-Life Science

The learner will be able to:

• understand what thermodynamics is.
• differentiate between conduction, convection and radiation.
• understand the first and second laws of thermodynamics.
• identify adiabatic processes.
• identify heat engines in society and know how they work.
• understand the process of entropy.
• measure temperature in Celsius, Fahrenheit or Kelvins.
• identify and understand absolute zero.
• identify an objects thermal energy.
• understand the characteristics of heat.
• measure and calculate thermal energy using calories.
• identify and understand changes of phase such as evaporation, sublimation, condensation, melting and freezing.
• understand boiling, boiling points, freezing and freezing points.
• solve problems using heat of fusion and heat of vaporization.

The learner will be able to:

• understand how electrons, protons and neutrons are related.
• understand the components of the nucleus.
• know what the atomic mass for certain atoms are.
• understand atomic spectra.
• know what a probability cloud is.
• understand the uncertainty principle.
• know what quantum mechanics are.
• understand the idea of atomic orbitals.
• compare alpha, beta, and gamma ray emissions.
• understand what nucleons and quarks are.
• understand what isotopes are.
• know what a half life is and how it relates to transmutation.
• differentiate between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion.
• understand how critical masses and chain reactions are related.
• understand why breeder reactors are important.
• tell the difference between nuclear fusion and thermonuclear fusion.
• differentiate between solids, liquids and gasses.
• differentiate between a physical property and a chemical property.
• understand what an atomic symbol means and how it relates to the elemental formula.
• know what compounds are and identify them with chemical formulas.
• tell the difference between pure and impure materials.
• understand distillation works.
• differentiate between heterogeneous mixture and homogenous mixture.
• differentiate between solutions and suspensions.
• use the periodic table to identify atomic characteristics.
• understand ionization energy.
• know what a period is on the table.
• relate the properties of metals, nonmetals and metalloids.
• know what a group is on the table.
• know what alkali metals, alkali-earth metals, halogens, noble gasses, and transition metals are.
• know where the lanthanide and actinide series fits into the periodic table.
• understand that atoms have electrons in energy shells.
• know where valence electrons are found.
• know where the nuclear charge is.

The learner will be able to:

• understand inertia.
• identify how objects are affected by Newton's first law.
• differentiate between mass and weight.
• be able to measure objects in kilograms and Newton's.
• identify how objects are affected by Newton's second law.
• identify and measure force.
• understand mechanical equilibrium.
• identify friction and its sources.
• understand the ideas of terminal speed and terminal velocity.
• identify how objects are affected by Newton's third law.
• calculate the forces two objects exert on each other.
• identify projectiles and their motions.
• understand ellipses and how they relate to projectiles.
• understand why escape speed is critical for rockets.
• compute the speed of an object.
• compute the instantaneous and average speed of an object.
• find the velocity of an object.
• determine the resultant vector of an object using velocity vectors.
• understand the concept of free-fall.
• calculate momentum.
• identify impulses.
• calculate how momentum is conserved.
• differentiate between an elastic and an inelastic collision.
• calculate work used in motion.
• identify and understand forms of energy.
• calculate and understand potential and kinetic energy.
• understand and calculate how energy is conserved.
• calculate power and relate that to efficiency.

The learner will be able to:

• identify the characteristics of the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, ionosphere and exosphere.
• know what the solar constant is.
• understand how the greenhouse effect works.
• know what salinity is.
• know what a pressure-gradient force is.
• understand the coriolis effect.
• understand what gyre is.
• know what humidity is.
• know what relative humidity is.
• understand the effect of temperature inversion.
• know how clouds form.
• differentiate between convectional and orographic lifting.
• figure out what a front is and what frontal lifting is.

