Grade 6 Science Massachusetts standards Standards

Technology/Engineering

Physical Science

Life Science

Earth and Space Sciences

Central America, the Caribbean Islands, and South America

Sub-Saharan Africa

Interactions among ancient societies in Western Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East

The ancient Arabian Peninsula (7th century CE)

Ancient Israel, Palestine, c. 2000 BCE–70 CE

Ancient Phoenicia, c. 1000–300 BCE

Ancient Egypt, c. 3000–1200 BCE

Western Asia, the Middle East and North Africa: Mesopotamia, c. 3500–1200 BCE

Western Asia, the Middle East and North Africa Middle East, and North Africa

Human origins, the Neolithic and Paleolithic Eras

Studying complex societies, past and present

Grade 6: World Geography and Ancient Civilizations I

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

Comprehension and Collaboration

Speaking and Listening Standards

Range of Writing

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

Production and Distribution of Writing

Text Types and Purposes

Writing Standards

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

Craft and Structure

Key Ideas and Details

Reading Standards for Literacy

History and Social Science and the Standards for Literacy (Grades 6-8)

Standards for History and Social Science Practice

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, quoting or paraphrasing as appropriate.

Independently and proficiently read and comprehend history/social studies texts exhibiting complexity appropriate for the grade/course.

Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

Identify key steps in a text's description of a process related to history/social studies (e.g., how a bill becomes law, how interest rates are raised or lowered).

Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.

Describe how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally), including how written texts incorporate features such as headings.

Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author's point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).

Integrate visual information (e.g., charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.

Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.

Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on discipline-specific topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Come to discussions prepared, having read or researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence on the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on ideas under discussion. (See grades 6–8 Reading Standard 1 for more on the use of textual evidence.)

Follow rules for collegial discussions and decision-making, track progress toward specific goals and deadlines, and define individual roles as needed.

Pose questions that connect the ideas of several speakers and respond to others' questions and comments with relevant evidence, observations, and ideas.

Acknowledge new information expressed by others, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views in light of the evidence presented.

Analyze the purpose of information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and evaluate the motives (e.g., social, commercial, political) behind its presentation.

Delineate a speaker's argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and relevance and sufficiency of the evidence and identifying when irrelevant evidence is introduced.

Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with relevant evidence, sound valid reasoning, and well-chosen details; use appropriate vocabulary, eye contact, volume, and pronunciation.

Integrate multimedia components and visual displays into presentations to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence, and add interest.

Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.

Introduce claim(s) about a topic or issue, acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims/critiques, and organize the reasons and evidence logically in paragraphs and sections.

Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the topic or text, using credible sources.

Use words, phrases, and clauses with precision to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim(s), counterclaims/critiques, reasons, and evidence.

Establish and maintain a style appropriate to audience and purpose (e.g., formal for academic writing).

Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.

Write routinely over extended time frames (time for reflection and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.

Introduce a topic clearly, previewing what is to follow; use paragraphs and sections to organize ideas, concepts, and information into broader categories as appropriate to achieving purpose; include text features (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., charts, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.

Develop the topic with relevant, well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.

Use appropriate and varied transitions to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among ideas, concepts, or procedures.

Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.

Establish and maintain a style appropriate to audience and purpose (e.g., formal for academic writing).

Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented.

Not applicable

Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.

Use technology, including current web-based communication platforms, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas clearly and efficiently.

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.

When conducting research, gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, interpretation, reflection, and research. (See grades 6–8 Reading Standard 1 for more on the use of textual evidence.)

Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to explain the causes of lunar phases and eclipses of the sun and moon.

Analyze and interpret rock layers and index fossils to determine the relative ages of rock formations that result from processes occurring over long periods of time.

Use graphical displays to illustrate that Earth and its solar system are one of many in of the Milky Way galaxy, which is one of billions of galaxies in the universe.

Analyze and interpret maps showing the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence that Earth's plates have moved great distances, collided, and spread apart.

Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution. Include potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

Create visual representations of solutions to a design problem. Accurately interpret and apply scale and proportion to visual representations.

Communicate a design solution to an intended user, including design features and limitations of the solution.

Analyze and compare properties of metals, plastics, wood, and ceramics, including flexibility, ductility, hardness, thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, and melting point.

