Models

Pre-K-2
Students identify models and the objects they represent to learn about their features.

a. Describe ways in which toys and pictures are like the real things they model. b. Use a model as a tool to describe the motion of objects or the features of plants and animals.

Students observe that in the physical setting, the living environment, and the technological world some things change over time and some things stay the same.

a. Describe the size, weight, color, or movement of things over varying lengths of time and note qualities that change or remain the same.

3-5
Students use models to represent objects, processes, and events from the physical setting, the living environment, and the technological world.

a. Represent the features of a real object, event, or process using models including geometric figures, number sequences, graphs, diagrams, sketches, maps, or three-dimensional figures and note ways in which those representations do (and do not) match features of the originals.

Students identify and represent basic patterns of change in the physical setting, the living environment, and the technological world.

a. Recognize patterns of change including steady, repetitive, irregular, or apparently unpredictable change. b. Make tables or graphs to represent changes.

6-8
Students use models to examine a variety of real-world phenomena from the physical setting, the living environment, and the technological world and compare advantages and disadvantages of various models.

a. Compare different types of models that can be used to represent the same thing (including models of chemical reactions, motion, or cells) in order to match the purpose and complexity of a model to its use. b. Propose changes to models and explain how those changes may better reflect the real thing.

Students describe how patterns of change vary in physical, biological, and technological systems.

a. Describe systems that are changing including ecosystems, Earth systems, and technologies. b. Give examples of systems including ecosystems, Earth systems, and technologies that appear to be unchanging (even though things may be changing within the system) and identify any feedback mechanisms that may be modifying the changes. c. Describe rates of change and cyclic patterns using appropriate grade-level mathematics.

9-Diploma
Students evaluate the effectiveness of a model by comparing its predictions to actual observations from the physical setting, the living environment, and the technological world.

Students identify and analyze examples of constancy and change that result from varying types and rates of change in physical, biological, and technological systems with and without counterbalance.