The scientific standards at the high school level are directly aligned with Kentucky's Academic Expectations. Science standards
are organized around seven "Big Ideas" that are important to the discipline of science. These big ideas are: Structure and
Transformation of Matter, Motion and Forces, The Earth and the Universe, Unity and Diversity, Biological Change, Energy
Transformations and Interdependence.
Today’s classroom contains students from a variety of backgrounds with a variety of learning styles, challenges, and strengths.
The goal of Kentucky Science is to inspire students to reach their educational potential. The objective is for the student to
understand that learning is like playing a game or sport. When the student practices the play or routine multiple times, then
the task will become part of long term memory and promote new product efficiencies. The content starts with chemical inquiry,
moves to element analysis, reaction types and rates, mole concepts, gases, and ends with the Chemistry of Life.
Big Idea: Energy Transformations
Energy transformations are inherent in almost every system in the universe- from tangible examples at the elementary
level, such as heat production in simple Earth and physical systems to more abstract ideas beginning at middle school,
such as those transformationsinvolved in growth, dying and decay of living systems. The use of models to illustrate
the often invisible and abstract notions of energy transfer will aid in conceptualization, especially as students move from
the macroscopic level of observation and evidence (primarily elementary school)to the microscopic interactions at the
atomic level (middle and high school levels). Students in high school expand their understanding of constancy through
the study of a variety of phenomena. Conceptual understanding and application of the laws of thermodynamics connect
ideas about matter with energy transformations within all living, physical and Earth systems.
Academic Expectations
- Students understand scientific ways of thinking and working and use those methods to solve real life problems.
- Students identify, analyze, and use patterns such as cycles and trends to understand past, present, and predict possible future events.
- Students use the concepts of scale and scientific models to explain the organization of nonliving things.
- Students understand that under certain conditions nature tends to remain the same or move toward balance.
High School Enduring Knowledge - Understandings - Students will understand that
- the configuration of atoms in a molecule determines the molecule's properties. Shapes are particularly important in how molecules interact.
- biological, chemical, physical phenomena can be explained by changes in the arrangement and motion of atoms and molecules.
- when elements are listed in order by their number of protons, the same sequence of properties appears over and over again
- the structure of the periodic table reflects this sequence of properties, which is caused by the repeating pattern of outermost electrons
- not all atoms of an element are truly identical. Some vary in their number of neutrons (isotopes) or electrons (ions).
- These variations result in properties which are different than the more common forms of the element.
- Changes of state occur when enough energy is added or removed from the atoms/molecules.
- Most solids expand as they are heated, and if sufficient energy is added the atoms / molecules lose their rigid structure.
- In gases the energy of vibration is enough that individual atoms/molecules are free to move independently.
- Elements are able to form an almost limitless variety of chemical compounds by the sharing or exchange of their electrons.
- The rate at which these combinations occur is influenced by a number of variables.
- The compounds produced may vary tremendously in their physical and chemical properties.
- Chemical reactions have a variety of essential real-world applications, such as oxidation and various metabolic processes.
- A system may stay the same because nothing is happening or because things are happening but exactly counterbalance one another.
- Accurate record-keeping, openness and replication are essential for maintaining credibility with other scientists and society.
Big Idea: Structure and Transformation of Matter (High School Skills and Concepts) Students will:
- Classify samples of matter from everyday life as being elements, compounds, or mixtures.
- Investigate the kinetic molecular theory of matter
- Construct and/or interpret diagrams that illustrate ionic and covalent bonding
- predict compound formation and bond type as either ionic or covalent
- Identify and test variables that affect reaction rates
- Use evidence data from chemical reactions to predict the effects of changes in variables (concentration, temperature, or catalysts)
- Explore the relationships among temperature, particle number, pressure, and volume in the Universal Gas Law.
- Explain the organizational structure (design) and communicate the usefulness of the Periodic Table to determine potential combination of elements
- investigate the role of intermolecular or intra molecular interactions on the physical properties of compounds.
