State of Illinois Learning Goals

State of Illinois Learning Goals & Assessment Framework for Science

Goal 12: Understand the fundamental concepts, principles and interconnections of the life, physical and earth/space sciences.
A. Living Things : Know and apply concepts that explain how living things function, adapt and change.
Classification
12.11.01	Identify the major categories (taxa) of biological classification, in order: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.
12.11.02	Understand the kingdoms used by taxonomists: a 5-kingdom system: monera, protista, fungi, plantae, and animalia and a 6-kingdom system: eubacteria, archaebacteria, protista, fungi, plantae, and animalia. Students should be able to identify organisms as to which kingdom they belong. Understand how to read a cladogram and a dichotomous key.
12.11.03	Identify the following basic animal types by their common characteristics: sponges, cnidarians, flatworms and roundworms, mollusks, arthropods, echinoderms, invertebrate chordates, and vertebrates.
Cell Biology
12.11.04.	Identify the similarities and differences between plant and animal cells (i.e., know the various fundamental organelles of plant and animal cells and be able to distinguish these organelles in diagrams)
12.11.05.	Understand how the semi-permeable membranes regulate the flow of substances in and out of the cell body.
12.11.06.	Understand the role of the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus in the secretion of proteins.
12.11.07.	Understand that chloroplasts in plant cells capture useable energy from sunlight and store it for future use by synthesizing sugar out of carbon dioxide and water.
12.11.08.	Understand the role of mitochondria in making stored chemical-bond energy available to cells by completing the breakdown of glucose to carbon dioxide and water.
12.11.09.	Understand that enzymes are proteins that catalyze biochemical reactions and that the activity of enzymes depends on the temperature, ionic conditions, and the pH of the surroundings.
12.11.10	Understand that the chief energy-storing compound used by organisms is ATP (adenosine triphosphate).
12.11.11	Understand how prokaryotic cells, eukaryotic cells (whether of animals or plants and whether unicellular or multicellular), and viruses differ in complexity and structure. In particular: 1. Prokaryotes are organisms whose cells lack nuclei. They are usually small and unicellular. 2. Eukaryotes are organisms whose cells have nuclei and membrane bound organelles. 3. A virus is a non-cellular particle usually made up of genetic material and protein that can invade living cells. Viruses are also much smaller than any unicellular organism (such as a bacterium) and cannot be seen with light microscopes but only with electron microscopes.
Genetics and Reproduction
12.11.12	Understand Mendel's law of segregation and also that genes do not always separate as hypothesized by Mendel's law of segregation. Understand that if genes are located close to each other on the same chromosome, then they are linked and cannot undergo independent assortment.
12.11.13.	Identify and be able to apply the following concepts: trait, alleles, dominant allele, recessive allele, gametes, genotype, homozygous, heterozygous, chromosome, meiosis, and mitosis.
12.11.14	Answer questions about given Punnett squares.
12.11.15	Understand that meiosis is an early step in sexual reproduction in which the pairs of chromosomes separate and segregate randomly during cell division to produce gametes containing one chromosome of each type. Understand that only certain cells in a multicellular organism undergo meiosis.
12.11.16	Understand how random chromosome segregation explains the probability that a particular allele will be in a gamete.
12.11.17	Know why about half of an individual's DNA sequence comes from each parent. Understand that most of the cells in a human contain pairs of 22 different autosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes.
12.11.18	Understand that in humans there is a pair of chromosomes that determines sex: a female usually contains two X chromosomes and a male usually contains one X and one Y chromosome.
12.11.19	Understand how to predict possible combinations of alleles in a zygote from the genetic makeup of the parents for simple dominant/recessive traits.
12.11.20	Understand that a multicellular organism develops from a single zygote, and its phenotype (i.e. its outward appearance) depends on its genotype (i.e. its genetic makeup), which is established at fertilization.