Given a design task, select appropriate materials based on specific properties needed in the construction of a solution.

Choose and safely use appropriate measuring tools, hand tools, fasteners, and common hand-held power tools used to construct a prototype.

Provide evidence that all organisms (unicellular and multicellular) are made of cells.

Develop and use a model to describe how parts of cells contribute to the cellular functions of obtaining food, water, and other nutrients from its environment, disposing of wastes, and providing energy for cellular processes.

Construct an argument supported by evidence that the body systems interact to carry out essential functions of life.

Analyze and interpret evidence from the fossil record to describe organisms and their environment, extinctions, and changes to life forms throughout the history of Earth.

Construct an argument using anatomical structures to support evolutionary relationships among and between fossil organisms and modern organisms.

Plan and conduct an experiment involving exothermic and endothermic chemical reactions to measure and describe the release or absorption of thermal energy.

Use a particulate model of matter to explain that density is the amount of matter (mass) in a given volume. Apply proportional reasoning to describe, calculate, and compare relative densities of different materials.

Conduct an experiment to show that many materials are mixtures of pure substances that can be separated by physical means into their component pure substances.

Use evidence to support the claim that gravitational forces between objects are attractive and are only noticeable when one or both of the objects have a very large mass.

Use diagrams of a simple wave to explain that (a) a wave has a repeating pattern with a specific amplitude, frequency, and wavelength, and (b) the amplitude of a wave is related to the energy of the wave.

Use diagrams and other models to show that both light rays and mechanical waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.

Present qualitative scientific and technical information to support the claim that digitized signals (sent as wave pulses representing 0s and 1s) can be used to encode and transmit information.

Explain how different academic fields in the social sciences concentrate on different means of studying societies in the past and present.

Give examples of ways in which a current historical interpretation might build on, extend, or reject an interpretation of the past.

Give examples of how archaeologists, historians, geographers, economists, and political scientists work as teams to analyze evidence, develop hypotheses, and construct interpretations of ancient and classical civilizations.

Describe the great climatic and environmental changes that shaped the earth and eventually permitted the growth of human life.

Identify sites where archaeologists have found evidence of the origins of modern human beings and explain current theories of how human groups moved from Africa over time into the continents now known as Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Oceania. Give examples of how ongoing archaeological research adds new data that changes interpretations of how migrations and habitation sites are dated.

Explain that the term Paleolithic Era refers to the period of earliest human history, beginning c. 2.6 million years ago to c, 11,700 years ago, characterized by the first use of stone tools, fire, hunting and gathering weapons, and, about 50,000 years ago, by cave painting, sculpture, tools, and artifacts using diverse materials such as bone, shell, stone, mineral pigments, and wood).

Explain that the term Neolithic Era refers to the period beginning about 10,000 years ago to c. 4500 or c. 2000 BCE in different parts of the world, in which the technologies of agriculture (growing crops and the domestication of animals) and metallurgy (mining and working of metals) were invented and refined, and in which complex societies begin to appear.

Explain how complex societies that practice agriculture may differ, some developing into permanently settled communities, some being nomadic and moving livestock from place to place, some cultivating land temporarily and moving to another location when a plot of land is no longer productive.

Explain that scholars have attempted to define the characteristics of a complex society (sometimes called "civilization") since the early 20th century, and although debates are ongoing, many cite these characteristics:

an economy that produces food surpluses

dense populations in distinct areas or cities

stratified social classes

specialized occupations

developed systems of government, religion, and learning

achievements in technology, art, and monumental architecture

systems of record keeping, either written or oral

Explain the ways in which complex societies interact and spread from one region to another (e.g., by trade, cultural or linguistic exchanges, migration, religious conversion, conquest, or colonization).

Construct and interpret a timeline that shows some of the key periods in the development of human societies in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Eras. Use correctly the words or abbreviations for identifying time periods or dates in historical narratives (decade, age, era, century, millennium, CE/AD, BCE/BC, c. and circa). Identify in BCE dates the higher number as indicating the older year (that is, 3000 BCE is earlier than 2000 BCE).