- relate the chemical behavior of an element, including boiling, to its location on the periodic table
- relate the structure of water to its function as the universal solvent
- design and conduct experiments to determine the conductivity of various materials
- create and or interpret graphs and equations to depict and analyze patterns of change
- explore real life applications of a variety of chemical reactions (acid base, oxidation, rusting, tarnishing)
- communicate findings / present evidence in an authentic form (trans active writing, public speaking, multimedia presentations)
- generate investigable questions and conduct experiments or non-experimental research to address them, using evidence to defend conclusions
Big Idea: Motion and Forces - Academic Expectations:
- Students understand scientific ways of thinking and working and use those methods to solve real life problems.
- Students identify, analyze and use patterns such as cycles and trends to understand past and present events and predict possible future events.
- Students identify and analyze systems and the ways their components work together or affect each other.
Enduring Knowledge - Understandings - Students will understand that:
- The strength of the gravitational force between objects is proportional to the masses
- This force weakens rapidly with increasing distance between them
- Electromagnetic forces acting within and between atoms are vastly stronger than the gravitational forces acting between the atoms.
- At the atomic level, electric forces between oppositely charged electrons and protons hold atoms and molecules together producing chemical reactions
- On a larger scale, these forces hold solid and liquid materials together and act between objects when they are in contact
- The forces that hold the nucleus of an atom together are much stronger than the electromagnetic force.
- This is the reason great amounts of energy are released from the nuclear reactions in the sun and other stars.
Water to wine demo, can you determine what is different about the set of reactions in the picture on the right
compared to the picture on the left? Ammonia is very volatile and will escape into the atmosphere easily.
Big Idea: The Earth and the Universe
The Earth system is in a constant state of change. These changes affect life on Earth in many ways. At the high school level,
most of the emphasis is on why these changes occur. An understanding of systems and their interacting components will
enable students to evaluate supporting theories of Earth changes. The use of models and observance of patterns to explain common
phenomena is essential to building a conceptual foundation and supporting ideas with evidence at all levels. Patterns play an
important role as students seek to develop a conceptual understanding of gravity in their world and in the universe. High school is
the time to bring all of the ideas together to look at the universe as a whole. Students will use evidence to evaluate and analyze theories
related to the origin of the universe and all components of the universe.
In the first photo, Cameron
and Taylor donate pumpkins for demolition. Lauren Burch finds one in a million. Sergeant England of the Marine Corps talks about how he is
privileged to serve our great Nation. Jamall Hayes demonstrates the Tesla coil. Crue shows how when metals are mixed and form
alloys they become magnetic. Magnets led JJ Thompson to the discovery of the electron in the structure of the atom.
Cameron Clark gets excited about happy 12/12/12 12:12:12 day. Dayton's data burning Mg to prove the formula MgO.
High School Enduring knowledge - Understandings - Students will understand that:
- gravity played an essential role in the formation of the universe and is one of the fundamental forces that controls the function of the universe and the systems within it.
- current estimates of the ages of the Earth (4.6 billion years) and the universe (10+ billion years) are based on a variety of
- According to the Big Bang theory, the expansion of the observable universe began with the explosion of a single particle at a definite point in time. This startling idea first appeared in scientific form in 1931, in a paper by Georges Lemaître, a Belgian cosmologist and Catholic priest. http://www.forvo.com/word/lema%C3%AEtre/#frhttp://www.amnh.org/education/resources/rfl/web/essaybooks/cosmic/p_lemaitre.html
measurements techniques that have unique strengths and limitations.
