Escape Route

Atoms and Molecules

Grades 6-8

Ask questions that arise from careful observation of phenomena, models, or unexpected results, to clarify and/or seek additional information.

Ask questions to identify and/or clarify evidence and/or the premise(s) of an argument.

Ask questions to clarify and/or refine a model, an explanation, or an engineering problem.

Develop or modify a model -- based on evidence -- to match what happens if a variable or component of a system is changed.

Develop and/or revise a model to show the relationships among variables, including those that are not observable but predict observable phenomena.

Develop and/or use a model to predict and/or describe phenomena.

Develop a model to describe unobservable mechanisms.

Collect data to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence to answer scientific questions or test design solutions under a range of conditions.

Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for phenomena.

Construct an explanation using models or representations.

Apply scientific ideas, principles, and/or evidence to construct, revise and/or use an explanation for realworld phenomena, examples, or events.

Apply scientific reasoning to show why the data or evidence is adequate for the explanation or conclusion.

Respectfully provide and receive critiques about one's explanations, procedures, models, and questions by citing relevant evidence and posing and responding to questions that elicit pertinent elaboration and detail.

Construct, use, and/or present an oral and written argument supported by empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support or refute an explanation or a model for a phenomenon or a solution to a problem.

Communicate scientific and/or technical information (e.g., about a proposed object, tool, process, system) in writing and/or through oral presentations.

Students observe time, space, and energy phenomena at various scales using models to study systems that are too large or too small. They understand phenomena observed at one scale may not be observable at another scale, and the function of natural and designed systems may change with scale. They use proportional relationships (e.g., speed as the ratio of distance traveled to time taken) to gather information about the magnitude of properties and processes. They represent scientific relationships through the use of algebraic expressions and equations.

The fact that matter is composed of atoms and molecules can be used to explain the properties of substances, diversity of materials, states of matter, phase changes, and conservation of matter.