On a physical map, use cardinal directions, map scales, key/legend, and title to locate important physical features of the region (e.g. the Indian Ocean, the Black Sea, Aegean Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Arabian Peninsula, the Persian Gulf, the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates Rivers, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Bosporus, and the Suez Canal). Use other kinds of maps (e.g., landform, population, climate) to determine important characteristics of this region.

On a political map of the region, demonstrate map reading skills to distinguish countries, capitals, and other cities and to describe their absolute location (using latitude and longitude coordinates) and relative location (relationship to other countries, cities, or bodies of water); use knowledge of maps to complement information gained from text about a city, country or region.

Explain how absolute and relative locations, major physical characteristics, climate and natural resources in this region have influenced settlement patterns, population size, and economies of the countries.

Explain how the presence of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers contributed to the development of agriculture and ancient complex societies; explain why historians have called the region that surrounds these rivers "the Fertile Crescent."

On a map of archaeological sites in the region, and identify the locations and time periods of the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians as successive states and empires.

Describe how irrigation, mining and metalsmithing, agriculture, the domestication of animals, and inventions such as the wheel, the sail, and the plow contributed to settlement and the growth of Mesopotamian civilizations.

Analyze the important characteristics and achievements of early Mesopotamia.

a complex society with rulers, priests, soldiers, craftspeople, farmers, and slaves

a religion based on polytheism (the belief in many gods)

monumental architecture (the ziggurat) and developed art (including large relief sculptures, mosaics, carved cylinder seals)

cuneiform writing, used for record keeping tax collection, laws and literature

the first epic (the Epic of Gilgamesh) and the first set of written laws (the Code of Hammurabi, for example, "If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out." [An eye for an eye]).

Identify the locations of ancient Upper and Lower Egypt and ancient Nubia; and explain what the terms "Upper" and "Lower" mean in this context.

Describe the significance of the Nile River to ancient Egyptians.

Analyze the kinds of evidence that have been used by archaeologists and historians to draw conclusions about the social and economic characteristics of ancient Nubia (the Kingdom of Kush) and their relationship to the characteristics of ancient Egypt.

Analyze the role of the pharaoh as god/king, and describe how pharaohs were represented in painting and sculpture, the concept of dynasties, and significant acts of at least one pharaoh or queen (e.g., Khufu, Akhnaten, Ramses II, Nefertiti, Cleopatra).

Describe the relationships among social classes (e.g., the relationship of the pharaoh to priests, nobles, government officials, soldiers, scribes, artisans, farmers, and peasants, laborers, and slaves).

Describe the polytheistic religion of ancient Egypt with respect to beliefs about death, proper behavior, the afterlife, mummification, and the roles of deities.

Summarize important achievements of the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms (e.g., the agricultural system; knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, the invention of a calendar; the invention of papyrus and hieroglyphic writing; the organization of monumental building projects such as the Pyramids and Sphinx at Giza; the centralization of government and military power).

On a map of the ancient Mediterranean world, locate Greece, Asia Minor, Crete, Phoenicia, the Aegean and the Red Sea.

Explain how the location of Phoenicia contributed to its domination of maritime trade in the Mediterranean from c. 1000-300 BCE.

Describe how the alphabetic Phoenician writing system differed from Mesopotamian cuneiform or Egyptian hieroglyphic writing; explain how Phoenician maritime traders contributed to the spread of the use of the alphabetic system, which eventually evolved into the Greek alphabet and then into letter symbols used in other languages.

On a historical map of the Mediterranean, locate Asia Minor, Greece and Mesopotamia, the kingdoms of the Hittites and ancient Israel and Palestine and ancient Egypt.

Trace the migrations of the ancient Israelite tribes from Mesopotamia to the land called Canaan and explain the role of Abraham and Moses in Hebrew history.

Describe the history of ancient Israel and early Christianity:

monotheistic religion (e.g., the belief in one God, the Ten Commandments, the emphasis on individual worth and personal responsibility, the belief that rulers and the ruled must adhere to the same moral obligations)

the Hebrew Bible's accounts of the history of early Israel: the unification of the tribes of Israel under Saul, David, and Solomon; the founding of Jerusalem as capital city by David (c. 1000 BCE), the building of the first temple by Solomon (c. 900-800 BCE), the destruction of the first temple (c. 400 BCE), the annexation of Judea by the Roman Empire and the Roman destruction of the second temple (c. 70 CE).

the emergence of Christianity as a distinct religion, with roots in Judaism, but increasingly diverse followers throughout the Roman Empire and the relationship of early Christians to the officials of the Roman Empire.

the central features of Christianity (e.g., the belief in a messiah who could redeem humans from sin, the concept of salvation, the belief in an Old and a new Testament in the Bible, the life and teachings of Jesus.).

