Grade 2 Science CA Core Standards

PRINCIPLE I: People Depend on Natural Systems The continuation and health of individual human lives and of human communities and societies depend on the health of the natural systems that provide essential goods and ecosystem services.

The goods produced by natural systems are essential to human life and to the functioning of our economies and cultures.

The ecosystem services provided by natural systems are essential to human life and to the functioning of our economies and cultures.

That the quality, quantity, and reliability of the goods and ecosystem services provided by natural systems are directly affected by the health of those systems.

PRINCIPLE II: People Influence Natural Systems The long‐term functioning and health of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems are influenced by their relationships with human societies.

Direct and indirect changes to natural systems due to the growth of human populations and their consumption rates influence the geographic extent, composition, biological diversity, and viability of natural systems.

Methods used to extract, harvest, transport, and consume natural resources influence the geographic extent, composition, biological diversity, and viability of natural systems.

The expansion and operation of human communities influences the geographic extent, composition, biological diversity, and viability of natural systems.

The legal, economic, and political systems that govern the use and management of natural systems directly influence the geographic extent, composition, biological diversity, and viability of natural systems.

PRINCIPLE III: Natural Systems Change in Ways that People Benefit from and can Influence Natural systems proceed through cycles that humans depend upon, benefit from and can alter.

Natural systems proceed through cycles and processes that are required for their functioning.

Human practices depend upon and benefit from the cycles and processes that operate within natural systems.

Human practices can alter the cycles and processes that operate within natural systems.

PRINCIPLE IV: There are no Permanent or Impermeable Boundaries that Prevent Matter from Flowing Between Systems The exchange of matter between natural systems and human societies affects the long‐ term functioning of both.

The effects of human activities on natural systems are directly related to the quantities of resources consumed and to the quantity and characteristics of the resulting byproducts.

The byproducts of human activity are not readily prevented from entering natural systems and may be beneficial, neutral, or detrimental in their effect.

The capacity of natural systems to adjust to human-caused alterations depends on the nature of the system as well as the scope, scale, and duration of the activity and the nature of its byproducts

PRINCIPLE V: Decisions Affecting Resources and Natural Systems are Complex and Involve Many Factors Decisions affecting resources and natural systems are based on a wide range of considerations and decision‐making processes.

There is a spectrum of what is considered in making decisions about resources and natural systems and how those factors influence decisions.

The process of making decisions about resources and natural systems, and how the assessment of social, economic, political, and environmental factors has changed over time.

People Who Make a Difference

Historical Interpretation

Research, Evidence, and Point of View

Chronological and Spatial Thinking

Historical and Social Sciences Analysis Skills

Earth's Place in the Universe

Use information from several sources to provide evidence that Earth events can occur quickly or slowly.

Earth's Systems

Compare multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land.

Develop a model to represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area.

Obtain information to identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid.

Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.

Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.

Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

Matter and its Interactions

Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.

Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.

Make observations to construct an evidence-based account of how an object made of a small set of pieces can be disassembled and made into a new object.

Construct an argument with evidence that some changes caused by heating or cooling can be reversed and some cannot.

Students differentiate between things that happened long ago and things that happened yesterday.

Trace the history of a family through the use of primary and secondary sources, including artifacts, photographs, interviews, and documents.

Compare and contrast their daily lives with those of their parents, grandparents, and/or guardians.

Place important events in their lives in the order in which they occurred (e.g., on a time line or storyboard).

Students demonstrate map skills by describing the absolute and relative locations of people, places, and environments.

Locate on a simple letter-number grid system the specific locations and geographic features in their neighborhood or community (e.g., map of the classroom, the school).

Label from memory a simple map of the North American continent, including the countries, oceans, Great Lakes, major rivers, and mountain ranges. Identify the essential map elements: title, legend, directional indicator, scale, and date.

Locate on a map where their ancestors live(d), telling when the family moved to the local community and how and why they made the trip.

Compare and contrast basic land use in urban, suburban, and rural environments in California.

