L OS A NGELES C OUNTY O UTDOOR S CIENCE S CHOOL

LACOSS Curriculum The fundamental goal of our curriculum is to teach good ecosystem science concepts using the outdoor environment. When a student returns home at the end of a week at Outdoor Science School, we want them to be able to answer the following questions, and be able to use that knowledge in meaningful ways. What is an ecosystem? What are the different parts of an ecosystem? How do those parts fit together and function interdependently? How do humans interact with ecosystems? What is this thing called "science"? How does it function? What are its' processes and tools? That's the big picture. In addition to the big picture, we have correlated what we teach to the California State Science Content Standards. You will notice in the correlation below that our curriculum includes concepts from several different grade levels. While the majority of our students are 5th or 6th graders, we do not limit ourselves to just the 5th or 6th grade standards. Neither do we try to cover all of the 5th or 6th grade standards during a single week at Outdoor Science School. Many of the Science Content Standards can easily be taught in the classroom. Students don't need to come to Outdoor Science School to learn about magnetism or the cardiovascular system. But Outdoor Science School is the perfect place to learn about photosynthesis, energy flow, decomposition, predator-prey relationships, and many other ecosystem science concepts. Our goal is to focus on concepts that can't be taught easily within the four walls of a classroom. We want to teach those science concepts which benefit most from direct, hands-on observation and experimentation within natural ecosystems. The individual standards are preceeded by a focusing concept statement, which is numbered. The standards related to each focus statement are lettered and grouped under the focus statement. The type style of each standard indicates its' relative importance within our curriculum based on the following key. Bold = Essential elements of instruction. To be taught every week to all students. Plain = Important elements of instruction, but there might be some variation in emphasis between different lesson groups. Some of these may be skipped due to inclement weather, a short week, or other causes. Italicized = Supplemental material to be included as time and interest allows.   Grade Four Life Sciences 2. All organisms need energy and matter to live and grow. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know plants are the primary source of matter and energy entering most food chains. b. Students know producers and consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers) are related in food chains and food webs and may compete with each other for resources in an ecosystem. c. Students know decomposers, including many fungi, insects, and microorganisms, recycle matter from dead plants and animals.   3. Living organisms depend on one another and on their environment for survival. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know ecosystems can be characterized by their living and nonliving components. b. Students know that in any particular environment, some kinds of plants and animals survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. c. Students know many plants depend on animals for pollination and seed dispersal, and animals depend on plants for food and shelter. d. Students know that most microorganisms do not cause disease and that many are beneficial.   Earth Sciences 4. The properties of rocks and minerals reflect the processes that formed them. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know how to differentiate among igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks by referring to their properties and methods of formation (the rock cycle). b. Students know how to identify common rock-forming minerals (including quartz, calcite, feldspar, mica, and hornblende) and ore minerals by using a table of diagnostic properties.   5. Waves, wind, water, and ice shape and reshape Earth's land surface. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know some changes in the earth are due to slow processes, such as erosion, and some changes are due to rapid processes, such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes. b. Students know natural processes, including freezing and thawing and the growth of roots, cause rocks to break down into smaller pieces. c. Students know moving water erodes landforms, reshaping the land by taking it away from some places and depositing it as pebbles, sand, silt, and mud in other places (weathering, transport, and deposition).   Investigation and Experimentation 6. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will: a. Differentiate observation from inference (interpretation) and know scientists' explanations come partly from what they observe and partly from how they interpret their observations. b. Measure and estimate the weight, length, or volume of objects. c. Formulate and justify predictions based on cause-and-effect relationships. d. Conduct multiple trials to test a prediction and draw conclusions about the relationships between predictions and results. e. Construct and interpret graphs from measurements.   Grade Five Physical Sciences 1. Elements and their combinations account for all the varied types of matter in the world. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know that during chemical reactions the atoms in the reactants rearrange to form products with different properties. b. Students know all matter is made of atoms, which may combine to form molecules. h. Students know living organisms and most materials are composed of just a few elements.   Life Sciences 2. Plants and animals have structures for respiration, digestion, waste disposal, and transport of materials. