Correlations to Project 2061 Benchmarks in Science Education

The Project 2061 Benchmarks in Science Education is a report, originally published in 1993 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), that listed what students should know about scientific literacy. The report listed facts and concepts about science and the scientific process that all students should know at different grade levels.

The report is divided and subdivided into different content areas. Within each subarea, the report lists benchmarks for students completing grade 2, grade 5, grade 8, and grade 12. The table below shows which benchmarks are met by which sections of the Spectral Types project.

This page lists all the Project 2061 Benchmarks met by the Spectral Types project. Content headings are listed as Roman numerals, subheadings as letters, grade levels by numbers, and specific points by numbers after the hyphen. For example, benchmark IA8-2 means the second benchmark for eighth grade students in the first content area, first subarea.

The Spectral Types unit meets the following objectives in the Project 2061 Benchmarks:

IVA2-1, IVA8-1, IVA12-1, IVE12-4, IVE12-5, IVF8-1.

Standards

IVA2-1. There are more stars in the sky than anyone can easily count, but they are not scattered evenly, and they are not all the same in brightness or color.

IVA8-1. The sun is a medium-sized star located near the edge of a disk-shaped galaxy of stars, part of which can be seen as a glowing band of light that spans the sky on a very clear night. The universe contains many billions of galaxies, and each galaxy contains many billions of stars. To the naked eye, even the closest of these galaxies is no more than a dim, fuzzy spot.

IVA12-1. The stars differ from each other in size, temperature, and age, but they appear to be made up of the same elements that are found on the earth and to behave according to the same physical principles. Unlike the sun, most stars are in systems of two or more stars orbiting around one another.

IVA12-4. Different energy levels are associated with different configurations of atoms and molecules. Some changes of configuration require an input of energy whereas others release energy.

IVE12-5.When the energy of an isolated atom or molecule changes, it does so in a definite jump from one value to another, with no possible values in between. The change in energy occurs when radiation is absorbed or emitted, so the radiation also has distinct energy values. As a result, the light emitted or absorbed by separate atoms or molecules (as in a gas) can be used to identify what the substance is.

IVF8-1. Light from the sun is made up of a mixture of many different colors of light, even though to the eye the light looks almost white. Other things that give off or reflect light have a different mix of colors.

Correlations to NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

Principles and Standards for School Mathematics was released in 2000 by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The standards, a collaboration between education researchers and school mathematics teachers, lists what concepts students should understand, and what skills they should possess, at different stages of their mathematics education.

The report is divided and subdivided into ten different content areas. Within the first six areas, the report lists benchmarks for students completing grade 2, grade 5, grade 8, and grade 12. The table below shows which standards are met by the Spectral Types project.

Content headings are listed as Roman numerals, subheadings as letters, grade levels as numbers, and specific points by numbers after the hyphen. For example, standard IA8-2 means the second benchmark for eighth grade students in the first content area, first subarea. Content areas VI through X, which concern skill processes in mathematics, are not divided into subareas or grade levels. The standards met by the Spectral Types project are:

IA8-1, IB8-1, IC12-2, IIB12-5, IVA8-2, IVB12-4, VI-2, X-3.

Standards

Students should be able to:

IA8-1. Work flexibly with fractions, decimals, and percents to solve problems.

IB8-1. Understand the meaning and effects of arithmetic operations with fractions, decimals, and integers.

IC12-2. Judge the reasonableness of numerical computations and their results.

IIB12-5. Judge the meaning, utility, and reasonableness of the results of symbol manipulations, including those carried out by technology.

IVA8-2. Understand relationships among units and convert from one unit to another within the same system.

IVB12-4. Use unit analysis to check measurement computations.

VI-2. Solve problems that arise in mathematics and other contexts.

X-3. Use representations to model and interpret physical, social, and mathematical phenomena.