- In the '50s, Pope Pious XII stated that the big bang theory affirmed the idea of a creator and was in line with Christian beliefs, leaving some to associate
steady-state theory with atheism [source: American Institute of Physics]
The american institute of Physics link is below.
http://www.aip.org/history/cosmology/ideas/bigbang.htm - The important point for this link is that it defines the nature of the Universe comparable to that of the big bang that states time did not exist before
creation. There was no period of time before the original creation. There was actually no time. God made time as well as matter and space
http://www.creationtoday.org/when-did-satan-fall-from-heaven/ If nothing created something out of emptiness, then no opposites exist. - This link talks about the importance of finding the "God Particle". If no oppoisites exist, then an event that is the truth would be equal to an event that is a lie.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/03/god-particle/achenbach-text
The God particle uses specific and unique ratios of itself to create all the different substances in the universe. - Where did the Big Bang occur in the Universe? Everywhere at once... What conditions caused it to occur everywhere at once? http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/980327a.html
Cassandra Manzo, Shea Otoole, and Olivia Soto demonstrate the first engine invented by Hero of Alexandria. Everybody needs a hero.
Students pictured below are demonstrating how to separate a mixture and learning the indicators of a chemical change.
Big Idea: Energy Transformations
Energy transformations are inherent in almost every system in the universe - from tangible examples at the elementary level, such as heat production in simple Earth and physical systems to more abstract ideas involved in the growth, dying and decay of living systems. The use of models to illustrate the often invisible and abstract notions of energy transfer will aid in conceptualization, especially as students move from the macroscopic level of observation and evidence to the microscopic interactions at the atomic level. Students will expand their understanding of constancy through the study of a variety of phenomena. Conceptual understanding and application of the laws of thermodynamics connect ideas about matter with energy transformations within all living, physical and Earth systems.
Big Idea: Energy Transformations: High School Enduring Knowledge - Understandings and Academic Expectations
- Students use the concept of scale and scientific models to explain the organization and functioning of living and nonliving things and predict other characteristics that might be observed.
- Students understand that under certain conditions nature tends to remain the same or move toward a balance.
- Transformations that occur within the nuclei of atoms release vastly greater energy than those that involve only electrons, and result in the emission of radiation and/or transformation of elements.
- While the total amount of energy in the universe is constant, the amount that is available for useful transformations is always decreasing. Systems within the universe will cease to function once the energy differential becomes zero.
Big Idea: Energy Transformations - high school enduring knowledge - understandings
- waves including electromagnetic radiation are an important form of energy transfer. Waves are governed by rules that can be investigated and used to predict / explain their behavior.
- many elements and compounds are involved in continuous cyclic processes where they are stored by and/or flow between organisms and the environment. These processes require a continuous supply of energy to occur.
Faith Jackson burns steel wool producing iron oxide a new product, thus a chemical change occurs. Dela Fox and Trey Moses
heat glass and bend it to a 90 degree angle demonstrating a physical change.
Casey Allen and Madison Raque compare the mass
of a 2007 penny to a 1964 penny. Isotopes are
elements that have the same visual appearance,
but different mass. Casey tests students to see if
they can feel a difference in the mass of the two
pennies by asking them to close their eyes and
placing a penny in each hand. More than half could
not tell the difference in mass. Madison explained
how elements change into new elements and die
because of the neutron.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Is Chemilluminescence a chemical reaction? A survey was taken and data collected.
Chemiluminescence is the generation of electromagnetic radiation as light by the release of energy from a chemical reaction. While
the light can, in principle, be emitted in the ultraviolet, visible or infrared region, those emitting visible light are the most common.
Since radiation is being emitted one would think that the reaction would be nuclear. However, nuclear reactions emit radiation
continuously and this is the primary reason radioactive elements are dangerous. The chemiluminescence reaction lasted only a
couple of minutes, so it is a chemical reaction that emits light. Students learned that we are not certain as to how the photons
are stored in the elements producing the luminescence. When the class was polled about whether the reaction was nuclear it
responded 76 yes and 54 no.
Making ionic compounds using the criss cross method of charge balance, and introduction to naming compounds.
Mike Sanford and Charles Grosse make nice to the pumpkins. It is not just guys that like to blow things up. Kaitlyn Baker prepares
to explode the green balloon symbolic to defeating Western High in the homecoming football game. We blew them out by 20 points.
