New Jersey State Standards for Science: Grade 9

NJ.5.1. Scientific Processes: All students will develop problem-solving, decision-making and inquiry skills, reflected by formulating usable questions and hypotheses, planning experiments, conducting systematic observations, interpreting and analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and communicating results.

5.1.12.A.1. Habits of Mind: When making decisions, evaluate conclusions, weigh evidence, and recognize that arguments may not have equal merit.

5.1.12.A.2. Habits of Mind: Assess the risks and benefits associated with alternative solutions.

5.1.12.A.3. Habits of Mind: Engage in collaboration, peer review, and accurate reporting of findings.

5.1.12.A.4. Habits of Mind: Explore cases that demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature of the scientific enterprise.

5.1.12.B.1. Inquiry and Problem Solving: Select and use appropriate instrumentation to design and conduct investigations.

5.1.12.B.2. Inquiry and Problem Solving: Show that experimental results can lead to new questions and further investigations.

5.1.12.C.1. Safety: Understand, evaluate and practice safe procedures for conducting science investigations.

NJ.5.2. Science and Society: All students will develop an understanding of how people of various cultures have contributed to the advancement of science and technology, and how major discoveries and events have advanced science and technology.

5.2.12.A.1. Cultural Contributions: Recognize the role of the scientific community in responding to changing social and political conditions and how scientific and technological achievement effect historical events.

5.2.12.B.1. Historical Perspectives: Examine the lives and contributions of important scientists who effected major breakthroughs in our understanding of the natural and designed world.

5.2.12.B.2. Historical Perspectives: Discuss significant technological achievements in which science has played an important part as well as technological advances that have contributed directly to the advancement of scientific knowledge.

5.2.12.B.3. Historical Perspectives: Describe the historical origin of important scientific developments such as atomic theory, genetics, plate tectonics, etc., showing how scientific theories develop, are tested, and can be replaced or modified in light of new information and improved investigative techniques.

NJ.5.3. Mathematical Applications: All students will integrate mathematics as a tool for problem-solving in science, and as a means of expressing and/or modeling scientific theories.

5.3.12.A.1. Numerical Operations: Express quantities using appropriate number formats, such as: decimals, percents, scientific notation.

5.3.12.B.1. Geometry and Measurement: When performing mathematical operations with measured quantities, express answers to reflect the degree of precision and accuracy of the input data.

5.3.12.C.1. Patterns and Algebra: Apply mathematical models that describe physical phenomena to predict real world events.

5.3.12.D.1. Data Analysis and Probability: Construct and interpret graphs of data to represent inverse and non-linear relationships, and statistical distributions.

NJ.5.4. Nature and Process of Technology: All students will understand the interrelationships between science and technology and develop a conceptual understanding of the nature and process of technology.

5.4.12.A.1. Science and Technology: Know that scientific inquiry is driven by the desire to understand the natural world and seeks to answer questions that may or may not directly influence humans, while technology is driven by the need to meet human needs and solve human problems.

5.4.12.B.1. Nature of Technology: Assess the impacts of introducing a new technology in terms of alternative solutions, costs, tradeoffs, risks, benefits and environmental impact.

5.4.12.C.1. Technological Design: Plan, develop, and implement a proposal to solve an authentic, technological problem.

NJ.5.5. Characteristics of Life: All students will gain an understanding of the structure, characteristics, and basic needs of organisms and will investigate the diversity of life.

5.5.12.A.1. Matter, Energy and Organization in Living Systems: Relate the structure of molecules to their function in cellular structure and metabolism.

5.5.12.A.2. Matter, Energy and Organization in Living Systems: Explain how plants convert light energy to chemical energy.

5.5.12.A.3. Matter, Energy and Organization in Living Systems: Describe how plants produce substances high in energy content that become the primary source of energy for life.

5.5.12.A.4. Matter, Energy and Organization in Living Systems: Relate disease in humans and other organisms to infections or intrinsic failures of system.

5.5.12.B.1. Diversity and Biological Evolution: Explain that through evolution the Earth's present species developed from earlier distinctly different species.

5.5.12.B.2. Diversity and Biological Evolution: Explain how the theory of natural selection accounts for extinction as well as an increase in the proportion of individuals with advantageous characteristics within a species.

5.5.12.C.1. Reproduction and Heredity: Describe how information is encoded and transmitted in genetic material.

5.5.12.C.2. Reproduction and Heredity: Explain how genetic material can be altered by natural and/or artificial means; mutations and new gene combinations may have positive, negative, or no effect on organisms or species.

5.5.12.C.3. Reproduction and Heredity: Assess the impact of current and emerging technologies on our understanding of inherited human characteristics.

NJ.5.6. Chemistry: All students will gain an understanding of the structure and behavior of matter.

5.6.12.A.1. Structure and Properties of Matter: Know that atoms are made of a positive nucleus surrounded by negative electrons and that the nucleus, a tiny fraction of the volume of an atom, is composed of protons and neutrons, each almost 2,000 times more massive than an electron.

5.6.12.A.2. Structure and Properties of Matter: Know that the number of protons in the nucleus defines the element.

5.6.12.A.3. Structure and Properties of Matter: Know that an atom's electron arrangement, particularly the outermost electrons, determines how the atom can interact with other atoms.

5.6.12.A.4. Structure and Properties of Matter: Explain that atoms form bonds (ionic and covalent) with other atoms by transferring or sharing electrons.

5.6.12.A.5. Structure and Properties of Matter: Explain how the Periodic Table of Elements reflects the relationship between the properties of elements and their atomic structure.

