Virginia SOL BIO.1

What students need to be able to do

• Ask questions arising from observation of phenomena, models, theories, or to seek additional information.
• Determine which questions can be investigated within the scope of a school laboratory or field study to identify relationships between independent and dependent variables.
• Generate hypotheses based on research and scientific principles.
• Specify what happens to a dependent variable when an independent variable is manipulated in a hypothesis.
• Individually and collaboratively plan and conduct observational and experimental investigations.
• Plan and conduct investigations or test design solutions in a safe and ethical manner, considering environmental, social, and personal effects.
• Determine appropriate sample size and techniques for investigations.
• Select and use appropriate tools and technology to collect, record, analyze, and evaluate data.
• Construct and interpret data tables showing independent and dependent variables, repeated trials, and means.
• Construct, analyze, and interpret graphical displays of data.
• Use data to build and revise models, support explanations for phenomena, or test solutions to problems.
• Analyze data using tools, technologies, and/or models to make valid and reliable scientific claims or determine an optimal design solution.
• Make quantitative and/or qualitative claims regarding the relationship between dependent and independent variables.
• Construct and revise explanations based on valid and reliable evidence from investigations, models, theories, simulations, and peer review.
• Apply scientific ideas, principles, and/or evidence to provide explanations of phenomena and design solutions.
• Compare and evaluate competing arguments or design solutions in light of currently accepted explanations and new scientific evidence.
• Construct arguments or counterarguments based on data and evidence.
• Differentiate between a scientific hypothesis and theory.
• Evaluate the merits and limitations of models.
• Develop, revise, and/or use models based on evidence to illustrate or predict relationships.
• Develop and/or use models to generate data to support explanations, predict phenomena, analyze systems, and/or solve problems.
• Compare, integrate, and evaluate sources of information presented in different media or formats to address a scientific question or solve a problem.
• Gather, read, and evaluate scientific and/or technical information from multiple authoritative sources, assessing the evidence and credibility of each source.
• Communicate scientific and/or technical information about phenomena in multiple formats.