12.11.21	Understand that, in all living things, DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) carries the instructions for specifying the characteristics of each organism. Understand that DNA is a large polymer formed from four subunits: A, G, C, and T (adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine, a 5-carbon sugar and a phosphate). The chemical and structural properties of DNA explain how the genetic information that underlies heredity is both encoded in genes (as a string of molecular letters) and replicated (by a templating mechanism). Know that each DNA molecule in a cell is a single chromosome.
12.11.22	Understand that a gene is a set of instructions in the DNA sequence of each organism that specifies the sequence of amino acids in polypeptides characteristic of that organism.
12.11.23	Understand the general steps by which ribosomes synthesize proteins, using information from mRNA and from amino acids delivered by tRNA.
12.11.24	Understand that specialization of cells in multicellular organisms is usually due to different patterns of gene expression rather than to differences of the genes themselves.
Change over Time
12.11.25	Understand that natural selection acts on the phenotype, not the genotype, of an organism.
12.11.26	Understand that alleles that are lethal in a homozygous individual may be carried in a heterozygote and thus maintained in a gene pool.
12.11.27	Understand that variation within a species increases the likelihood that at least some members of a species will reproduce under changed environmental conditions.
12.11.28	Understand that reproductive or geographic isolation can lead to speciation.
12.11.29	Understand that the millions of different species of plants, animals, and microorganisms that live on Earth today are related to each other by descent from common ancestors, and that biological classifications are based on how organisms are related.
12.11.30	Understand how to analyze fossil evidence with regard to mass extinction, episodic speciation, and biological diversity.

B. Environment and Interaction of Living Things: Know and apply concepts that describe how living things interact with each other and with their environment.
Ecology and Adaptation
12.11.31	Understand the causes of ecosystem disruptions: changes in climate, human activity, introduction of a nonnative species, changes in population size, sudden natural disasters.
12.11.32	Know that fluctuations in population size are determined by the relative rates of birth, immigration, emigration, and death.
12.11.33	Know that concentrations of nonbiodegradable pollutants (e.g., pesticides) increase as we go up in a particular food chain (i.e., that the further we go in the direction of consumers whose food is tainted with pesticide, the more concentrated the levels of the pesticide). Understand that this process is called biological magnification.
12.11.34	Understand how agricultural run-off and pollution entering groundwater and surface water can affect drinking water and local wildlife.
12.11.35	Understand that a vital part of an ecosystem is the stability of its producers and decomposers.
12.11.36	Understand the effects upon the population of a species caused by various ecological factors, particularly (a) the presence of another species with competitive feeding habits, (b) the presence (or absence) of and number of predators, (c) the abundance or scarcity of food sources.
C. Matter and Energy: Know and apply concepts that describe properties of matter and energy and the interactions between them.
Properties of Matter
12.11.37	Identify the most familiar elements by name and some of their most familiar properties. Identify the chemical symbols for familiar elements.
12.11.38	Understand that the periodic table displays the elements in increasing atomic number and shows how periodicity of the physical and chemical properties of the elements relates to atomic structure.
12.11.39	Understand how to relate the position of an element in the periodic table to its chemical properties.
12.11.40	Understand how to use the periodic table to identify the families of elements (and their properties) known as alkali metals, alkaline Earth metals, halogens, and noble gases.
12.11.41	Know that there is a kind of periodicity in the physical properties of chemical elements, and that the periodic table arranges them accordingly, and that this way of ordering them corresponds to the order in their atomic structures. Understand that the major groups of chemical elements are: 1. alkali metals, 2. alkaline Earth metals, 3. transition metals, 4. nonmetals (boron family, carbon family, nitrogen family, oxygen family), 5. metalloids, and 6. rare Earth elements. Know why hydrogen is not in any of these groups.
12.11.42	Know that there are two major different kinds of bonds (ionic and covalent). Know the distinction between a compound and a mixture.