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know many multicellular organisms have specialized structures to support the transport of materials. e. Students know how sugar, water, and minerals are transported in a vascular plant. f. Students know plants use carbon dioxide (CO2) and energy from sunlight to build molecules of sugar and release oxygen. g. Students know plant and animal cells break down sugar to obtain energy, a process resulting in carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (respiration).   Earth Sciences 3. Water on Earth moves between the oceans and land through the processes of evaporation and condensation. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know most of Earth's water is present as salt water in the oceans, which cover most of Earth's surface. b. Students know when liquid water evaporates, it turns into water vapor in the air and can reappear as a liquid when cooled or as a solid if cooled below the freezing point of water. c. Students know water vapor in the air moves from one place to another and can form fog or clouds, which are tiny droplets of water or ice, and can fall to Earth as rain, hail, sleet, or snow. d. Students know that the amount of fresh water located in rivers, lakes, underground sources, and glaciers is limited and that its availability can be extended by recycling and decreasing the use of water. 4. Energy from the Sun heats Earth unevenly, causing air movements that result in changing weather patterns. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know uneven heating of Earth causes air movements (convection currents). b. Students know the influence that the ocean has on the weather and the role that the water cycle plays in weather patterns. 5. The solar system consists of planets and other bodies that orbit the Sun in predictable paths. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know the Sun, an average star, is the central and largest body in the solar system and is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. b. Students know the solar system includes the planet Earth, the Moon, the Sun, eight other planets and their satellites, and smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets. c. Students know the path of a planet around the Sun is due to the gravitational attraction between the Sun and the planet.   Investigation and Experimentation 6. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will: a. Classify objects (e.g., rocks, plants, leaves) in accordance with appropriate criteria. b. Develop a testable question. c. Plan and conduct a simple investigation based on a student-developed question and write instructions others can follow to carry out the procedure. d. Identify the dependent and controlled variables in an investigation. e. Identify a single independent variable in a scientific investigation and explain how this variable can be used to collect information to answer a question about the results of the experiment. f. Select appropriate tools (e.g., thermometers, meter sticks, balances, and graduated cylinders) and make quantitative observations. g. Record data by using appropriate graphic representations (including charts, graphs, and labeled diagrams) and make inferences based on those data. h. Draw conclusions from scientific evidence and indicate whether further information is needed to support a specific conclusion   Grade Six Focus on Earth Science Plate Tectonics and Earth's Structure 1. Plate tectonics accounts for important features of Earth's surface and major geologic events. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know evidence of plate tectonics is derived from the fit of the continents; the location of earthquakes, volcanoes, and mid-ocean ridges; and the distribution of fossils, rock types, and ancient climatic zones. b. Students know Earth is composed of several layers: a cold, brittle lithosphere; a hot, convecting mantle; and a dense, metallic core. c. Students know lithospheric plates the size of continents and oceans move at rates of centimeters per year in response to movements in the mantle. d. Students know that earthquakes are sudden motions along breaks in the crust called faults and that volcanoes and fissures are locations where magma reaches the surface. e. Students know major geologic events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, result from plate motions. f. Students know how to explain major features of California geology (including mountains, faults, volcanoes) in terms of plate tectonics.   Shaping Earth's Surface 2. Topography is reshaped by the weathering of rock and soil and by the transportation and deposition of sediment. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know water running downhill is the dominant process in shaping the landscape, including California's landscape. b. Students know rivers and streams are dynamic systems that erode, transport sediment, change course, and flood their banks in natural and recurring patterns. c. Students know beaches are dynamic systems in which the sand is supplied by rivers and moved along the coast by the action of waves. d. Students know earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and floods change human and wildlife habitats.   Heat (Thermal Energy) (Physical Sciences) 3. Heat moves in a predictable flow from warmer objects to cooler objects until all the objects are at the same temperature. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know energy can be carried from one place to another by heat flow or by waves, including water, light and sound waves, or by moving objects. b. Students know that when fuel is consumed, most of the energy released becomes heat energy.   Energy in the Earth System 4. Many phenomena on Earth's surface are affected by the transfer of energy through radiation and convection currents. