Georgia Standards of Excellence

The Science Georgia Standards of Excellence are designed to provide foundational knowledge and skills for all students to develop proficiency in science. The Project 2061’s Benchmarks for Science Literacy and the follow up work, A Framework for K-12 Science Education were used as the core of the standards to determine appropriate content and process skills for students. The Science Georgia Standards of Excellence focus on a limited number of core disciplinary ideas and crosscutting concepts which build from Kindergarten to high school. The standards are written with the core knowledge to be mastered integrated with the science and engineering practices needed to engage in scientific inquiry and engineering design. Crosscutting concepts are used to make connections across different science disciplines.

 

The Science Georgia Standards of Excellence drive instruction. Hands-on, student-centered, and inquiry-based approaches should be the emphasis of instruction. The standards are a required minimum set of expectations that show proficiency in science. However, instruction can extend beyond these minimum expectations to meet student needs. At the same time, these standards set a maximum expectation on what will be assessed by the Georgia Milestones Assessment System.

Science consists of a way of thinking and investigating, as well a growing body of knowledge about the natural world. To become literate in science, students need to possess sufficient understanding of fundamental science content knowledge, the ability to engage in the science and engineering practices, and to use scientific and technological information correctly. Technology should be infused into the curriculum and the safety of the student should always be foremost in instruction.

 

The Physical Science Georgia Standards of Excellence are designed to continue student investigations of the physical sciences that began in grades K-8, and provide students the necessary skills to have a richer knowledge base in physical science. The standards in this course are designed as a survey of the core ideas in the physical sciences. Those core ideas will be studied in more depth during in the chemistry and physics courses. The physical science standards include abstract concepts such as the conceptualization of the structure of atoms and the role they play in determining the properties of materials, motion and forces, the conservation of energy and matter, wave behavior, electricity, and the relationship between electricity and magnetism. The idea of radioactive decay is limited to the understanding of whole half-lives and how a constant proportional rate of decay is consistent with declining measures that only gradually approach to zero. Students investigate physical science concepts through the study of phenomena, experiences in laboratory settings, and field work.