vs. dead loads and forces of tension, torsion, compression, and shear. Examples of uses include carrying loads and forces across a span (such as a bridge), providing livable space (such as a house or office building), and providing specific environmental conditions (such as a greenhouse or cold storage). State Assessment Boundary: Calculations of magnitude or direction of loads or forces are not expected in state assessment.
[7.ETS.3.5] -
Use the concept of systems engineering to model inputs, processes, outputs, and feedback among components of a transportation, structural, or communication system.