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know the sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on Earth's surface; it powers winds, ocean currents, and the water cycle. b. Students know solar energy reaches Earth through radiation, mostly in the form of visible light. e. Students know differences in pressure, heat, air movement, and humidity result in changes of weather.   Ecology (Life Sciences) 5. Organisms in ecosystems exchange energy and nutrients among themselves and with the environment. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis and then from organism to organism through food webs. b. Students know matter is transferred over time from one organism to others in the food web and between organisms and the physical environment. c. Students know populations of organisms can be categorized by the functions they serve in an ecosystem. d. Students know different kinds of organisms may play similar ecological roles in similar biomes. e. Students know the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the resources available and on abiotic factors, such as quantities of light and water, a range of temperatures, and soil composition.   Resources 6. Sources of energy and materials differ in amounts, distribution, usefulness, and the time required for their formation. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know the utility of energy sources is determined by factors that are involved in converting these sources to useful forms and the consequences of the conversion process. b. Students know different natural energy and material resources, including air, soil, rocks, minerals, petroleum, fresh water, wildlife, and forests, and know how to classify them as renewable or nonrenewable. c. Students know the natural origin of the materials used to make common objects.   Investigation and Experimentation 7. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will: a. Develop a hypothesis. b. Select and use appropriate tools and technology (including calculators, computers, balances, spring scales, microscopes, and binoculars) to perform tests, collect data, and display data. c. Construct appropriate graphs from data and develop qualitative statements about the relationships between variables. d. Communicate the steps and results from an investigation in written reports and oral presentations. e. Recognize whether evidence is consistent with a proposed explanation. h. Identify changes in natural phenomena over time without manipulating the phenomena (e.g., a tree limb, a grove of trees, a stream, a hillslope).   Grade Seven Focus on Life Science Evolution 3. Biological evolution accounts for the diversity of species developed through gradual processes over many generations. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know both genetic variation and environmental factors are causes of evolution and diversity of organisms. b. Students know the reasoning used by Charles Darwin in reaching his conclusion that natural selection is the mechanism of evolution. c. Students know how independent lines of evidence from geology, fossils, and comparative anatomy provide the bases for the theory of evolution. e. Students know that extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient for its survival.   Earth and Life History (Earth Sciences) 4. Evidence from rocks allows us to understand the evolution of life on Earth. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know Earth processes today are similar to those that occurred in the past and slow geologic processes have large cumulative effects over long periods of time. c. Students know that the rock cycle includes the formation of new sediment and rocks and that rocks are often found in layers, with the oldest generally on the bottom. d. Students know that evidence from geologic layers and radioactive dating indicates Earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old and that life on this planet has existed for more than 3 billion years.   Structure and Function in Living Systems 5. The anatomy and physiology of plants and animals illustrate the complementary nature of structure and function. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know plants and animals have levels of organization for structure and function, including cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, and the whole organism. f. Students know the structures and processes by which flowering plants generate pollen, ovules, seeds, and fruit. g. Students know how to relate the structures of the eye and ear to their functions.   Physical Principles in Living Systems (Physical Sciences) 6. Physical principles underlie biological structures and functions. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know visible light is a small band within a very broad electromagnetic spectrum. b. Students know that for an object to be seen, light emitted by or scattered from it must be detected by the eye. e. Students know that white light is a mixture of many wavelengths (colors) and that retinal cells react differently to different wavelengths.   Investigation and Experimentation 7. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will: a. Select and use appropriate tools and technology (including calculators, computers, balances, spring scales, microscopes, and binoculars) to perform tests, collect data, and display data. c. Communicate the logical connection among hypotheses, science concepts, tests conducted, data collected, and conclusions drawn from the scientific evidence. e. Communicate the steps and results from an investigation in written reports and oral presentations.     Home What is LACOSS? Sites Attending Employment Contact © LACOSS, 2008 Last Revised:  February 7, 2008 Comments or Questions? webmaster@OutdoorScienceSchool.org