The learner will be able to:

• understand the difference between body, surface, primary and secondary waves.
• identify the Earth's core, mantle, asthenosphere, lithosphere and crust
• know what Pangea was.
• understand natural magnetism and Paleomagnetism.
• know how seafloor spreading and the theory of plate tectonics are related.
• differentiate between a fold, syncline, anticline, fault, rift and transformation fault.
• identify the moon phases.
• differentiate between solar and lunar eclipses.
• know what sunspots are.
• tell the difference between an asteroid, meteorite, meteor, and comet.
• know what a protostar is.
• understand what binary systems are.
• read a H-R diagram.
• compare a red giant, white dwarf and a black dwarf.
• know when and how planetary nebula form.
• tell the difference between a nova and a supernova.
• know the composition of a neutron star.
• know what a pulsar is.
• know how an event horizon, a black hole and a black hole singularity are related.
• know how a galaxy, cluster and a supercluster are arranged.
• understand what a quasar is.
• understand what the Big Bang was and how the primeval fireball is related to it.
• understand spacetime.
• understand the special theory of relativity.
• know what time dilation is.
• understand what a length contraction is.
• understand the general theory of relativity.
• know what the idea geodesic means.
• understand when a gravitational red shift occurs.

The learner will be able to:

• know what original horizontality is.
• know what superposition is.
• know what cross-cutting is.
• understand what an inclusion is.
• identify faunal succession.
• compare unconformity, angular unconformity and nonconformity.
• know how to do radiometric dating and to date a rock.
• know each major time period in the Earth's history: Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic, Precambrian.
• understand the hydrological cycle.
• understand how groundwater and the water table are related.
• differentiate between porosity and permeability.
• identify an artesian system.
• know what leachate is.
• understand what turbulent and laminar flows are.
• identify a delta.
• identify a glacier, its accumulation and its ablation.
• know what glacial drift is.
• understand what a continental margin is.

The learner will be able to:

• understand how waves, amplitude, wavelength, frequency, hertz and period are related.
• calculate the wave speed of sound.
• distinguish between transverse and longitudinal waves.
• understand what sound waves are.
• understand how sound waves refract.
• understand how forced vibrations and natural frequencies are related.
• identify the causes of resonance.
• understand how interference occurs.
• understand what beats are related to the sounds they are in.
• understand how standing waves occur.
• understand the Doppler effect and identify uses for it.
• know when bow waves occur.
• understand when shock waves occur and how sonic booms are associated.
• understand how fundamental frequencies and harmonics are interrelated.
• differentiate between reflection and refraction of light.
• use the law of reflection to understand the angle of incidence.
• understand how to diffuse reflection occur.
• identify critical angles.
• understand total internal reflection.
• distinguish between diverging and converging lenses.
• differentiate between virtual and real images.
• know what a photoelectric effect is.
• understand what photons are and their properties.
• identify the characteristics of electromagnetic waves.
• identify important wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum.
• distinguish between the terms transparent and opaque.
• differentiate between additive primary colors, subtractive primary colors and complementary colors.
• identify diffracting light.
• understand interference of light.
• understand how light is polarized.
• understand how waves, amplitude, wavelength, frequency, hertz and period are related.
• calculate the wave speed of sound.
• distinguish between transverse and longitudinal waves.
• understand what sound waves are.
• understand how sound waves refract.
• understand how forced vibrations and natural frequencies are related.
• identify the causes of resonance.
• understand how interference occurs.
• understand what beats are related to the sounds they are in.
• understand how standing waves occur.
• understand the Doppler effect and identify uses for it.
• know when bow waves occur.
• understand when shock waves occur and how sonic booms are associated.
• understand how fundamental frequencies and harmonics are interrelated.

