Standards
by Tricia Nagel
Performance Expectations in the Pre-Engineering Classroom
- Illinois Learning Standards
(Late High School)
SCIENCE STATE GOAL 11: Understand the processes of scientific inquiry and technological design to investigate questions, conduct experiments and solve problems.
Why This Goal Is Important: The inquiry process prepares learners to engage in science and apply methods of technological design. This understanding will enable students to pose questions, use models to enhance understanding, make predictions, gather and work with data, use appropriate measurement methods, analyze results, draw conclusions based on evidence, communicate their methods and results, and think about the implications of scientific research and technological problem solving.
SCIENCE STATE GOAL 12: Understand the fundamental concepts, principles and interconnections of the life, physical and earth/space sciences.
Why This Goal Is Important: This goal is comprised of key concepts and principles in the life, physical and earth/space sciences that have considerable explanatory and predictive power for scientists and non-scientists alike. These ideas have been thoroughly studied and have stood the test of time. Knowing and being able to apply these concepts, principles and processes help students understand what they observe in nature and through scientific experimentation. A working knowledge of these concepts and principles allows students to relate new subject matter to material previously learned and to create deeper and more meaningful levels of understanding.
SCIENCE STATE GOAL 13: Understand the relationships among science, technology and society in historical and contemporary contexts.
Why This Goal Is Important: Understanding the nature and practices of science such as ensuring the validity and replicability of results, building upon the work of others and recognizing risks involved in experimentation gives learners a useful sense of the scientific enterprise. In addition, the relationships among science, technology and society give humans the ability to change and improve their surroundings. Learners who understand this relationship will be able to appreciate the efforts and effects of scientific discovery and applications of technology on their own lives and on the society in which we live.
MATH STATE GOAL 6: Demonstrate and apply a knowledge and sense of numbers, including numeration and operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division), patterns, ratios and proportions.
Why This Goal Is Important: Numbers and operations on numbers play fundamental roles in helping us make sense of the world around us. Operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, as well as the ability to find powers and roots, extend the notion of numbers to create tools to model situations and solve problems in our everyday lives. Discussing and solving problems related to budgets, comparing prices on merchandise, understanding the nature of interest charges, measuring fuel consumption and calculating the trajectory for space travel would all be impossible without a sense of numbers and numerical operations. All people must develop this sense of numbers and operations and be able to use it to solve problems using mental computation, paper-and-pencil algorithms, calculators and computers.
MATH STATE GOAL 7: Estimate, make and use measurements of objects, quantities and relationships and determine acceptable levels of accuracy.
Why This Goal Is Important: Measurement provides a way to answer questions about “how many,” “how much” and “how far.” It is an indispensable component of business, manufacturing, art, medicine and many other aspects of daily life. We describe the sizes, capacities and values of many things, from the large distances involved in space travel, to the very small quantities in computer design and microbiology, to the varying values of currencies in international monetary exchange. All people must be able to choose an appropriate level of accuracy for a measurement; to select what measuring instruments to use and to correctly determine the measures of objects, space and time. These activities require people to be able to use standard instruments including rulers, volume and capacity measures, timers and emerging measurement technologies found in the home and workplace.
MATH STATE GOAL 8: Use algebraic and analytical methods to identify and describe patterns and relationships in data, solve problems and predict results.
Why This Goal Is Important: Algebra unites patterns and quantities in patterns with the means of describing change through the use of variables and functions. Its concepts and analytical methods allow people to consider general solutions to problems with common characteristics and develop related formulas. Algebra provides verbal, symbolic and graphical formats for discussing and representing settings as diverse as the pricing patterns of merchandise in a store, the behavior of a car as it accelerates or slows down, the changes in two chemicals as they react with one another, or the type of variation existing in a comparison of two factors in the economy. All people must be able to use algebraic methods to construct and examine tables of values; to interpret the relationships expressed by patterns in these tables; to relate change and variation in graphs and formulas; to reason about changes in quantities and the relationships involved in changes; and to find solutions to everyday problems using algebra’s symbolic manipulation and formulas.
MATH STATE GOAL 9: Use geometric methods to analyze, categorize and draw conclusions about points, lines, planes and space.
