Curriculum Guidelines

KINDERGARTEN: ACADEMIC STANDARDS

K.PS1: Matter and Its Interactions

1) Plan and conduct an investigation using patterns to classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties (i.e. absorbency, color, texture, hardness, and flexibility), by their uses, and by whether they occur naturally or are manufactured.

• Art Studio
• EverBlocks
• Imagination Playground
• Infinity Mirror
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• Rigamajig

2) Conduct investigations to understand that matter can exist in different states and has properties that can be observed and tested.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Bernoulli Table
• Ring Launcher
• Topobox
• Tesla Experience
• Vertical Flyer

3) Construct an evidence-based account of how an object made of a small set of pieces can be disassembled and made into a new object.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Circuit Bench
• EverBlocks
• Imagination Playground
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Shake Table

K.LS1: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

1) Use information from observations to identify the differences between plants and animals and how they live and grow.

• Discovery Garden
• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall­
• Wentzscope

2) Recognize differences between living organisms and non-living materials and sort them into groups by observable physical attributes.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall
• Wentzscope

3) Explain how animals, including humans, use their five senses to interact with the environment.

• Art Studio
• Dynamic Floor
• Infinity Mirror
• Make It. Take It.
• Pin Wall
• PVC Pipe Organ
• Quantum Space
• Shake Table

K.LS3.1: Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

1) Make observations to describe how young plants and animals resemble their parents.

• Discovery Garden
• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

K.ESS2: Earth’s Systems

1) Make observations to gather weather data (i.e. precipitation, wind, temperature, cloud cover) using tools (e.g. thermometer, rain gauge).

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Topobox

2) Use simple graphs and pictorial weather symbols to describe weather patterns that occur over time (i.e. hourly, daily).

• Topobox

K.ESS3: Earth and Human Activity

1) Use a model to represent the relationship between the basic needs of different plants and animals and the places they live.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall

2) Explain the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for, and respond to, severe weather in Tennessee.

• Shake Table
• Topobox

3) Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact from humans on land, water, air, and other living things in the local environment.

• Discovery Garden
• Dynamic Floor
• Shake Table
• Topobox

K.ETS1: Engineering Design

1) Apply an engineering design approach to identify and solve practical problems.

• Air Cannon
• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• EverBlocks
• Everbright
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Infinity Mirror
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• One in a Million
• Pin Wall
• PVC Pipe Organ
• Quantum Space
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Saltville Paleontology Hall
• Shake Table
• Static Dome
• Tesla Experience
• Topobox
• Vertical Flyer

K.ETS2: Links Among Engineering, Technology, Science, and Society

1) Use appropriate tools to make observations and answer testable scientific questions.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Art Studio
• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• EverBlocks
• Everbright
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Infinity Mirror
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Pin Wall
• PVC Pipe Organ
• Quantum Space
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Saltville Paleontology Hall
• Shake Table
• Tesla Experience
• Topobox
• Vertical Flyer
• Wentzscope

FIRST GRADE: ACADEMIC STANDARDS

1.PS3: Energy

1) Make observations to determine how sunlight warms Earth’s surfaces.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Discovery Garden
• Topobox

1.PS4: Waves and Their Application in Technologies for Information Transfer

1) Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that objects are visible when light shines on them or if they produce their own light (e.g. very hot objects), and that different amounts of light influence what we can see.

• Art Studio
• Dynamic Floor
• Everbright
• Infinity Mirror
• Quantum Space
• Tesla Experience

2) Conduct an investigation to describe how the path of a beam of light can be changed by interactions with different materials (i.e. light passes through, some light passes through, light changes directions, or light is blocked which can cause shadows).

• Art Studio
• Dynamic Floor
• Everbright
• Infinity Mirror
• Light Table
• Quantum Space
• Tesla Experience

1.LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

2) Obtain and communicate information to classify plants by where they grow and the plant’s physical characteristics.

• Discovery Garden
• Miocene Exhibit Hall

3) Develop and use models to show how plants and animals depend on their surroundings and other living things to meet their needs in the places they live.

• Discovery Garden
• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

1.ESS1: Earth’s Place in the Universe

1) Use observations or models of the sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted.

• Gravity Dish

1.ETS1: Engineering Design

1) Apply an engineering design approach to identify and solve practical problems.