Students explain governmental institutions and practices in the United States and other countries.

Explain how the United States and other countries make laws, carry out laws, determine whether laws have been violated, and punish wrongdoers.

Describe the ways in which groups and nations interact with one another to try to resolve problems in such areas as trade, cultural contacts, treaties, diplomacy, and military force.

Students understand basic economic concepts and their individual roles in the economy and demonstrate basic economic reasoning skills.

Describe food production and consumption long ago and today, including the roles of farmers, processors, distributors, weather, and land and water resources.

Understand the role and interdependence of buyers (consumers) and sellers (producers) of goods and services.

Understand how limits on resources affect production and consumption (what to produce and what to consume).

Students understand the importance of individual action and character and explain how heroes from long ago and the recent past have made a difference in others' lives (e.g., from biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Louis Pasteur, Sitting Bull, George Washington Carver, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Golda Meir, Jackie Robinson, Sally Ride).

Engineering Design

Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.

Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.

Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

Students place key events and people of the historical era they are studying in a chronological sequence and within a spatial context; they interpret time lines.

Students correctly apply terms related to time, including past, present, future, decade, century, and generation.

Students explain how the present is connected to the past, identifying both similarities and differences between the two, and how some things change over time and some things stay the same.

Students use map and globe skills to determine the absolute locations of places and interpret information available through a map's or globe's legend, scale, and symbolic representations.

Students judge the significance of the relative location of a place (e.g., proximity to a harbor, on trade routes) and analyze how relative advantages or disadvantages can change over time.

Students summarize the key events of the era they are studying and explain the historical contexts of those events.

Students identify the human and physical characteristics of the places they are studying and explain how those features form the unique character of those places.

Students identify and interpret the multiple causes and effects of historical events.

Students conduct cost-benefit analyses of historical and current events.

Students differentiate between primary and secondary sources.

Students pose relevant questions about events they encounter in historical documents, eyewitness accounts, oral histories, letters, diaries, artifacts, photographs, maps, artworks, and architecture.

Students distinguish fact from fiction by comparing documentary sources on historical figures and events with fictionalized characters and events.

People use computing technology in ways that can help or hurt themselves and/or others. Harmful behaviors, such as sharing passwords or other private information and leaving public devices logged in should be recognized and avoided. Students keep login information private, log off of devices appropriately, and discuss the importance of these practices.

Electronic communication facilitates positive interactions, such as sharing ideas with many people, but the public and anonymous nature of electronic communication also allows intimidating and inappropriate behavior in the form of cyberbullying. Responsible electronic communication includes limiting access to personably identifiable information. Students learn and use appropriate behavior when communicating electronically (often called "netiquette").

Computing technologies have changed the way people live and work. Students describe the positive and negative impacts of these changes. For example, as a class, students could create a timeline that includes advancements in computing technologies. Each student could then choose an advancement from the timeline and make a graphic organizer noting how people's lives were different before and after its introduction into society.

Impacts of Computing

Program developers make choices and iterate to continually refine their product. At this stage, students explain or write about the goals and expected outcomes of the programs they create and the choices that they made when creating programs. Students could use coding journals, discussions with a teacher, class presentations, or blogs.

Algorithms or programs may not always work correctly. Students use various strategies, such as changing the sequence of the steps, following the algorithm in a step-by-step manner, or trial and error to fix problems in algorithms and programs.

Computing makes it easy to reuse and remix others' creations, and this comes with a level of responsibility. Students credit artifacts that were created by others, such as pictures, music, and code. Credit could be given orally if presenting their work to the class, or in writing if sharing work on a class blog or website. Proper attribution at this stage does not require formal citation, such as in a bibliography or works cited document.

Creating a plan for what a program will do clarifies the steps that will be needed to create the program and can be used to check if a program runs as expected. Students create a planning document to illustrate their program's sequence of events, goals, and expected outcomes of what their program will do. Planning documents could include a story map, a storyboard, or a sequential graphic organizer, to illustrate their program's sequence of events, goals, and expected outcomes of what their program will do. Students at this level may complete the planning process with help from the teacher.