The learner will be able to:

• calculate the density of objects.
• calculate the pressure exerted on an object.
• identify buoyant forces and relate them to Archimedes's principles.
• understand the principle of flotation.
• calculate pressure of confined gasses using Boyle's law.
• understand atmospheric pressure and how barometers are used.
• identify Bernoulli's principle in everyday life.
• measure temperature in Celsius, Fahrenheit or Kelvins
• identify and understand absolute zero.
• identify an objects thermal energy.
• understand the characteristics of heat.
• measure and calculate thermal energy using calories.
• identify and understand changes of phase such as evaporation, sublimation, condensation, melting and freezing.
• understand boiling, boiling points, freezing and freezing points.
• solve problems using heat of fusion and heat of vaporization.
• understand what thermodynamics is.
• differentiate between conduction, convection and radiation.
• understand the first and second laws of thermodynamics.
• identify adiabatic processes.
• identify heat engines in society and know how they work.
• understand the process of entropy.
• identify ions.
• calculate the force between two charged bodies using Coulomb's law.
• measure charge using Coulombs.
• understand polarization.
• understand electric fields.
• understand a charge's electrical potential energy and calculate its electrical potential.
• identify potential differences.
• understand electric current and its measurement in amperes.
• differentiate between direct current and parallel current.
• understand electrical resistance and its measurement ohms.
• use ohm's law to measure resistance.
• differentiate between series and parallel circuits.
• calculate electric current.
• understand magnetic forces.
• understand magnetic fields.
• understand magnetic domains.
• know how electromagnets are formed.
• know how an electric motor works.
• understand how electromagnetic induction works.
• understand Faraday's law.
• know how generators create energy.
• understand how transformers work.
• show how Maxwell's law is the inverse of Faraday's law.
• compare and contrast metallic, ionic and covalent bonds.
• understand what alloys are.
• compare and contrast ionic and covalent bonds.
• know an ionic crystal.
• identify molecules.
• understand dipoles.
• understand covalent crystals.
• understand how electronegativity affects atoms.
• differentiate between polar and nonpolar molecules.
• tell the difference between ion-dipole interactions and dipole-dipole interactions.
• know how hydrogen bonds work.
• understand how the terms solvent, solute and dissolving are related.
• differentiate between concentrated, dilute, saturated and unsaturated solutions.
• understand how concentration relates to solutions.
• understand what a mole is and how to calculate molarity.
• understand how the terms solubility, soluble, insoluble, precipitate and supersaturated are interrelated.
• explain what surface tension is.
• differentiate between adhesive and cohesive forces.
• describe a meniscus.
• understand how capillary action works.
• write and balance chemical equations.
• relate reactants and products to each other.
• understand the principle of conservation of mass.
• understand bond energy.
• understand how catalysts work.
• know that some reactions tend to run to equilibrium.
• understand what an atomic mass unit is.
• know a chemicals formula mass.
• use Avagadro's number to figure out the number of atoms in an element.
• use stoichiometry to solve problems.
• understand acid-base and redox reactions.
• differentiate between acids and bases.
• understand how hydronium ions are formed.
• know how salts are formed.
• know how solutions are neutralized.
• understand the difference between acid and basic solutions.
• measure and calculate PH
• understand what a buffer is.
• differentiate between oxidation and reduction.
• understand what electrochemistry is.
• understand how electrodes are used.
• know the process of electrolysis and how it is used.
• know what organic chemistry deals with.
• understand what organic compounds are.
• know what a hydrocarbon is.
• differentiate between structural isomers.
• differentiate between saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons.
• identify aromatic compounds.
• recognize and use the following functional groups: alcohols; phenols; ethers; amines; carbonyls; ketones; aldehydes; amides; carboxylic acids and esters.
• differentiate between polymers and monomers.
• describe the forms of synthetic, addition, condensation polymers and copolymers.
• tell the difference between igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.
• identify minerals and polymorphs of them.
• be able to rank mineral hardness using the Mohs scale or hardness.
• tell the difference between magma and lava.
• understand how partial melting and fractional crystallization affect magma composition.
• differentiate between extrusive and intrusive.
• know what a volcano is.
• know what plutons are.
• differentiate between mechanical and chemical weathering.
• understand the process of erosion.
• know what metamorphisms are and how recrystallization and mechanical deformation are related to them.
• understand how the rock cycle works.