• Air Cannon
• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• Catenary Arch
• EverBlocks
• Everbright
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Infinity Mirror
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• Oscillinderscope
• PVC Pipe Organ
• Quantum Space
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Rocket Bay
• Shake Table
• Static Dome
• Take Flight
• Tesla Experience
• Topobox
• Vertical Flyer

1.ETS2: Links Among Engineering, Technology, Science, and Society

1) Use appropriate tools to make observations and answer testable scientific questions.

• Air Cannon
• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Bernoulli Table
• Catenary Arch
• Circuit Bench
• EverBlocks
• Everbright
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Infinity Mirror
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Pin Wall
• PVC Pipe Organ
• Quantum Space
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Saltville Paleontology Hall
• Shake Table
• Topobox
• Vertical Flyer
• Wentzscope

SECOND GRADE: ACADEMIC STANDARDS

2.PS2: Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

1) Analyze the push or the pull that occurs when objects collide or are connected.

• Air Cannon
• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Circuit Bench
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• Pin Wall
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Shake Table
• Vertical Flyer

2) Plan and carry out an investigation to demonstrate how pushing and/or pulling an object affects the motion of the object within a system.

• Air Cannon
• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Circuit Bench
• EverBlocks
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• Pin Wall
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Shake Table
• Vertical Flyer

2.PS3: Energy

1) Demonstrate how a stronger push or pull makes things go faster and how faster speeds during a collision can cause a bigger change in the shape of the colliding objects.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Gravity Dish
• Kinetic Wall
• Imagination Playground
• Keva Planks
• Pin Wall
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Shake Table
• Vertical Flyer

2) Make observations and conduct experiments to provide evidence that friction produces heat and reduces or increases the motion of an object.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Circuit Bench
• EverBlocks
• Imagination Playground
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Shake Table
• Vertical Flyer

2.PS4: Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

1) Plan and conduct investigations to demonstrate the cause and effect relationship between vibrating materials and sound.

• Osylinderscope
• PVC Pipe Organ
• Shake Table

2) Use tools and materials to design and build a device to understand that light and sound travel in waves and can send signals over a distance.

• Art Studio
• Dynamic Floor
• Everbright
• PVC Pipe Organ
• Quantum Space

2.LS1: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

1) Use evidence and observations to explain that many animals use their body parts and senses in different ways to see, hear, grasp objects, protect themselves, move from place to place, and seek, find, and take in food, water, and air.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall
• Wentzscope

2) Obtain and communicate information to classify animals based on their physical characteristics.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall
• Wentzscope

3)  Identify ways in which some animals, both parents and off spring, participate in behaviors that help the off spring survive.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall

2.LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

1) Develop and use models to compare how animals depend on their surroundings and other living things to meet their needs in the places they live.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

2) Predict what happens to animals when the environment changes.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

2.ESS1: Earth’s Place in the Universe

1) Recognize that some of Earth’s natural processes are cyclical, while others have a beginning and an end. Some events happen quickly, while others occur slowly over time.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall
• Shake Table
• Topobox

2.ESS2: Earth’s Systems

1) Compare the effectiveness of multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land.

• Topobox

2) Observe and analyze how blowing wind and flowing water can move Earth materials from one place to another, changing the shape of a landform and affecting the habitats of living things.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Topobox

2.ETS1: Engineering Design

1) Apply an engineering design approach to identify and solve practical problems.

• Air Cannon
• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• EverBlocks
• Everbright
• Gravity Dish
• Kinetic Wall
• Imagination Playground
• Infinity Mirror
• Keva Planks
• Make It. Take It.
• Oscylinderscope
• PVC Pipe Organ
• Quantum Space
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Rocket Bay
• Shake Table
• Take Flight
• Vertical Flyer

2) Recognize that to solve a problem, one may need to break the problem into parts, address each part, and then bring the parts back together.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Circuit Bench
• EverBlocks
• Imagination Playground
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• Rigamajig
• Rocket Bay
• Shake Table
• Vertical Flyer

3) Compare and contrast solutions to a design problem by using evidence to point out strengths and weaknesses of the design.