Decomposition is the act of breaking down tasks into simpler tasks. For example, students could break down the steps needed to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, to brush their teeth, to draw a shape, to move a character across the screen, or to solve a level of a coding app. In a visual programming environment, students could break down the steps needed to draw a shape.

People create programs by composing sequences of commands that specify the precise order in which instructions should be executed. Loops enable programs to repeat a sequence of commands multiple times.

Information in the real world can be represented in computer programs. Students model the digital storage of data by transforming real-world information into symbolic representations that include text, numbers, and images.

Algorithms are sequences of instructions that describe how to complete a specific task. Students create algorithms that reflect simple life tasks inside and outside of the classroom.

Algorithms & Programming

Data can be used to make inferences or predictions about the world.

Data can be collected and presented in various visual formats.

Information from the real world can be stored and processed by a computing device. When stored on a computing device, it is referred to as data. Data can include images, text documents, audio files, and video files. Students store, copy, search, retrieve, modify, and delete information using a computing device and define the information stored as data.

Data & Analysis

Connecting devices to a network or the Internet provides great benefit, but care must be taken to protect devices and information from unauthorized access. Messages can be protected by using secret languages or codes. Patterns help to ensure that the intended recipient can decode the message. Students create a pattern that can be decoded and translated into a message.

Passwords protect information from unwanted use by others. When creating passwords, people often use patterns of familiar numbers and text to more easily remember their passwords. However, this may make the passwords weaker. Knowledge about the importance of passwords is an essential first step in learning about cybersecurity. Students explain that strong passwords are needed to protect devices and information from unwanted use.

Information is passed between multiple points (nodes) on a network. The Internet is a network that enables people to connect with other people worldwide through many different points of connection. Students model ways that people communicate, find information, or acquire ideas through a network. Students use a network, such as the internet, to access information from multiple locations or devices.

Networks & Internet

Problems with computing systems have different causes. Accurate description of the problem aids users in finding solutions. Students communicate a problem with accurate terminology (e.g., when an app or program is not working as expected, a device will not turn on, the sound does not work, etc.). Students at this level do not need to understand the causes of hardware and software problems.

A computing system is composed of hardware and software. Hardware includes the physical components of a computer system. Software provides instructions for the system. These instructions are represented in a form that a computer can understand and are designed for specific purposes. Students identify and describe the function of hardware, such as desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet devices, monitors, keyboards, mice, trackpads, microphones, and printers. Students also identify and describe common software applications such as web browsers, games, and word processors.

People use computing devices to perform a variety of tasks accurately and quickly. Computing devices interpret and follow the given instructions literally. Students select and operate an appropriate computing device and corresponding program or app for a given task.

Computing Systems

Model daily processes by creating and following algorithms to complete tasks.

Model the way programs store data.

Create programs with sequences of commands and simple loops, to express ideas or address a problem.

Decompose the steps needed to solve a problem into a sequence of instructions.

Develop plans that describe a program’s sequence of events, goals, and expected outcomes.

Give attribution when using the ideas and creations of others while developing programs.

Debug errors in an algorithm or program that includes sequences and simple loops.

Describe the steps taken and choices made during the iterative process of program development.

Select and operate computing devices that perform a variety of tasks accurately and quickly based on user needs and preferences.

Explain the functions of common hardware and software components of computing systems.

Describe basic hardware and software problems using accurate terminology.

Store, copy, search, retrieve, modify, and delete information using a computing device, and define the information stored as data.

Collect and present data in various visual formats.

Identify and describe patterns in data visualizations, such as charts or graphs, to make predictions.

Compare how people lived and worked before and after the adoption of new computing technologies.

Work respectfully and responsibly with others when communicating electronically.

Describe approaches and rationales for keeping login information private, and for logging off of devices appropriately.

Model and describe how people connect to other people, places, information and ideas through a network.

Explain why people use passwords.

Create patterns to communicate a message.