What does a student learn in StateNew Jersey,GradeGrade 12,SubjectScience?

Students learn to turn a curiosity or a real-world problem into a question that can actually be tested or built toward. The focus is on framing problems in a way that science or engineering can address.

Students build diagrams, simulations, or physical models to explain how something works or why something happens. The model becomes a tool for testing ideas and showing their thinking to others.

Students design and run experiments to collect real data and find out whether their ideas hold up. This includes deciding what to measure, how to control variables, and what the results actually show.

Students look at data from experiments or research and pull out what it actually means. They spot trends, compare results, and explain what the numbers or observations show.

Students apply math and data analysis to back up scientific conclusions. That means using calculations, graphs, or models to show whether the evidence supports their explanation.

Students build written explanations for why something happens in nature, using data and scientific principles as proof. The explanation has to hold up against what the evidence actually shows, not just what seems reasonable.

Students look at two or more scientific explanations or proposed solutions and use real evidence to argue which one holds up better. The focus is on the reasoning behind the claim, not just picking a side.

Students read scientific articles and data, judge how reliable the sources are, and explain what they found clearly to others.

Students examine how atoms and molecules are arranged and how they interact to explain everyday physical phenomena, such as why materials melt, dissolve, or conduct electricity.

Students learn why a kicked ball slows down, why seatbelts matter, and how objects keep moving unless something stops them. The focus is Newton's laws and the idea that energy and momentum stay constant in a closed system.

Students trace how energy changes form and moves from one object to another, and why the total amount stays the same even when it seems to disappear.

Students study how waves carry energy and information from one place to another. They look at real examples like light, sound, and radio signals to understand how waves are used in communication and technology.

Students study 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 nutrients and energy move through a food web and examine how plants, animals, and decomposers depend on each other to keep an ecosystem running.

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

Students study how all living things share common ancestry while evolving into different forms over time. They examine the mechanisms behind evolution, including natural selection, genetic variation, and how populations change across generations.

Students study where Earth sits in the solar system, how the planets move in predictable patterns, and how Earth itself formed and changed over billions of years.

Students study how Earth's major systems (land, water, air, and living things) shape and change each other. A volcanic eruption, a flood, or a shifting climate shows all four systems working together.

Students study how things like burning fuel or building cities change the land, air, and water around us. They also look at how earthquakes, floods, and other natural events shape where and how people live.

Students identify a real-world problem, sketch or build possible solutions, then test and improve their design until it works better. The focus is on the cycle of trying, learning from failure, and refining.

Engineering and society push and pull on each other. Students examine how a new technology changes daily life, and how social needs or problems drive engineers to build something new.