• Air Cannon
• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Ball Ramp
• Bernoulli Table
• Catenary Arch
• Circuit Bench
• EverBlocks
• Everbright
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Infinity Mirror
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• PVC Pipe Organ
• Quantum Space
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Rocket Bay
• Shake Table
• Vertical Flyer

2.ETS2: Links Among Engineering, Technology, Science, and Society

1) Use appropriate tools to make observations, record data, and refine design ideas.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• Dynamic Floor
• EverBlocks
• Everbright
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Infinity Mirror
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Pin Wall
• PVC Pipe Organ
• Quantum Space
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Rocket Bay
• Saltville Paleontology Hall
• Shake Table
• Tesla Experience
• Topobox
• Vertical Flyer

2) Predict and explain how human life and the natural world would be different without current technologies.

• Air Cannon
• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Circuit Bench
• Dynamic Floor
• EverBlocks
• Everbright
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Infinity Mirror
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• PVC Pipe Organ
• Quantum Space
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Shake Table
• Tesla Experience
• Topobox
• Vertical Flyer

THIRD GRADE: ACADEMIC STANDARDS

3.PS1: Matter and Its Interactions

1) Develop a model of solids, liquids, and gasses to describe that each state of matter is made of particles too small to be seen.

• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• Tesla Experience
• Topobox

2) Construct an explanation about the effects of heating and cooling a substance differentiating between changes that can be reversed and those that cannot.

• Circuit Bench
• Tesla Experience
• Topobox

3) Construct an argument based on evidence that materials have both fixed and changing properties, some of which are useful for identification of a material.

• Art Studio
• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• EverBlocks
• Everbright
• Imagination Playground
• Infinity Mirror
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• Pin Wall
• Quantum Space
• Rigamajig
• Rocket Bay
• Tesla Experience
• Topobox

3.PS2: Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

1) Explain cause and effect relationships of forces that cannot be seen including interactions between two objects not in contact with each other (i.e. static electricity, magnetism, and gravity).

• Circuit Bench
• Gravity Well
• Kinetic Wall
• Ring Launcher
• Static Dome
• Tesla Experience

3.PS3: Energy

1) Make observations of sound, light, heat, and motion to collect evidence that energy is present in a system.

• Air Cannon
• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• Dynamic Floor
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• Oscylinderscope
• Pin Wall
• Quantum Space
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Shake Table
• Take Flight
• Tesla Experience
• Vertical Flyer

2) Develop a model to show that energy can be transferred from place to place by electric currents in a system (e.g. open, closed, simple, parallel, series circuits).

• Circuit Bench
• Tesla Experience

3) Evaluate how magnets cause changes in the motion and position of objects, even when the objects are not touching the magnet.

• Circuit Bench
• Ring Launcher
• Tesla Experience

3.LS1: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

2) Analyze the internal and external structures that aquatic and land animals and plants have to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall
• Wentzscope

3.LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

1) Obtain information to compare various ways that groups organize (e.g., specialized roles for members vs same roles for members) to explain the benefits of animal group behavior.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

3.LS4: Biological Change: Unity and Diversity

1) Use evidence to explain the cause and effect relationship between a naturally changing habitat and how well an organism survives. Infer that plant and animal adaptations help them survive in land and aquatic biomes.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

3.ESS2: Earth’s Systems

1) Develop a model to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.

• Topobox

3.ESS3: Earth and Human Activity

1) Evaluate existing solutions that reduce the impact of natural hazards (e.g., fires, landslides, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, severe weather) on the environment.

• Topobox
• Shake Table

3.ETS1: Engineering Design

1) Design a solution to a real-world problem that includes specified criteria for constraints.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Catenary Arch
• Circuit Bench
• Dynamic Floor
• EverBlocks
• Everbright
• Gravity Dish
• Kinetic Wall
• Imagination Playground
• Infinity Mirror
• Keva Planks
• Make It. Take It.
• PVC Pipe Organ
• Quantum Space
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Shake Table
• Vertical Flyer

FOURTH GRADE: ACADEMIC STANDARDS

4.PS3: Energy

1) Use evidence to explain the cause and effect relationship between the speed of an object and the energy of an object.

• Air Cannon
• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Shake Table
• Tesla Experience
• Vertical Flyer

2) Describe how stored energy can be converted into another form for practical use.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Bernoulli Table
• Dynamic Floor
• Circuit Bench
• Ring Launcher
• Take Flight
• Tesla Experience
• Vertical Flyer

4.PS4: Waves and their Application in Technologies for Information Transfer

1) Use a model of a simple wave to describe amplitude, wavelength, and explain how waves can add or cancel each other as they cross.