On a map of the Arabian Peninsula, identify the Red Sea and the cities of Mecca and Medina as the sites of the beginning of the Muslim religion.

Explain Islam's historical relationship to Judaism and Christianity as monotheistic religions.

Describe the life and teachings of Muhammad (570-c. 632 CE) and the significance of the Qur'an as the primary source of Islamic belief.

Describe the impact of encounters through trade, cultural exchange, and conquest among the societies and empires in the region, in particular, exchanges on land routes of the Silk Roads linking Europe, the steppes of West Asia, East Asia, and Africa, and the goods, languages, and cultural motifs exchanged (e.g., gold, ivory from Africa, grain from Western Asia, produce, horses, livestock, wood, furs from the steppes, ceramics, silk, and other luxury goods from China).

Use information from primary and secondary sources to research contributions of one of the ancient Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Phoenician, Israelite, Islamic, and Eurasian societies to the modern world.

Physical and political geography of Sub-Saharan Africa

On a map of the world, locate the continent of Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea. On a map of Africa, locate the northern, eastern, western, central, and southern regions of Africa, the Sahara Desert, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Cape of Good Hope, the Great Rift Valley, Lake Victoria). Use other kinds of maps (e.g., landform, population, climate) to determine important characteristics of this region.

On a political map of the region, demonstrate map reading skills to distinguish countries, capitals, and other cities and to describe their absolute location (using latitude and longitude coordinates) and relative location (relationship to other countries, cities, or bodies of water); use knowledge of maps to complement information gained from text about a city, country or region.

Explain how absolute and relative locations, major physical characteristics, climate (including drought and desertification), and natural resources in this region have influenced settlement patterns, population size, and economies of the countries.

Selected Sub-Saharan African states and societies, c. 100–1000 CE

Identify the location, sources of wealth, and importance of the Kingdom of Axum (c. 100-940 CE); explain the role it played in the adoption of Christianity in Ethiopia and the role east African societies played in the spread of Islam to South Asia,

Explain the pivotal role Swahili coastal societies along the Indian Ocean played in linking trade networks between interior Africa and maritime routes along the coasts of Central and South Asia, and connecting to China; identify key goods in this trade (e.g., gold, ivory, iron, people from Africa, and cloth, glass beads, and porcelain from Asia).

Identify the locations, sources of wealth and importance of West African cities and empires, including the city of Timbuktu (beginning c.5th century CE), and the empire of ancient Ghana (beginning c. 700 CE).

Explain the pivotal role these societies played in the trans-Saharan trade, the spread of Islam, and trade with North Africa, Europe, West Asia in gold, ivory, and slaves and the contributions of these societies to the modern world.

Physical and political geography and indigenous populations of Central America and the Caribbean Islands

On a physical map of the world, use cardinal directions, map scales, key/legend, and title to locate Central America, the Caribbean Sea. On a map of the region, identify important physical features of the region (e.g. Gulf of Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula, the Panama Canal).

Demonstrate knowledge of political geography by locating the current countries and major cities of Central America and the Caribbean Islands on a political map; use knowledge of maps to complement information gained from text about a country or region.

Explain how absolute and relative locations, climate, major physical characteristics and natural resources influenced settlement, population size, and the economies of regions and countries in Central America and the Caribbean Islands.

Describe the culture and way of life of the indigenous populations of the region (e.g., Carib [Antilles and South America], Taino [Cuba, Trinidad, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico], Lenca [Honduras], Miskito [Nicaragua], Huatares and Chorotegas [Costa Rica], Lokono, also known as Arawak [Trinidad and Tobago]).