12.11.43	Understand how to use the periodic table to identify the trends in relative sizes of ions and atoms.
12.11.44	Understand how to use the periodic table to determine the number of electrons available for bonding.
12.11.45	Understand that the nucleus of the atom is much smaller than the whole atom yet contains most of its mass. Understand isotopes.
12.11.46	Understand that the transuranium elements were not discovered in nature but synthesized through the use of nuclear accelerators.
12.11.47	Understand the different states of matter: solid, liquid, gas, plasma. Define freezing, melting, boiling, condensing, and sublimation.
12.11.48	Understand that the temperature of water (or any substance) is constant during phase changes, even when heat is being added or removed.
12.11.49	Understand that the kinetic molecular theory explains the properties of gases by the random motion of molecules in them. For example, the collisions of these particles with a surface create an observable pressure on that surface, and their motion explains the diffusion of gases.
12.11.50	Understand how to apply the gas laws to relations between pressure, temperature, and volume of any amount of an ideal gas. Understand Boyle's Law and Charles' Law and how to logically solve problems.
12.11.51	Understand the values of standard temperature and pressure (STP): 0° Celsius and 1 atm.
12.11.52	Understand how to convert between Celsius and kelvin temperature scales. Understand that there is no temperature lower than 0 kelvin, or absolute zero.
The Atom
12.11.53	Understand that in chemical reactions, atoms combine into molecules by means of bonds (e.g., by sharing electrons to form covalent or metallic bonds or by exchanging electrons to form ionic bonds).
12.11.54	Know that ions are atoms or groups of atoms that have a positive or negative charge and that polyatomic ions are a group of covalently bonded atoms that act like a single atom when combining with other atoms. Understand that metals tend to form positive ions, and nonmetals tend to form negative ions.
12.11.55	Understand that ionic solids like NaCl (sodium chloride, ordinary table salt) are formed from a three-dimensional repeating pattern of alternating positive and negative ions, held together by electrostatic forces (ionic bonds).
12.11.56	Understand that the conservation of atoms in a chemical reaction, as summarized in a balanced chemical equation, leads to the ability to calculate theoretical masses of reactants and products.
12.11.57	Understand how to read, interpret, and balance simple chemical equations.
12.11.58	Understand that the chemical quantity called "one mole" is set by calling the number of atoms in exactly 12 grams of carbon-12 atoms one mole. This number turns out to be 6.02 * 10²³, also known as Avogadro's Number
12.11.59	Understand that energy is exchanged or transformed in all chemical reactions and physical changes of matter. Understand that chemical processes can either release (exothermic) or absorb (endothermic) thermal energy. Understand that energy is released when a material condenses or freezes and is absorbed when a material evaporates, melts or subliimes.
Acids and Bases
12.11.60	Understand that most acids, bases, and salts, when dissolved in water, conduct electric current and form ions. Understand the observable properties of acids, bases, and salt solutions.
12.11.61	Understand that among other definitions of acids and bases, acids are hydrogen-ion-donating and bases are hydrogen-ion-accepting substances.
12.11.62	Use the pH scale to characterize acidic and basic solutions. Understand the definition of pH as the negative logarithm of the hydronium ion concentration, and understand what the log scale means.
12.11.63	Distinguish between chemical compounds and solutions and mixtures. Differentiate between solute and solvent. Understand the concentration of a solute in terms of molarity, parts per million, and percent composition.
Energy
12.11.64	Understand that energy, defined somewhat circularly, is "the ability to change matter," or "the ability to do work." Understand that energy is defined by the way it is measured or quantified. Understand the difference between potential and kinetic energy.
12.11.65	Understand that a magnetic field is generated around an electrical current and that the motion of a conducting wire through a magnetic field generates a current through it. Understand that in some substances, such as metals, electrons flow easily, whereas in insulating materials such as glass they can hardly flow at all. Semiconducting materials have intermediate behavior. At very low temperatures, some materials offer no resistance to the flow of electrons and become superconductors.