• Gravity Dish
• PVC Pipe Organ
• Shake Table
• Tesla Experience

2) Construct an explanation for how the colors of available light sources and the bending of light waves determine what we see.

• Everbright
• Infinity Mirror
• Light Table
• Quantum Space
• Tesla Experience

3) Investigate how lenses enhance human senses and digital devices (e.g., computers and cell phones) use waves to receive and decode information over distances.

• Dynamic Floor
• Infinity Mirror
• Quantum Space
• Tesla Experience

4.LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

2) Using information about the roles of organisms, evaluate how those roles in food chains are interconnected in a food web, and communicate how the organisms are continuously able to meet their needs in a food web.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

3) Develop and use models to determine the effects of introducing a species to, or removing a species from, an ecosystem and how either one can damage the balance of an ecosystem.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

4) Analyze and interpret data about changes in the environment to explain how some organisms may survive and reproduce, some may not survive, others move to new locations, yet others move into the transformed environment.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

4.LS4: Biological Change: Unity and Diversity

1) Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about what a fossil is and ways a fossil can provide information about the past, such as a) the nature of environments and b) animals that existed long ago but no longer exist.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

4.ESS1: Earth’s Place in the Universe

1) Generate and support a claim with evidence that over long periods of time, erosion and deposition have changed landscapes and created new landforms.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Shake Table
• Topobox

4.ESS2: Earth’s Systems

1) Collect and analyze data from observations to provide evidence that rocks, soils, and sediments are broken into smaller pieces through mechanical weathering and are transported by water, ice, wind, gravity, and vegetation.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Shake Table

2) Explain how data from maps and other reliable sources can be used to determine patterns for the locations of mountain ranges, deep ocean trenches, volcanoes, and earthquakes.

• Shake Table

3) Provide examples to support the claim that organisms affect the physical characteristics of their regions (e.g., plants’ roots hold soil in place, beaver shelters alter the flow of water, paved surfaces affect runoff, leaves from trees can obstruct waterways).

• Discovery Garden
• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

4.ETS1: Engineering Design

1) Categorize the effectiveness of design solutions by testing and comparing them to specified criteria and constraints.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Bernoulli Table
• Catenary Arch
• Circuit Bench
• EverBlocks
• Everbright
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Infinity Mirror
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• PVC Pipe Organ
• Quantum Space
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Rocket Bay
• Shake Table
• Tesla Experience
• Vertical Flyer

4.ETS2: Links Among Engineering, Technology, Science, and Society

1) Explain how engineers have improved existing technologies to increase their benefits, to decrease known risks, and to meet societal demands.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• Dynamic Floor
• EverBlocks
• Everbright
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Infinity Mirror
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• PVC Pipe Organ
• Quantum Space
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Shake Table
• Tesla Experience
• Vertical Flyer

FIFTH GRADE: ACADEMIC STANDARDS

5.PS1: Matter and Its Interactions

1) Analyze and interpret data from observations and measurements of the physical properties of matter to explain phase changes between a solid, liquid, or gas.

• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• Tesla Experience
• Topobox

5.PS2: Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

1) Plan and carry out an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of the object.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Ball Ramp
• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• EverBlocks
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• Oscylinderscope
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Shake Table
• Tesla Experience
• Vertical Flyer

2) Make observations and measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Ball Ramp
• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• EverBlocks
• Gear Wall
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Quantum Space
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Shake Table
• Tesla Experience
• Vertical Flyer

3) Use evidence to support that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed toward the Earth’s center.

• Gravity Dish

4) Explain how forces can create patterns within a system and describe conditions that affect how fast or slowly these patterns occur.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Circuit Bench
• Gravity Dish
• Ring Launcher
• Shake Table
• Tesla Experience
• Vertical Flyer

5.LS3: Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

1) Distinguish between inherited characteristics and those characteristics that result from a direct interaction with the environment. Apply this concept by giving examples of characteristics of living organisms that are influenced by both inheritance and the environment.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

2) Provide evidence and analyze data that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variations of these traits exist in a group of similar organisms.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

5.LS4: Biological change: Unity and Diversity

1) Use evidence to construct an explanation for how variations in characteristics among individuals within the same species may provide advantages to these individuals in their survival and reproduction.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

5.ESS1: Earth’s Place in the Universe

2) Research and explain the position of the Earth and the solar system within the Milky Way galaxy, and compare the size and shape of the Milky Way to other galaxies in the universe.