Physical and political geography of South America

On a physical map of the world, use cardinal directions, map scales, key/legend, and title to locate South America and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. On a map of South America, locate important physical features of the region (e.g. Isthmus of Panama, Andes Mountains, Cape Horn, Amazon River, and the southern, northern, eastern, and western regions of South America). Use other kinds of maps (e.g., landform, population, climate) to determine important characteristics of this region.

On a political map of the region, demonstrate map reading skills to distinguish countries, capitals, and other cities and to describe their absolute location (using latitude and longitude coordinates) and relative location (relationship to other countries, cities, or bodies of water); use knowledge of maps to complement information gained from text about a city, country or region.

Explain how absolute and relative locations, major physical characteristics, climate and natural resources in this region have influenced settlement patterns, population size, and economies of the countries.

Major ancient societies in Central America and South America, c. 1400 BCE–1600 CE

Research and report on one of the major ancient societies that existed in Central America (Maya, Teotihuacán, and other civilizations such as the Olmec, Toltec, and Zapotec), or one of the major pre-Columbian Andean civilizations (Chavín, Moche, Nazca), their locations, and their cultural characteristics.

Earth's Place in the Universe

Earth's Systems

Engineering Design

Materials, Tools, and Manufacturing

Demonstrate civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

Develop focused questions or problem statements and conduct inquiries.

Organize information and data from multiple primary and secondary sources.

Analyze the purpose and point of view of each source; distinguish opinion from fact.

Evaluate the credibility, accuracy, and relevance of each source.

Argue or explain conclusions, using valid reasoning and evidence.

Determine next steps and take informed action, as appropriate.

From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

Matter and Its Interactions

Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

Computational Thinking

Computing Systems

Digital Tools and Collaboration

Computing and Society

Safety and Security

Identify threats and actively protect devices and networks from viruses, intrusion, vandalism, and other malicious activities.

Describe how cyberbullying can be prevented and managed.

Explain the connection between the persistence of data on the Internet, personal online identity, and personal privacy.

Describe and use safe, appropriate, and responsible practices (netiquette) when participating in online communities (e.g., discussion groups, blogs, social networking sites).

Differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate content on the Internet.

Ethics and Laws

Explain how copyright law and licensing protect the owner of intellectual property.

Explain possible consequences of violating intellectual property law and plagiarism.

Apply fair use for using copyrighted materials (e.g., images, music, video, text).

Identify the legal consequences of sending or receiving inappropriate content (e.g., cyberbullying, harassment, sexting).

Differentiate among open source and proprietary software licenses and their applicability to different types of software and media.

Demonstrate compliance with the school's Acceptable Use Policy [AUP].

Identify software license agreements and application permissions.

Explain positive and malicious purposes of hacking.

License original content and extend license for sharing in the public domain (e.g., creative commons).

Interpersonal and Societal Impact

Describe current events and emerging technologies in computing and the effects they may have on education, the workplace, individuals, communities, and global society.

Identify and discuss the technology proficiencies needed in the classroom and the workplace, and how to meet the needs.

Relate the distribution of computing resources in a global society to issues of equity, access, and power.

Evaluate how media and technology can be used to distort, exaggerate, and misrepresent information.

Evaluate the bias of digital information sources, including websites.

Computing Devices

Describe the main functions of an operating system.

Recognize that there is a wide range of application software.

Identify and describe the function of the main internal parts of a basic computing device (e.g., motherboard, hard drive, Central Processing Unit [CPU]).

Identify and describe the use of sensors, actuators, and control systems in an embodied system (e.g., a robot, an e-textile, installation art, smart room).

Individually and collaboratively design and demonstrate the use of a device (e.g., robot, e-textile) to accomplish a task.

Use a variety of computing devices (e.g., probes, sensors, handheld devices, Global Positioning System [GPS]) to individually and collaboratively collect, analyze, and present information for content-related problems.

Identify steps involved in diagnosing and solving routine hardware and software problems (e.g., power, connections, application window or toolbar, cables, ports, network resources, video, sound) that occur during everyday computer use.

Human and Computer Partnerships

Explain why some problems can be solved more easily by computers or humans based on a general understanding of types of tasks at which each excels.

Describe how humans and machines interact to solve problems that cannot be solved by either alone (e.g., "big data" experiments that involve drawing conclusions by analyzing vast amounts of data).