The first balloon is filled with oxygen, as seen the balloon does not show much of a reaction. This is due to the
lack of a carbon source necessary for combustion. The majority of the oxygen mixes with the atmosphere. The second
balloon contains a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen and upon ignition produces a loud explosion. When the oxygen
is limiting, then the hydrogen spreads out and the flame covers a larger volume decreasing the atmospheres
ability to contain the reaction and produce a larger sonic boom.
Big Idea Energy Transformations (unifying concepts) students will understand that:
- a variety of carbon compounds are essential to the processes that occur in all organisms
- heat is a manifestation of the random motion and vibrations of atoms or molecules within a substance. Interactions between or among atoms or molecules naturally move toward states of higher disorder.
- technological problems often create a demand for new scientific knowledge, and new technologies make it possible for scientists to conduct their research more effectively or to conduct new lines of research. The availability of new technology often sparks scientific advances.
Big Idea: Energy Transformations continued
- Technology affects affects society because it solves practical problems and serves human needs. Science affects society by stimulating thought or satisfying curiosity, or by influencing views of the world, or by providing knowledge necessary for new technological advances.
In the above reaction, zinc dissolves in the hot concentrated sodium hydroxide to form sodium zincate. When the copper penny
is added to the solution, an electrochemical couple formed by the copper-zinc contact causes the zincate ion to migrate
to the copper surface where it is decomposed and reduced to metallic zinc by hydrogen which forms a coating on the penny.
When the penny is heated the zinc diffuses into the copper to form a layer of the alloy brass.
Based on the balanced equation 84 grams of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) will produce 58 grams of sodium chloride
(table salt). This info can be used to predict how much sodium chloride can be produced with 0.4 grams baking soda.
Leaders: Casey Allen and Donnivien Bertram
Based on the balanced equation 106 grams of sodium carbonate will react with 72 grams hydrochloric acid to produce 116 grams
sodium chloride. The first mole ratio reaction used 0.4 grams of sodium bicarbonate to produce 0.27 grams of sodium chloride.
The second mole ratio reaction used 0.4 grams of sodium carbonate to produce 0.43 grams of sodium chloride. Students observed
that there is more than one way to produce a product and research must be done to find the best way to produce the
desired product.
Big Idea: Energy Transformations - high school skills and concepts
- classify and describe nuclear reactions and their products
- investigate the forces inside the nucleus and evaluate the risk / benefits of nuclear energy
- apply the law of conservation of energy and explore heat flow in real-life phenomena
- investigate the flow of matter and energy between organisms and the environment and model the cyclic nature of this process.
- apply the concept of entropy to molecular interactions and to interactions within the universe.
Big Idea: Energy Transformations continued
- describe how science and technology interact. Research and investigate the impact of technology on society and how technological advances have driven scientific research.
Big Idea: Interdependence - unifying concepts
It is not difficult for students to grasp the general notion that species depend on one another and the environment for survival. But their awareness must be supported by knowledge of the kinds of relationships that exist among organisms, the kinds of physical conditions with one another and their physical surroundings, and the complexity of such systems. At the high school level, the concept of an ecosystem should bring coherence to the complex array of relationships among organisms and environments that students have encountered. Students growing understanding of systems in general will reinforce the concept of ecosystems. Stability and change in ecosystems can be considered in terms of variables such as population size, number, and kinds of species, productivity and the effect of human interaction.
Big Idea: Interdependence - high school enduring knowledge - understandings
- human beings are part of the Earth's ecosystems. Human activities can, deliberately or inadvertently, alter the equilibrium in ecosystems
- the critical assumptions behind any line of reasoning must be made explicit, so that the validity of the position being taken can be judged.
Big Idea: Interdependence - high school skills and concepts
- investigate changes in ecosystems and propose potential solutions to problems by documenting and communicating solutions to others through multi-media presentations.
- analyze examples of environmental changes resulting from the introduction, removal, or reintroduction of indigenous or non-indigenous species to an ecosystem.
- analyze and synthesize research, for questions about, theories and related technologies that have advanced our understanding of interdependence.
- investigate controversial scientific proposals, use scientific evidence/data to support or defend a position and debate the ethical merits of implementing the proposed actions.