12.11.66	Understand that an electrically neutral object has particles within it that are charged, but their charges balance each other out.
12.11.67	Know the first two laws of thermodynamics: (1) Energy is conserved (neither created nor destroyed) and (2) Heat flows naturally from a hot object to a cold object; heat will not flow spontaneously from a cold object to a hot object. Understand that another statement of the Second Law is that no device is possible whose sole effect is to transform a given amount of heat completely into work.
12.11.68	Recount the concept of entropy and know that entropy in the universe considered as a whole always increases.
Light and Sound
12.11.69	Indicate that the speed of light differs in some material from its speed in a vacuum is given by the index of refraction for that material, n. where n is the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the speed of light in the material. Also know that light follows the path of least time through various materials and that this is not the same as the shortest distance.
12.11.70	Understand the reflection, refraction, diffraction, interference, and frame of reference properties of waves.
12.11.71	Understand that sound causes molecules of a medium to vibrate back and forth. This series of compressions and rarefactions produces waves.
12.11.72	Understand how sound travels through different mediums.
12.11.73	Understand amplitude, frequency, wavelength, intensity, and quality. Know that intensity is measured in decibels.
D. Force and Motion: Know and apply concepts that describe force and motion and the principles that explain them.
Force and Motion
12.11.74	Understand that the magnitude of a force F is defined as F = ma (Force is Mass times Acceleration). Understand that whenever one object exerts force on another, a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction is exerted on the first object. Understand that when two objects exert forces on each other, momentum is conserved.
12.11.75	Understand that objects change their velocity only when a net force is applied (the law of inertia). Students will be able to distinguish between inertial mass and gravitational mass.
12.11.76	Understand simple machines and how they provide mechanical advantage. For example, know that a lever is like a balance and that to balance it requires the weights (or forces) applied on each end to be in the inverse ratio to that of their distances from the fulcrum. Thus the mechanical advantage increases with greater distance from the fulcrum.
12.11.77	Understand the principles of air pressure and fluid dynamics. Understand Archimedes' Principle and Bernoulli's Principle. Understand that air pressure decreases as altitude increases. Understand that pressure in a liquid increases as the depth increases. Understand how a hydraulic lift (such as the kind used to raise a car for repairs) confers mechanical advantage.
12.11.78	Understand the universal law of gravitation: that gravitation is a force that every mass exerts on every other mass. The strength of the gravitational attractive force between two masses is proportional to the masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them (inverse square law)
12.11.79	Understand the types of motion such as linear, circular, parabolic, and periodic. Explain and predict motions in inertial and accelerated forms of reference.
12.11.80	Understand that the electrical force is a universal force that exists between any two charged objects. Opposite charges attract, like charges repel. The strength of the force is proportional to the charges, and, like gravity, it is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the charged bodies.
12.11.81	Understand that between any two charged particles, the electrical force is vastly greater than the gravitational force. Most observable forces such as those exerted by a coiled spring or friction may be traced to electrical forces acting between atoms and molecules.
E. Earth Science: Know and apply concepts that describe the features and processes of the Earth and its resources.
Earth's Structure
12.11.82	Indicate that the earth's crust is made from mostly igneous and metamorphic materials and was formed as a result of partial melting of the mantle rock. Know that there is a thin layer of sedimentary rock on top in many places.
12.11.83	Understand that geologic time can be estimated by observing rock sequences and using fossils to correlate the sequences at various locations. Understand that current methods include using the known decay rates of radioactive isotopes present in rocks to measure the time since the rock was formed.
12.11.84	Understand that most scientists believe that the sun, the earth, and the rest of the solar system formed from a nebular cloud of dust and gas 4.6 billion years ago.
12.11.85	Understand that interactions among the solid earth, the oceans, the atmosphere, and organisms have resulted in the ongoing transformation of the earth system. Understand that we can observe some changes (such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions) on a human time-scale, but many processes (such as mountain building and plate movements) take place so sporadically or so slowly (over hundreds of millions of years) that we cannot observe them but only infer that they take place from other kinds of evidence.