• Gravity Dish

4) Explain the cause and effect relationship between the positions of the sun, earth, and moon and resulting eclipses, tides, and appearance of the moon.

• Gravity Dish

6) Use tools to describe the position of constellations and how they appear to move from the Earth’s perspective throughout the seasons.

• Gravity Dish

5.ETS1: Engineering Design

1) Plan and carry out tests on one or more elements of a prototype in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify which elements need to be improved. Apply the results of tests to redesign the prototype.

• Air Cannon
• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• EverBlocks
• Everbright
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Infinity Mirror
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• PVC Pipe Organ
• Quantum Space
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Shake Table
• Take Flight
• Vertical Flyer

5.ETS2: Links Among Engineering, Technology, Science, and Society

1) Use appropriate tools to make measurements and answer testable questions.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• EverBlocks
• Gravity Dish
• Kinetic Wall
• Imagination Playground
• Infinity Mirror
• Keva Planks
• Make It. Take It.
• PVC Pipe Organ
• Quantum Space
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Rocket Bay
• Shake Table
• Vertical Flyer

SIXTH GRADE: ACADEMIC STANDARDS

6.PS3: Energy

1) Analyze the sources of energy in a system to gather evidence supporting that energy is conserved during transfers of kinetic, potential (elastic, gravitational, and chemical), and/or thermal energy.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Bernoulli Table
• Catenary Arch
• Circuit Bench
• Dynamic Floor
• EverBlocks
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Shake Table
• Tesla Experience
• Vertical Flyer

2) Use a model to gather evidence to support changes to a system that can be caused by transfers of sound or thermal energy (i.e. conduction, convection, or radiation).

• Circuit Bench
• Ring Launcher
• Tesla Experience
• Topobox

6.LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

1) Use data to evaluate and communicate the impact of environmental variables, both living and nonliving (e.g., food, water, oxygen, and other resources), on population size within a system.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

2) Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of competitive, symbiotic, and predatory interactions among organisms across ecosystems.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

4) Construct an explanation that uses abiotic (e.g., precipitation, temperature, soil) and biotic (e.g., biodiversity, number of organisms) patterns in earth’s terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (e.g., tundra, taiga, deciduous forest, desert, grasslands, rainforest, marine, and freshwater) as measures of ecosystem health.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

6.LS4: Biological Change: Unity and Diversity

1) Explain how changes to biodiversity in a system would impact human resources (e.g., food, medicine, and clean water) and “ecosystem services” (e.g., climate stabilization, decomposition of waste, and pollination).

• Discovery Garden
• Dynamic Floor
• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

6.ESS2: Earth’s Systems

5) Analyze and interpret data to determine the impact of humans and other organisms on the water cycle, landforms (e.g., rain shadow effect) and atmospheric systems.

• Topobox
• Shake Table

6.ESS3: Earth and Human Activity

2) Investigate and compare existing and developing technologies that utilize renewable and alternative energy resources.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• Dynamic Floor
• Ring Launcher
• Vertical Flyer

6.ETS1: Engineering Design

2) Design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer by combining solutions or parts of solutions to solve a problem that can be communicated and explained to others.

• Air Cannon
• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Ball Ramp
• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• Gear Wall
• Gravity Dish
• EverBlocks
• Imagination Playground
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• Pin Wall
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Shake Table
• Take Flight
• Vertical Flyer

SEVENTH GRADE: ACADEMIC STANDARDS

7.PS1: Matter and Its Interactions

3) Develop a model to explain how changes to a system can be explained by changes in temperature and/or pressure and the effect of those changes on particle motion and/or spatial arrangement.

• Tesla Experience

EIGHTH GRADE: ACADEMIC STANDARDS

8.PS1: Matter and Its Interactions

1) Use a model to understand that atoms are systems composed of positively charged nucleus surrounded by one or more negatively charged particles called electrons.

• Static Dome

8.PS2: Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

1) Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that the size of force fields (electric and magnetic) depends on the magnitudes of the charges, current, or magnetic strengths involved and the distances between interacting objects.

• Circuit Bench
• Gravity Dish
• Ring Launcher
• Tesla Experience

2) Ask scientific questions about data to determine how manipulating variables can increase or diminish the electric current and magnetic field strength in electromagnets, generators, and electric motors.

