Appendix A: Implementing District Standards
Virginia: Science 4.5
The student will investigate and understand how plants and animals in an ecosystem interact with one another and the nonliving environment. Key concepts include behavioral and structural adaptations; organization of communities; flow of energy through food webs; habitats and niches; life cycles; and influence of human activity on ecosystems.
This standard is addressed throughout the unit. All of the key concepts can be taught with this unit.
Virginia: Science 4.8
The student will investigate and understand important Virginia natural resource. Key concepts include: watershed and water resources; animals and plants; minerals, rocks, ores, and energy sources; and forests, soil, and land.
My unit covers most of standard 4.8. The unit does not address minerals, rocks, and ores.
Virginia: Science 4.1
The student will plan and conduct investigations in which
a) distinctions are made among observations, conclusions, inferences and predictions
b) hypotheses are formulated based on cause-and-effect relationships
c) variables that must be held constant in an experimental situation are defined
d) appropriate instruments are selected to measure linear distance, volume, mass, and
temperature
e) appropriate metric measures are used to collect, record, and report data
f) data are displayed using bar and basic line graphs
g) numerical data that are contradictory or unusual in experimental results are recognized h) predictions are made based on data from picture graphs, bar graphs, and basic line
graphs.
Standard 4.1 a, b and c are taught with the aquarium experiments. The graphs of species fulfill parts f and h.
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