5.6.12.A.8. Structure and Properties of Matter: Know that many biological, chemical and physical phenomena can be explained by changes in the arrangement and motion of atoms and molecules.

5.6.12.A.7. Structure and Properties of Matter: Recognize that the properties of matter are related to the structure and arrangement of their molecules and atoms, such as in metallic and nonmetallic crystals and carbon compounds.

5.6.12.B.1. Chemical Reactions: Explain that the rate of reactions among atoms and molecules depends on how often they encounter one another and that the rate is affected by nature of reactants, concentration, pressure, temperature, and the presence of a catalyst.

5.6.12.B.2. Chemical Reactions: Show that some changes in chemical bonds require a net input or net release of energy.

NJ.5.7. Physics: All students will gain an understanding of natural laws as they apply to motion, forces, and energy transformations.

5.7.12.A.1. Motion and Forces: Apply the mathematical relationship between the mass of an object, the net force exerted on it, and the resulting acceleration.

5.7.12.A.2. Motion and Forces: Explain that whenever one object exerts a force on another, an equal and opposite force is exerted on the first object.

5.7.12.A.3. Motion and Forces: Recognize gravity as a universal force of attraction between masses and that the force is proportional to the masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

5.7.12.A.4. Motion and Forces: Recognize that electrically charged bodies can attract or repel each other with a force that depends upon the size and nature of the charges and the distance between them and know that electric forces play an important role in explaining the structure and properties of matter.

5.7.12.A.5. Motion and Forces: Know that there are strong forces that hold the nucleus of an atom together and that significant amounts of energy can be released in nuclear reactions (fission, fusion, and nuclear decay) when these binding forces are disrupted.

5.7.12.A.8. Motion and Forces: Explain how electromagnetic, gravitational, and nuclear forces can be used to produce energy by causing chemical, physical, or nuclear changes and relate the amount of energy produced to the nature and relative strength of the force.

5.7.12.A.7. Motion and Forces: Demonstrate that moving electric charges can produce magnetic forces and moving magnets can produce electric forces

5.7.12.B.1. Energy Transformations: Explain how the various forms of energy (heat, electricity, sound, light) move through materials and identify the factors that affect that movement.

5.7.12.B.2. Energy Transformations: Explain that while energy can be transformed from one form to another, the total energy of a closed system is constant.

5.7.12.B.3. Energy Transformations: Recognize that whenever mechanical energy is transformed, some heat is dissipated and is therefore unavailable for use.

5.7.12.B.4. Energy Transformations: Explain the nature of electromagnetic radiation and compare the components of the electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves to gamma rays.

NJ.5.8. Earth Science: All students will gain an understanding of the structure, dynamics, and geophysical systems of the earth.

5.8.12.A.1. Earth's Properties and Materials: Explain the interrelationship of the geosphere, hydrosphere, and the atmosphere.

5.8.12.B.1. Atmosphere and Water: Describe how weather (in the short term) and climate (in the long term) involve the transfer of energy in and out of the atmosphere.

5.8.12.C.1. Processes that Shape the Earth: Use the theory of plate tectonics to explain the relationship among earthquakes, volcanoes, mid-ocean ridges, and deep-sea trenches.

5.8.12.C.2. Processes that Shape the Earth: Know that Earth is a system in which chemical elements exist in fixed amounts and move through the solid Earth, oceans, atmosphere, and living things as part of geochemical cycles.

5.8.12.C.3. Processes that Shape the Earth: Recognize that the evolution of life on Earth has changed the composition of Earth's atmosphere through time.

5.8.12.D.1. How We Study the Earth: Analyze the evidence produced by a variety of techniques that is used to understand changes in the Earth that have occurred over time: topography, fossils, Rock stratification, ice cores, radiometric data.

NJ.5.9. Astronomy and Space Science: All students will gain an understanding of the origin, evolution, and structure of the universe.

5.9.12.A.1. Earth, Moon, Sun System: Investigate the Earth, moon, and sun as a system and explain how the motion of these bodies results in the phases of the moon and eclipses.

5.9.12.A.2. Earth, Moon, Sun System: Explain how the regular and predictable motions of the Earth and moon produce tides.

5.9.12.A.3. Earth, Moon, Sun System: Explain how the tilt, rotation, and orbital pattern of the Earth relative to the sun produce seasons and weather patterns.

5.9.12.B.1. Solar System: Explain that our solar system coalesced from a nebular cloud of gas and dust left from exploding stars.

5.9.12.C.1. Stars: Describe the physical characteristics, stages of development, and the apparent motions of stars.

5.9.12.D.1. Galaxies and Universe: Describe data gathering and observation technologies and explain how they are used to explore the solar system and beyond.

5.9.12.D.2. Galaxies and Universe: Cite evidence to describe the scientific theory of the origin of the universe and the current explanations of its evolution.

NJ.5.10. Environmental Studies: All students will develop an understanding of the environment as a system of interdependent components affected by human activity and natural phenomena.

5.10.12.A.1. Natural Systems and Interactions: Distinguish naturally occurring process from those believed to have been modified by human interaction or activity: climate change, ozone production, erosion and deposition, threatened and endangered species.

5.10.12.B.1. Human Interactions and Impact: Assess the impact of human activities on the cycling of matter and the flow of energy through ecosystems.

5.10.12.B.2. Human Interactions and Impact: Use scientific, economic, and other data to assess environmental risks and benefits associated with societal activity.