Catenary Arch

Circuit Bench

Gravity Dish

Ring Launcher

Tesla Experience

3) Construct an argument using evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions in a large-scale system (e.g., galaxies and solar system) are attractive and depend on the masses of and distance between interacting objects.

Air Cars

Air Rockets

Ball Ramp

Bernoulli Table

Circuit Bench

EverBlocks

Gravity Dish

Imagination Playground

Keva Planks

Kinetic Wall

Make It. Take It.

Pin Wall

Quantum Space

Rigamajig

Ring Launcher

Rocket Bay

Shake Table

Take Flight

Tesla Experience

Vertical Flyer

4) Construct an explanation to describe why the position and motion of object(s) in a system, and the effects of forces on those objects, vary with respect to the observer.

Air Cannon

Air Cars

Air Rockets

Bernoulli Table

Circuit Bench

Dynamic Floor

EverBlocks

Gravity Dish

Kinetic Wall

Oscylinderscope

Pin Wall

Quantum Space

Rigamajig

Ring Launcher

Shake Table

Tesla Experience

Vertical Flyer

5) Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object’s motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.

Air Cars

Air Rockets

Bernoulli Table

Circuit Bench

EverBlocks

Gravity Dish

Imagination Playground

Keva Planks

Kinetic Wall

Make It. Take It.

Pin Wall

Rigamajig

Ring Launcher

Shake Table

Tesla Experience

Vertical Flyer

6) Evaluate and interpret that for every force exerted on an object there is an equal force exerted in the opposite direction.

• Air Cars
• Air Rockets
• Bernoulli Table
• Circuit Bench
• EverBlocks
• Gravity Dish
• Imagination Playground
• Keva Planks
• Kinetic Wall
• Make It. Take It.
• Pin Wall
• Rigamajig
• Ring Launcher
• Shake Table
• Tesla Experience
• Vertical Flyer

8.PS4: Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

1) Develop and use models to represent the basic properties of waves including frequency, amplitude, wavelength, and speed.

• PVC Pipe Organ
• Shake Table

2) Construct explanations from observed patterns of wave behaviors to compare and contrast mechanical waves and electromagnetic waves based on refraction, reflection, transmission, absorption, and their behavior through a vacuum and/or various media.

• Tesla Experience

3) Engage in argument from evidence to support the claim that digitized signals, sent as wave pulses, are more reliable than analog signals to transmit information in a system.

• PVC Pipe Organ
• Shake Table
• Tesla Experience

8.LS4: Biological Change: Unity and Diversity

1) Using evidence from the geologic timescale, analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change in life forms throughout Earth’s history.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall

3) Construct an explanation based on evidence that explains how genetic variations of traits in a population increase some individuals’ probability of surviving and reproducing.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

4) Develop a scientific explanation of how natural selection plays a role in determining the survival of a species in a changing environment.

• Discovery Garden
• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Saltville Paleontology Hall

8.ESS1: Earth’s Place in the Universe

1) Research, analyze, and communicate that the universe began with a period of rapid expansion using evidence from the motion of galaxies (i.e., redshift and blueshift), elemental concentrations of hydrogen and helium, and cosmic background radiation.

• Gravity Dish

8.ESS2: Earth’s Systems

2) Evaluate data collected from seismographs to create a model of Earth’s structure and to understand how energy is derived from Earth’s hot interior.

• Shake Table

3) Gather and evaluate evidence that energy from the earth’s interior drives convection cycles within the asthenosphere which creates changes within the lithosphere including plate movements, plate boundaries, and sea-floor spreading.

• Shake Table

4) Construct a scientific explanation using data that explains the gradual process of plate tectonics accounting for (a) the distribution of fossils on different continents, and (b)

continental and ocean floor features (i.e., mountains, volcanoes, faults, and trenches).

• Miocene Exhibit Hall
• Shake Table
• Topobox

8.ESS3: Earth and Human Activity

1) Collect data, map, and describe patterns in the locations of volcanoes and earthquakes related to tectonic plate boundaries, interactions, and hotspots in order to forecast the locations and likelihoods of future events.

• Miocene Exhibit Hall

8.ETS1: Engineering Design

2) Research and communicate information to describe how data from technologies (e.g., telescopes, satellites, space probes, seismographs) provide information about Earth and objects in space and how those scientific discoveries have in turn led to improved technologies

• Air Rockets
• Bernoulli Table
• Topobox