Virginia SOL ES.1

What students need to be able to do

• Ask questions that arise from careful observation of phenomena, examination of a model or theory, or unexpected results.
• Determine which questions can be investigated within the scope of the school laboratory or field experience.
• Generate hypotheses based on research and scientific principles.
• Specify what happens to a dependent variable when an independent variable is manipulated in a hypothesis.
• Define design problems that involve the development of a process or system with multiple components and criteria.
• Individually and collaboratively plan and conduct observational and experimental investigations.
• Plan and conduct investigations to test design solutions in a safe and ethical manner, considering environmental, social, and personal effects.
• 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, considering limitations of data analysis.
• Apply mathematical concepts and processes to scientific questions.
• Use data in building and revising models, supporting explanations of phenomena, or testing 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 based on data.
• 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 an explanation of phenomena or design solutions.
• Construct arguments or counterarguments based on data and evidence.
• Differentiate between a scientific hypothesis, theory, and law.
• Evaluate the merits and limitations of models.
• Develop, revise, and/or use models based on evidence to illustrate or predict relationships.
• Construct and interpret scales, diagrams, classification charts, graphs, tables, imagery, models, including geologic cross sections and topographic profiles.
• Read and interpret topographic and basic geologic maps and globes, including location by latitude and longitude.
• 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 sources, assessing the evidence and credibility of each source.
• Communicate scientific and/or technical information about phenomena and/or a design process in multiple formats.