The Earth's Dynamic Processes
12.11.86	Identify the various features of the ocean floor which furnish evidence for plate tectonics: magnetic patterns, age, and topographical features.
12.11.87	Identify the properties of rocks and minerals based on the physical and chemical conditions in which they are formed, including plate tectonic processes.
12.11.88	Understand why earthquakes occur and how scales are used to measure their intensity and magnitude, specifically the Richter and Mercalli scales.
12.11.89	Differentiate between the two main kinds of volcanoes: one kind with violent eruptions producing steep slopes and another kind with voluminous lava flows producing gentle slopes.
12.11.90	Understand that energy enters the systems of Earth chiefly as solar radiation and eventually escapes again as heat.
12.11.91	Understand that incoming solar radiation is either reflected or absorbed.
12.11.92	Understand that non-uniform heating of the earth results in circulation patterns in the atmosphere and oceans that globally distribute heat (in the form of winds and ocean currents).
12.11.93	Understand the connection between the earth's rotation and the circular motion of ocean currents and air pressure centers.
12.11.94	Understand that biomes such as rain forests and deserts are distributed in bands at specific latitudes and how this results from the interaction of wind patterns, ocean currents, and mountain ranges.
12.11.95	Understand that weather (over a short time) and climate (over a long time) result from the transfer of energy and water in and out of the atmosphere. Understand the effects on climate of latitude, elevation, topography (especially the presence of mountains and valleys), and proximity to large bodies of water, and cold or warm ocean currents.
12.11.96	Understand that Earth's climate has changed over time, corresponding to changes in Earth's geography, atmospheric composition, plate movement, and the cyclic changes in the orientation of Earth's axis of rotation and the shape of its orbit around the sun.
The Atmosphere
12.11.97	Understand the major gases present in the earth's atmosphere, and the percentage which each represents in the composition of the atmosphere (i.e., nitrogen is about 80% and oxygen is about 20%) and that the atmosphere is a mixture, not a compound.
112.11.98	Understand that carbon dioxide increases the greenhouse effect in our atmosphere and that it is produced whenever carbon-containing fuels are burned (e.g., wood, coal, charcoal, oil, natural gas). Understand that removing forests removes trees which absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen.
12.11.99	Analyze weather conditions of an area, given specific weather data.
Water
12.11.100	Understand that a water table marks the top of the zone of saturation of subsurface materials.
12.11.101	Understand at which places in a river or stream one is likely to find a build up of sediment. Understand why sediments of certain sizes build up in different locations in a stream and how this can alter its course over time. Understand how these processes can, over the course of time, change the location of rivers and streams (e.g., meanders).
F. Astronomy: Know and apply concepts that explain the composition and structure of the universe and Earth’s place in it.
Astronomy
12.11.102	Understand and describe the physical characteristics of galaxies and the objects within galaxies (e.g., stars, pulsars, black holes, planets, comets, asteroids). Describe physical characteristics of the sun (e.g., corona, prominences, sunspots, solar flares), and know that solar events can cause phenomena such as auroras.
12.11.103	Analyze the life cycles of stars, and compare stars of different masses.
12.11.104	Know the theory that over 10 billion years ago the universe began in a huge explosion called the Big Bang. Understand that in this explosion, all matter, energy, space, and time were created as the universe expanded from a single point. Understand that one piece of evidence for this theory is the 3K background radiation.
12.11.105	Understand the Doppler effect with respect to light (red and blue shifts) and sound (e.g., the sound of an approaching train's whistle vs. the sound of the whistle moving away). Understand that astronomers use the Doppler shift to estimate the distance of objects millions and billions of light-years away.
12.11.106	Understand the effects of gravity within the solar system. Understand that the tides are caused by the gravitational attraction among the earth, moon, and sun.