Networks

Explain the difference between physical (wired), local and wide area, wireless, and mobile networks.

Model the components of a network, including devices, routers, switches, cables, wires, and transponders.

Describe how information, both text and non-text, is translated and communicated between digital devices over a computer network.

Services

Identify capabilities of devices that are enabled through services (e.g., a wearable device that stores fitness data in the cloud, a mobile device that uses location services for navigation).

Abstraction

Describe how data is abstracted by listing attributes of everyday items to represent, order and compare those items (e.g., street address as an abstraction for locations; car make, model, and license plate number as an abstraction for cars).

Define a simple function that represents a more complex task/problem and can be reused to solve similar tasks/problems.

Use decomposition to define and apply a hierarchical classification scheme to a complex system, such as the human body, animal classification, or in computing.

Algorithms

Design solutions that use repetition and conditionals.

Use logical reasoning to predict outputs given varying inputs.

Individually and collaboratively decompose a problem and create a sub-solution for each of its parts (e.g., video game, robot obstacle course, making dinner).

Recognize that more than one algorithm can solve a given problem.

Recognize that boundaries need to be taken into account for an algorithm to produce correct results.

Data

Demonstrate that numbers can be represented in different base systems (e.g., binary, octal, and hexadecimal) and text can be represented in different ways (e.g., American Standard Code for Information Interchange [ASCII]).

Describe how computers store, manipulate, and transfer data types and files (e.g., integers, real numbers, Boolean Operators) in a binary system.

Create, modify, and use a database (e.g., define field formats, add new records, manipulate data), individually and collaboratively, to analyze data and propose solutions for a task/problem.

Perform a variety of operations such as sorting, filtering, and searching in a database to organize and display information in a variety of ways such as number formats (scientific notation and percentages), charts, tables, and graphs.

Select and use data-collection technology (e.g., probes, handheld devices, geographic mapping systems) to individually and collaboratively gather, view, organize, analyze, and report results for content-related problems.

Programming and Development

Individually and collaboratively compare algorithms to solve a problem, based on a given criteria (e.g., time, resource, accessibility).

Use functions to hide the detail in a program.

Create a program, individually and collaboratively, that implements an algorithm to achieve a given goal.

Implement problem solutions using a programming language, including all of the following: looping behavior, conditional statements, expressions, variables, and functions.

Trace programs step-by-step in order to predict their behavior.

Use an iterative approach to development and debugging to understand the dimensions of a problem clearly.

Modeling and Simulation

Create a model of a real-world system and explain why some details, features and behaviors were required in the model and why some could be ignored.

Use and modify simulations to analyze and illustrate a concept in depth (e.g., light rays/mechanical waves interaction with materials, genetic variation).

Select and use computer simulations, individually and collaboratively, to gather, view, analyze, and report results for content-related problems (e.g., migration, trade, cellular function).

Digital Tools

Identify and explain the strengths, weaknesses, and capabilities of a variety of digital tools.

Identify the kinds of content associated with different file types and why different file types exist (e.g., formats for word processing, images, music, three-dimensional drawings.).

Integrate information from multiple file formats into a single artifact.

Individually and collaboratively use advanced tools to design and create online content (e.g., digital portfolio, multimedia, blog, webpage).

Individually and collaboratively develop and conduct an online survey.

Collaboration and Communication

Communicate and publish key ideas and details individually or collaboratively in a way that informs, persuades, and/or entertains using a variety of digital tools and media-rich resources.

Collaborate synchronously and asynchronously through online digital tools.

Demonstrate ability to communicate appropriately through various online tools (e.g., e-mail, social media, texting, blog comments).

Research

Perform advanced searches to locate information using a variety of digital sources (e.g., Boolean Operators, limiters like reading level, subject, media type).

Evaluate quality of digital sources for reliability, including currency, relevancy, authority, accuracy, and purpose of digital information.

Gather, organize, and analyze information from digital sources by quoting, paraphrasing, and/or summarizing.

Create an artifact, individually and collaboratively, that answers a research question and communicates results and conclusions.

Use digital citation tools to cite sources using a school- or district-adopted format (e.g., Modern Language Association [MLA]), including proper citation for all text and non-text sources (e.g., images, audio, video).