What does a student learn in StateDistrict of Columbia,GradeGrade 12,SubjectScience?

Students learn to frame a question or problem precisely enough that it can actually be tested in a lab or solved with a design. The goal is to separate questions science can answer from ones it cannot.

Students build diagrams, simulations, or physical models to show how a system or process works, then use those models to explain what they observe or predict what happens next.

Students design and run experiments to collect real data and find out whether their ideas hold up. That means choosing what to measure, deciding how to set up the test, and recording what actually happens.

Reading data from charts, graphs, or experiments, students look for patterns and explain what those patterns actually mean, not just what the numbers say.

Students use math, data, and calculations to back up scientific claims. That might mean graphing results, running numbers, or checking whether the data actually supports what the experiment suggested.

Students build written or spoken explanations for why something happens in nature, then back each claim with data or observations from their own work or from established science.

Students look at two or more scientific explanations or proposed solutions, weigh the evidence behind each, and argue for the one that holds up best. The goal is to show why one answer is stronger, not just to pick a side.

Students read scientific sources, judge how reliable they are, and share what they find in writing, diagrams, or presentations. The focus is on understanding real research and explaining it clearly to others.

Students investigate how atoms and molecules are arranged and how they interact to explain physical phenomena like dissolving, burning, or changes in state.

Students study how forces change the way objects move, using Newton's laws and the idea that energy and momentum stay constant in a closed system. They apply these rules to real situations, like collisions or objects in free fall.

Students trace how energy changes form and moves from one object to another, then show that the total amount stays the same. Think heat leaving a hot pan, electricity lighting a bulb, or a ball rolling downhill.

Students study how waves move energy and information from one place to another. They look at real applications like radio signals, medical imaging, and fiber optics to see how wave behavior makes modern communication possible.

Students examine how living things are built and how they work, from the smallest cell up to whole-body systems like digestion or circulation.

Students trace how energy flows through a food web and how matter like carbon and water cycles back through living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem. They also study how organisms compete, cooperate, and depend on each other to survive.

Students examine why offspring resemble but don't perfectly match their parents. They trace how traits like eye color or height are passed down, and why siblings can look different even when they share the same parents.

Students examine how living things share common traits across species while also differing in key ways, then study the processes like natural selection and genetic change that explain how species shift over time.

Students study where Earth sits in the solar system and how it moves, then trace the major events that shaped Earth across billions of years.

Students examine how Earth's land, water, air, and living things connect and affect each other. A volcanic eruption, a rainstorm, or a wildfire shows how one part of Earth can shift what happens in the others.

Students study how things like farming, cities, and energy use change the land, air, and water around us. They also look at how earthquakes, floods, and wildfires shape where and how people live.

Students identify a real problem, sketch or build possible fixes, then test and refine their best idea until it works better. This is the core loop of engineering design.

Students study how new technologies shape daily life and how the needs of society push engineers to solve new problems. Each one changes the other.