What does a student learn in StateIllinois,GradeGrade 9,SubjectScience?

Students practice turning a curiosity or real-world problem into a testable question, one specific enough that data or an experiment could actually answer it.

Students build diagrams, simulations, or physical models to show how a system or process works, then use those models to explain patterns or test ideas.

Students design and run experiments to collect real data and see whether their ideas hold up. The work includes deciding what to test, how to measure it, and what the results actually show.

Students look at data from experiments or research, spot patterns, and explain what those patterns actually mean. The focus is on reading a graph or table closely enough to draw a real conclusion, not just describe what's there.

Students apply math skills to support scientific arguments, using calculations, graphs, or data to explain why something happens or predict what will happen next.

Students build written explanations for what they observe, then back each claim with data or a scientific principle. The explanation has to hold up, not just sound right.

Students look at two or more competing scientific explanations or engineering solutions and decide which one the evidence best supports. They back up their position with data, not just opinion.

Students read scientific sources, judge whether the information holds up, and explain their findings clearly to others. This practice runs through every science course.

Students investigate how atoms and molecules behave and interact to explain everyday physical phenomena, like why substances change state or react with other materials.

Students study how forces cause objects to speed up, slow down, or change direction, then apply Newton's laws and conservation of energy or momentum to explain why things move the way they do.

Students trace how energy changes form and moves from one place to another, and show that the total amount of energy in a closed system stays the same even as it shifts.

Students study how waves carry energy and information from one place to another. They look at real applications like radio signals, medical imaging, and fiber optic cables to understand how wave properties make those technologies work.

Students examine how living things are built and how they work, from the smallest cell up to full body systems like the heart and lungs working together.

Students trace how energy flows through a food web and how matter like carbon or water cycles back through living things and the environment. They also study how organisms in a community compete, cooperate, or depend on each other to survive.

Students study how traits like eye color or height pass from parents to offspring, and why siblings can look different even with the same parents.

Students study why all living things share certain traits while still looking remarkably different from one another. They dig into how populations change over generations through natural selection, mutation, and other forces that shape life on Earth.

Students study where Earth sits in the solar system and how it moves, then trace billions of years of Earth's history to understand how our planet got to where it is today.

Students study how Earth's major systems (rock and soil, oceans and rivers, air, and living things) shape and influence each other. A volcanic eruption affecting rainfall or a river reshaping a coastline are the kinds of connections students explore.

Students examine how things like farming, cities, and energy use change the land, water, and air around them. They also look at how earthquakes, floods, and other natural events shape where and how people live.

Students identify a real problem, brainstorm solutions, then build and test a design until it works better. The focus is on repeating that cycle of test, fix, and improve.

Engineering shapes everyday life, and everyday life shapes engineering. Students explore how new tools and systems change society, and how social needs push engineers to solve new problems.