Community+Service+Learning


 * Community Service Learning**

Opportunities for Community Service Learning (CSL) that align with this course include:
 * Mentoring elementary school students after school 1 day/week, 3 PM - ? PM. Worth science CSL if the mentoring includes help with science class. See Ms. Girolamo if interested.
 * Tutoring high school students in biology after school or in Saturday school (a more applicable option later in the year, once we're studying ecology and the diversity of life)
 * Tutoring middle school science students
 * [|Harwich Conservation Trust]
 * Ocean Planning (E-Mail oceanplan@state.ma.us to sign up to be notified of when and where meetings will be held)

Additional opportunities that arise throughout the year will be announced in class.

Students need not wait for an announcement to undertake Community Service Learning. The most effective CSL is driven by the student. If you have an idea for CSL connected to your science class, I would be happy to review it and give you suggestions on whether or not it would qualify. John Bennett (jbennett@harwich.edu) in Guidance is also available to help you, he is a "Community Service Learning specialist" here at HHS.

In order for your CSL project to be accepted as meeting the requirement, it must be attached to one of the frameworks for your course. These are the frameworks for Earth Systems Science. If you believe you have an idea in which you would be doing community service and learning related to one of these frameworks, you're on the right path!

//Earth Science// 1. Matter and Energy in the Earth System Central Concepts: The entire Earth system and its various cycles are driven by energy. Earth has both internal and external sources of energy. Two fundamental energy concepts included in the Earth system are gravity and electromagnetism. 1.1 Identify Earth’s principal sources of internal and external energy, such as radioactive decay, gravity, and solar energy. 1.2 Describe the characteristics of electromagnetic radiation and give examples of its impact on life and Earth’s systems. 1.3 Explain how the transfer of energy through radiation, conduction, and convection contributes to global atmospheric processes, such as storms, winds, and currents. 1.4 Provide examples of how the unequal heating of Earth and the Coriolis effect influence global circulation patterns, and show how they impact Massachusetts weather and climate (e.g., global winds, convection cells, land/sea breezes, mountain/valley breezes). 1.5 Explain how the revolution of Earth around the Sun and the inclination of Earth on its axis cause Earth’s seasonal variations (equinoxes and solstices). 1.6 Describe the various conditions associated with frontal boundaries and cyclonic storms (e.g., thunderstorms, winter storms [nor’easters], hurricanes, tornadoes) and their impact on human affairs, including storm preparations. 1.7 Explain the dynamics of oceanic currents, including upwelling, deep-water currents, the Labrador Current and the Gulf Stream, and their relationship to global circulation within the marine environment and climate. 1.8 Read, interpret, and analyze a combination of ground-based observations, satellite data, and computer models to demonstrate Earth systems and their interconnections.

2. Energy Resources in the Earth System Central Concepts: Energy resources are used to sustain human civilization. The amount and accessibility of these resources influence their use and their impact on the environment. 2.1 Recognize, describe, and compare renewable energy resources (e.g., solar, wind, water, biomass) and nonrenewable energy resources (e.g., fossil fuels, nuclear energy). 2.2 Describe the effects on the environment and on the carbon cycle of using both renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy.

3. Earth Processes and Cycles Central Concepts: Earth is a dynamic interconnected system. The evolution of Earth has been driven by interactions between the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. Over geologic time, the internal motions of Earth have continuously altered the topography and geography of the continents and ocean basins by both constructive and destructive processes. 3.1 Explain how physical and chemical weathering leads to erosion and the formation of soils and sediments, and creates various types of landscapes. Give examples that show the effects of physical and chemical weathering on the environment. 3.2 Describe the carbon cycle. 3.3 Describe the nitrogen cycle. 3.4 Explain how water flows into and through a watershed. Explain the roles of aquifers, wells, porosity, permeability, water table, and runoff. 3.5 Describe the processes of the hydrologic cycle, including evaporation, condensation, precipitation, surface runoff and groundwater percolation, infiltration, and transpiration. 3.6 Describe the rock cycle, and the processes that are responsible for the formation of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. Compare the physical properties of these rock types and the physical properties of common rock-forming minerals. 3.7 Describe the absolute and relative dating methods used to measure geologic time, such as index fossils, radioactive dating, law of superposition, and crosscutting relationships. 3.8 Trace the development of a lithospheric plate from its growth at a divergent boundary (mid-ocean ridge) to its destruction at a convergent boundary (subduction zone). Recognize that alternating magnetic polarity is recorded in rock at mid-ocean ridges. 3.9 Explain the relationship between convection currents in Earth’s mantle and the motion of the lithospheric plates. 3.10 Relate earthquakes, volcanic activity, tsunamis, mountain building, and tectonic uplift to plate movements. 3.11 Explain how seismic data are used to reveal Earth’s interior structure and to locate earthquake epicenters. 3.12 Describe the Richter scale of earthquake magnitude and the relative damage that is incurred by earthquakes of a given magnitude.

