What does a student learn in StatePennsylvania,GradeGrade 12,SubjectScience?

Students learn to spot a gap in their understanding and turn it into a testable question or a clear problem worth solving. This is the first step in any scientific investigation or engineering project.

Students build and use diagrams, simulations, or physical representations to explain how something works or predict what will happen. The model stands in for a real system too complex or too small to study directly.

Students design and run their own experiments to collect real data, then use that data to back up a scientific explanation or test whether a solution actually works.

Students look at data from experiments or tests to spot patterns, back up a claim, or figure out how to improve a design.

Students use math and data tools to describe how the natural world works. Instead of just observing a phenomenon, they build equations or run calculations to explain what's happening and predict what comes next.

Students build explanations for science phenomena and propose solutions to problems by pointing to specific data or observations as their reasoning, not just stating what they think is true.

Students look at two or more competing scientific explanations or solutions, weigh the evidence behind each, and argue for the one the data best supports.

Students read scientific sources, judge whether the information holds up, and share what they learned through writing, diagrams, or presentations. The goal is moving between formats without losing accuracy.

Students examine what matter is made of and how different substances interact to explain real physical phenomena, like why metals conduct heat or why some materials dissolve in water.

Students study how forces like gravity and friction change the way objects move, stop, or stay still. They also look at what happens when two objects collide or push against each other.

Students learn how energy changes form, such as from motion to heat, and how it moves from one object to another. The total amount of energy in a system stays the same even as it shifts around.

Students study how waves, including light and sound, carry energy from place to place and how that same movement makes technology like radio, Wi-Fi, and medical imaging possible.

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

Students trace how energy from the sun and nutrients from soil and water move through food webs, and examine how plants, animals, and decomposers depend on one another to keep those cycles running.

Students study how traits like eye color or height pass from parents to offspring, and why children in the same family can look different from each other.

Students study why living things share certain traits while others differ, and how those differences build up over generations through natural selection and other forces that drive evolution.

Students study how Earth moves through space and how it formed billions of years ago. That includes the patterns behind days, seasons, and years, plus the geologic and cosmic history that shaped the planet we live on.

Students study Earth's four major systems (rock and soil, water, air, and living things) and trace how changes in one system ripple through the others.

Students study how things like farming, cities, and industry change the land, water, and air around us, and how earthquakes, floods, and wildfires put people at risk.

Students examine how farming and food production feed human populations while also affecting soil, water, and ecosystems. The focus is on tradeoffs: what agriculture provides and what it costs the natural world.

Students study how local ecosystems and watersheds work, then examine real environmental problems affecting Pennsylvania and other regions.

Students examine real practices, like water recycling or land restoration, that let communities meet their needs without depleting the natural systems those communities depend on.