Standards
Idaho State Standards
Here are correlations to the Idaho State Language and Math standards and to the Idaho State Science Standards. For more information about the overall standards, see the complete Idaho Content Standards for Science, the Next Generation Science Standards, and the alignment between Idaho and NGSS Science Standards. You may also access the Idaho English Language Arts/Literacy Standards and Mathematics Standards.
Language
First Grade
ELA/Literacy 1.W.RW.1
Routinely write or dictate writing for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences (e.g., expressing a view or preference, supplying some information about the topic, stories that recount an event or tell a story).
Suggested Lesson
Create a book about astronauts. Make a page for important aspects learned in ScienceTrek's Astronauts Facts page.
Third Grade
ELA/Literacy 3.RC.L.5d
Explain the difference between a narrator’s point of view and various characters’ perspectives in stories.
Suggested Lesson
Barbara Morgan was excited to be an astronaut. Share your opinion about going into space.
Sixth Grade
ELA/Literacy 6.RC.NF.6b
Explain in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text through examples or anecdotes.
Suggested Lesson
Read about a famous astronaut. Analyze how the author develops the character to make the person seem real and not a fictitious individual.
Math
Kindergarten
Math-K.MD.B.3
Classify objects into given categories; count the numbers of objects in each category (up to and including ten) and sort the categories by count.
Suggested Lesson
Students sort and count photos of space bodies (asteroids, planets, comets, stars). Use NASA's gallery of images or another source to find the photos you need.
Fourth Grade
Math-4.MD.A.2
Use the four operations to solve word problems involving measurements.
Suggested Lesson
Using these three lessons from NASA, students measure the center of gravity.
Sixth Grade
Math-6.SP.B.5c
Giving quantitative measures of center (median and/or mean) and variability (interquartile range and/or mean absolute deviation), as well as describing any overall pattern and any striking deviations from the overall pattern with reference to the context in which the data were gathered.
Suggested Lesson
Using this lesson from NASA, students will identify the regular periodicity (moving in regular periods) of orbits.
Science
First Grade
Earth and Space Sciences: 1-ESS-1.1
Use observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted.
Supporting Content
Patterns of the motion of the sun, moon, and stars in the sky can be observed, described, and predicted.
Third Grade
Physical Sciences: 3-PS-1.2
Make observations and/or measurements of an object's motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.
Supporting Content
The patterns of an object's motion in various situations can be observed and measured; when that past motion exhibits a regular pattern, future motion can be predicted from it.
Fourth Grade
Physical Sciences: 4-PS-2.3
Generate and compare multiple solutions that use patterns to transfer information.
Supporting Content
Different solutions need to be tested in order to determine which of them best solves the problem, given the criteria and the constraints. Testing a solution involves investigating how well it performs under a range of likely conditions.
Fifth Grade
Earth and Space Sciences: 5-ESS-3.1
Obtain and combine information about ways communities protect Earth's resources and environment using scientific ideas.
Supporting Content
Human activities have effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space.
Physical Sciences: 5-PS-2.1
Support an argument that Earth’s gravitational force exerted on objects is direcetd downward.
Supporting Content
The gravitational force of Earth acting on an object near Earth's surface pulls that object toward the planet's center.
Physical Sciences: 5-PS-1.3
Make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties.
Supporting Content
Examples of properties could include color, hardness, reflectivity, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, response to magnetic forces, and solubility.
Sixth Grade
Physical Sciences: MS-PS-2.4
Construct and present arguments using evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions are attractive and depend on the masses of interacting objects.
Supporting Content
Gravitational forces are always attractive. There is a gravitational force between any two masses, but it is very small except when one or both of the objects have large mass (such as the Earth and the Sun.)
Examples of evidence for arguments could include data generated from simulations or digital tools; and charts displaying mass, strength of interaction, distance from the Sun, and orbital periods of objects within the solar system.
Physical Sciences: MS-PS-2.1
Apply Newton's Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects.
Supporting Content
Examples of practical problems could include the impact of collisions between a meteor and a space vehicle.
Earth and Space Sciences: MS-ESS-1.3
Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.
Supporting Content
Emphasis is on the analysis of data from Earth-based instruments, space-based telescopes, and spacecraft to determine similarities and differences among solar system objects. Examples of scale properties include the sizes of an object's layers, surface features, and orbital radius.
Earth and Space Sciences: MS-ESS-1.2
Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the orbital motions within galaxies and the solar system.
Supporting Content
Earth and its solar system are part of the Milky Way galaxy, which is one of many galaxies in the universe.
A solar system consists of the Sun and a collection of objects, including planets, their moons, and asteroids that are held in orbit around the Sun by its gravitational pull on them.
Our solar system appears to have formed from a disk of dust and gas, drawn together by gravity.
Emphasis for the model is on gravity as the force that holds together the solar system, and controls orbital motions within them. Examples of models can be physical (such as computer visualizations of elliptical orbits) or conceptual (such as mathematical proportions relative to the size of familiar objects.)