Why This Goal Is Important: Geometry provides important methods for reasoning and solving problems with points, lines, planes and space. The word “geometry” comes from Greek words meaning “measurement of the Earth.” While we use modern technology and employ a wider variety of mathematical tools today, we still study geometry to understand the shapes and dimensions of our world. The applications of geometry are widespread in construction, engineering, architecture, map making and art. Historically, geometry is a way to develop skill in forming convincing arguments and proofs. This goal of developing a means of argument and validation remains an important part of our reasons for studying geometry today.
MATH STATE GOAL 10: Collect, organize and analyze data using statistical methods; predict results; and interpret uncertainty using concepts of probability.
Why This Goal Is Important: The ability to understand and interpret data (e.g., opinion polls, stock prices, tax rates, crime statistics, scientific studies, weather reports) grows more important each day. Students must be able to organize data, make sense of variables and patterns, and judge the logical reasonableness of any claims and interpretations made. Even very young students can count objects and communicate their findings with charts and graphs. Students of all ages can collect, display and interpret data to answer specific questions. They also must construct and analyze arguments that involve data and its interpretation. All students need to understand and apply the role probability plays in data collection and decision making. Data analysis and use are important abilities necessary for all careers.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE STATE GOAL 1: Read with understanding and fluency.
Why This Goal Is Important: Reading is essential. It is the process by which people gain information and ideas from books, newspapers, manuals, letters, contracts, advertisements and a host of other materials. Using strategies for constructing meaning before, during and after reading will help students connect what they read now with what they have learned in the past. Students who read well and widely build a strong foundation for learning in all areas of life.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE STATE GOAL 3: Write to communicate for a variety of purposes.
Why This Goal Is Important: The ability to write clearly is essential to any person’s effective communications. Students with high-level writing skills can produce documents that show planning and organization and effectively convey the intended message and meaning. Clear writing is critical to employment and production in today’s world. Individuals must be capable of writing for a variety of audiences in differing styles, including standard rhetoric themes, business letters and reports, financial proposals and technical and professional communications. Students should be able to use word processors and computers to enhance their writing proficiency and improve their career opportunities.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE STATE GOAL 4: Listen and speak effectively in a variety of situations.
Why This Goal Is Important: Of all the language arts, listening and speaking are those most often used on a daily basis at home, school and work or in the community. Skill in speaking is universally recognized as a primary indicator of a person’s knowledge, skill and credibility. In person, by phone or through video, good listening and speaking skills are essential to sending, receiving and understanding messages. To understand messages spoken by others, students must be able to listen carefully, using specific techniques to clarify what they have heard. For speaking properly and making messages understood, grammar, sentence structure, tone, expression and emphasis must be part of students’ repertoires.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE STATE GOAL 5: Use the language arts to acquire, assess and communicate information.
Why This Goal Is Important: To be successful in school and in the world of work, students must be able to use a wide variety of information resources (written, visual and electronic). They must also know how to frame questions for inquiry, identify and organize relevant information and communicate it effectively in a variety of formats. These skills are critical in school across all learning areas and are key to successful career and lifelong learning experiences.
ISAT Physical Development and
Health Standards 21A, 21B
Students frequently and consistently demonstrate desirable
decision-making skills and behaviors during physical activity.
These students reliably remain on-task to complete assigned
activities. They frequently demonstrate desired decision-making
strategies, either individually or within a group, which results in
a safe environment for participants. Such students are able to
apply appropriate safety rules during specific activities, and
effectively demonstrate problem-solving skills and strategies when
participating in physical activity.
At the Exceeds Standards level, students are able to effectively apply strategies to maximize the contributions of others during competitive and/or non-competitive activities. They are able to apply decision-making strategies to solve problems and resolve conflict during activities. The students are able to effectively resolve interpersonal conflicts during group activities and have a positive effect in supporting the efforts of other participants.
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT AND HEALTH STATE GOAL 24: Promote and enhance health and well-being through the use of effective communication and decision-making skills.
Why This Goal Is Important: From an early age, students need to know how to communicate their health needs and learn to take responsibility for their own health. They also need to know how and why personal decisions can affect their own health and well-being. Consideration for the needs of others becomes part of health promotion as well. Students who can clearly identify and communicate about health-related issues—and can make healthful personal decisions—will benefit as they grow and mature in school and into responsible workers and citizens.
Social/Emotional Learning (SEL) GOALS 1,2,3 (Revising as of retrieval date)
Retrieved from http://www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/science/standards.htm on April 8, 2008.