4. The Origin and Evolution of the Universe Central Concepts: The origin of the universe, between 14 and 15 billion years ago, still remains one of the greatest questions in science. Gravity influences the formation and life cycles of galaxies, including our own Milky Way Galaxy; stars; planetary systems; and residual material left from the creation of the solar system. 4.1 Explain the Big Bang Theory and discuss the evidence that supports it, such as background radiation and relativistic Doppler effect (i.e., “red shift”). 4.2 Describe the influence of gravity and inertia on the rotation and revolution of orbiting bodies. Explain the Sun-Earth-moon relationships (e.g., day, year, solar/lunar eclipses, tides). 4.3 Explain how the Sun, Earth, and solar system formed from a nebula of dust and gas in a spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy about 4.6 billion years ago.

//Biology// 5. Evolution and Biodiversity Central Concepts: Evolution is the result of genetic changes that occur in constantly changing environments. Over many generations, changes in the genetic make-up of populations may affect biodiversity through speciation and extinction. 5.1 Explain how evolution is demonstrated by evidence from the fossil record, comparative anatomy, genetics, molecular biology, and examples of natural selection. 5.2 Describe species as reproductively distinct groups of organisms. Recognize that species are further classified into a hierarchical taxonomic system (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species) based on morphological, behavioral, and molecular similarities. Describe the role that geographic isolation can play in speciation. 5.3 Explain how evolution through natural selection can result in changes in biodiversity through the increase or decrease of genetic diversity within a population.

6. Ecology Central Concept: Ecology is the interaction among organisms and between organisms and their environment. 6.1 Explain how birth, death, immigration, and emigration influence population size. 6.2 Analyze changes in population size and biodiversity (speciation and extinction) that result from the following: natural causes, changes in climate, human activity, and the introduction of invasive, non-native species. 6.3 Use a food web to identify and distinguish producers, consumers, and decomposers, and explain the transfer of energy through trophic levels. Describe how relationships among organisms (predation, parasitism, competition, commensalism, mutualism) add to the complexity of biological communities. 6.4 Explain how water, carbon, and nitrogen cycle between abiotic resources and organic matter in an ecosystem, and how oxygen cycles through photosynthesis and respiration.

//Chemistry// 4. Chemical Bonding Central Concept: Atoms bond with each other by transferring or sharing valence electrons to form compounds. 4.1 Explain how atoms combine to form compounds through both ionic and covalent bonding. Predict chemical formulas based on the number of valence electrons. 4.2 Draw Lewis dot structures for simple molecules and ionic compounds. 4.3 Use electronegativity to explain the difference between polar and nonpolar covalent bonds. 4.4 Use valence-shell electron-pair repulsion theory (VSEPR) to predict the molecular geometry (linear, trigonal planar, and tetrahedral) of simple molecules. 4.5 Identify how hydrogen bonding in water affects a variety of physical, chemical, and biological phenomena (e.g., surface tension, capillary action, density, boiling point). 4.6 Name and write the chemical formulas for simple ionic and molecular compounds, including those that contain the polyatomic ions: ammonium, carbonate, hydroxide, nitrate, phosphate, and sulfate.

5. Chemical Reactions and Stoichiometry Central Concepts: In a chemical reaction, one or more reactants are transformed into one or more new products. Chemical equations represent the reaction and must be balanced. The conservation of atoms in a chemical reaction leads to the ability to calculate the amount of products formed and reactants used (stoichiometry). 5.1 Balance chemical equations by applying the laws of conservation of mass and constant composition (definite proportions). 5.2 Classify chemical reactions as synthesis (combination), decomposition, single displacement (replacement), double displacement, and combustion. 5.3 Use the mole concept to determine number of particles and molar mass for elements and compounds. 5.4 Determine percent compositions, empirical formulas, and molecular formulas. 5.5 Calculate the mass-to-mass stoichiometry for a chemical reaction. 5.6 Calculate percent yield in a chemical reaction.

//Physics// 1. Motion and Forces Central Concept: Newton’s laws of motion and gravitation describe and predict the motion of most objects. 1.1 Compare and contrast vector quantities (e.g., displacement, velocity, acceleration force, linear momentum) and scalar quantities (e.g., distance, speed, energy, mass, work). 1.2 Distinguish between displacement, distance, velocity, speed, and acceleration. Solve problems involving displacement, distance, velocity, speed, and constant acceleration. 1.3 Create and interpret graphs of 1-dimensional motion, such as position vs. time, distance vs. time, speed vs. time, velocity vs. time, and acceleration vs. time where acceleration is constant. 1.4 Interpret and apply Newton’s three laws of motion. 1.5 Use a free-body force diagram to show forces acting on a system consisting of a pair of interacting objects. For a diagram with only co-linear forces, determine the net force acting on a system and between the objects. 1.6 Distinguish qualitatively between static and kinetic friction, and describe their effects on the motion of objects. 1.7 Describe Newton’s law of universal gravitation in terms of the attraction between two objects, their masses, and the distance between them. 1.8 Describe conceptually the forces involved in circular motion.

2. Conservation of Energy and Momentum Central Concept: The laws of conservation of energy and momentum provide alternate approaches to predict and describe the movement of objects. 2.1 Interpret and provide examples that illustrate the law of conservation of energy. 2.2 Interpret and provide examples of how energy can be converted from gravitational potential energy to kinetic energy and vice versa. 2.3 Describe both qualitatively and quantitatively how work can be expressed as a change in mechanical energy. 2.4 Describe both qualitatively and quantitatively the concept of power as work done per unit time. 2.5 Provide and interpret examples showing that linear momentum is the product of mass and velocity, and is always conserved (law of conservation of momentum). Calculate the momentum of an object.

4. Waves Central Concept: Waves carry energy from place to place without the transfer of matter. 4.1 Describe the measurable properties of waves (velocity, frequency, wavelength, amplitude, period) and explain the relationships among them. Recognize examples of simple harmonic motion. 4.2 Distinguish between mechanical and electromagnetic waves. 4.3 Distinguish between the two types of mechanical waves, transverse and longitudinal. 4.4 Describe qualitatively the basic principles of reflection and refraction of waves. 4.5 Recognize that mechanical waves generally move faster through a solid than through a liquid and faster through a liquid than through a gas. 4.6 Describe the apparent change in frequency of waves due to the motion of a source or a receiver (the Doppler effect).

6. Electromagnetic Radiation Central Concept: Oscillating electric or magnetic fields can generate electromagnetic waves over a wide spectrum. 6.1 Recognize that electromagnetic waves are transverse waves and travel at the speed of light through a vacuum. 6.2 Describe the electromagnetic spectrum in terms of frequency and wavelength, and identify the locations of radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, visible light (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet), ultraviolet rays, x-rays, and gamma rays on the spectrum.

//Scientific Inquiry Skills// SIS1. Make observations, raise questions, and formulate hypotheses. • Observe the world from a scientific perspective. • Pose questions and form hypotheses based on personal observations, scientific articles, experiments, and knowledge. • Read, interpret, and examine the credibility and validity of scientific claims in different sources of information, such as scientific articles, advertisements, or media stories.

SIS2. Design and conduct scientific investigations. • Articulate and explain the major concepts being investigated and the purpose of an investigation. • Select required materials, equipment, and conditions for conducting an experiment. • Identify independent and dependent variables. • Write procedures that are clear and replicable. • Employ appropriate methods for accurately and consistently o making observations o making and recording measurements at appropriate levels of precision o collecting data or evidence in an organized way • Properly use instruments, equipment, and materials (e.g., scales, probeware, meter sticks, microscopes, computers) including set-up, calibration (if required), technique, maintenance, and storage. • Follow safety guidelines.

SIS3. Analyze and interpret results of scientific investigations. • Present relationships between and among variables in appropriate forms. o Represent data and relationships between and among variables in charts and graphs. o Use appropriate technology (e.g., graphing software) and other tools. • Use mathematical operations to analyze and interpret data results. • Assess the reliability of data and identify reasons for inconsistent results, such as sources of error or uncontrolled conditions. • Use results of an experiment to develop a conclusion to an investigation that addresses the initial questions and supports or refutes the stated hypothesis. • State questions raised by an experiment that may require further investigation.

SIS4. Communicate and apply the results of scientific investigations. • Develop descriptions of and explanations for scientific concepts that were a focus of one or more investigations. • Review information, explain statistical analysis, and summarize data collected and analyzed as the result of an investigation. • Explain diagrams and charts that represent relationships of variables. • Construct a reasoned argument and respond appropriately to critical comments and questions. • Use language and vocabulary appropriately, speak clearly and logically, and use appropriate technology (e.g., presentation software) and other tools to present findings. • Use and refine scientific models that simulate physical processes or phenomena.