Tennessee Science Standards
Kindergarten : Inquiry
Conceptual Strand
Understandings about scientific inquiry and the ability to conduct inquiry are essential for living in the 21st century.
Guiding Question
What tools, skills, knowledge, and dispositions are needed to conduct scientific inquiry?
Grade Level Expectations
Checks for Understanding
State Performance Indicators
GLE 0007.Inq.1 Observe the world of familiar
objects using the senses and tools.
GLE 0007.Inq.2 Ask questions, make logical
predictions, plan investigations, and represent
data.
GLE 0007.Inq.3 Explain the data from an
investigation.
0007.Inq.1 Use senses and simple tools to
make observations.
0007.Inq.2 Communicate interest in simple
phenomena and plan for simple
investigations.
0007.Inq.3 Communicate understanding of
simple data using age-appropriate vocabulary.
0007.Inq.4 Collect, discuss, and
communicate findings from a variety of
investigations.
Kindergarten : Technology & Engineering
Conceptual Strand
Society benefits when engineers apply scientific discoveries to design materials and processes that develop into enabling technologies.
Guiding Question
How do science concepts, engineering skills, and applications of technology improve the quality of life?
Grade Level Expectations
Checks for Understanding
State Performance Indicators
GLE 0007.T/E.K-2.1 Recognize that both
natural materials and human-made tools have
specific characteristics that determine their use.
GLE 0007.T/E.2 Apply engineering design and
creative thinking to solve practical problems.
0007.T/E.1 Explain how simple tools are
used to extend the senses, make life easier,
and solve everyday problems.
0007.T/E.2 Invent designs for simple
products.
0007.T/E.3 Use tools to measure materials
and construct simple products.
Kindergarten - Life Science
Kindergarten : Standard 1 - Cells
Conceptual Strand 1
All living things are made of cells that perform functions necessary for life.
Guiding Question 1
How are plant and animals cells organized to carry on the processes of life?
Grade Level Expectations
Checks for Understanding
State Performance Indicators
GLE 0007.1.1 Recognize that many things are
made of parts.
0007.1.1 Use puzzles to determine that
there are many parts that make up a whole.
0007.1.2 Use building blocks to create a
whole from the parts.
0007.1.3 Take apart an object and describe
how the parts work together.
Kindergarten : Standard 2 - Interdependence
Conceptual Strand 2
All life is interdependent and interacts with the environment.
Guiding Question 2
How do living things interact with one another and with the non-living elements of their environment?
Grade Level Expectations
Checks for Understanding
State Performance Indicators
GLE 0007.2.1 Recognize that some things are
living and some are not.
GLE 0007.2.2 Know that people interact with
their environment through their senses.
0007.2.1 Categorize objects or images of
objects as living or non-living according to
their characteristics.
0007.2.2 Use the senses to investigate and
describe an object.
Kindergarten : Standard 3 - Flow of Matter and Energy
Conceptual Strand 3
Matter and energy flow through the biosphere.
Guiding Question 3
What scientific information explains how matter and energy flow through the biosphere?
Grade Level Expectations
Checks for Understanding
State Performance Indicators
GLE 0007.3.1 Recognize that living things
require water, food, and air.
0007.3.1 Observe plants and animals and
make records of their similarities and
differences.
0007.3.2 Record information about the care,
feeding, and maintenance of a living thing.
Kindergarten: Standard 4 - Heredity
Conceptual Strand 4
Plants and animals reproduce and transmit hereditary information between generations.
Guiding Question 4
What are the principal mechanisms by which living things reproduce and transmit information between parents and offspring?
Grade Level Expectations
Checks for Understanding
State Performance Indicators
GLE 0007.4.1 Observe how plants and animals
change as they grow.
GLE 0007.4.2 Observe that offspring resemble
their parents.
0007.4.1 Observe a plant to identify how it
changes as it grows from a seed to the adult
plant and record data using non-standard
measurement devices.
0007.4.2 Match pictures of seedlings to
adult plants and a juvenile to the adult animal.
Kindergarten : Standard 5 - Biodiversity and Change
Conceptual Strand 5
A rich variety of complex organisms have developed in response to a continually changing environment.
Guiding Question 5
How does natural selection explain how organisms have changed over time?
Grade Level Expectations
Checks for Understanding
State Performance Indicators
GLE 0007.5.1 Compare the basic features of
plants and animals.
0007.5.1 Use a variety of representations to
describe similarities and differences among
plants and animals.
0007.5.2 Create a mural of an ecosystem
and compare the characteristics of animals
and plants within that environment.
0007.5.3 Match pictures of animal and plant
characteristics needed for survival to
appropriate environments.
Kindergarten - Earth and Space Science
Kindergarten : Standard 6 - The Universe
Conceptual Strand 6
The cosmos is vast and explored well enough to know its basic structure and operational principles.
Guiding Question 6
What big ideas guide human understanding about the origin and structure of the universe, Earth’s place in the cosmos, and observable
motions and patterns in the sky?
Grade Level Expectations
Checks for Understanding
State Performance Indicators
GLE 0007.6.1 Know the different objects that
are visible in the day and night sky.
0007.6.1 Create a Venn diagram to compare
the objects that can be seen in the day and
night sky.
0007.6.2 Observe, discuss, and draw objects
found in the day and night sky.
Kindergarten : Standard 7 – The Earth
Conceptual Strand 7
Major geologic events that occur over eons or brief moments in time continually shape and reshape the surface of the Earth, resulting in
continuous global change.
Guiding Question 7
How is the earth affected by long-term and short term geological cycles and the influence of man?
Grade Level Expectations
Checks for Understanding
State Performance Indicators
0007.7.1 Identify non-living materials found
on the surface of the earth.
0007.7.2 Recognize that some objects are
manmade and that some occur naturally.
0007.7.1 Identify non-living materials
found on the school site and discuss how
these materials are similar and different.
0007.7.2 Investigate and compare a variety
of non-living materials using simple tools.
0007.7.3 Observe familiar environments
and make lists of natural and manmade
objects.
Kindergarten : Standard 8 - The Atmosphere
Conceptual Strand 8
The earth is surrounded by an active atmosphere and an energy system that controls the distribution of life, local weather, climate, and
global temperature.
Guiding Question 8
How do the physical characteristics and the chemical makeup of the atmosphere influence surface processes and life on Earth?
Grade Level Expectations
Checks for Understanding
State Performance Indicators
GLE 0007.8.2 Collect daily weather data at
different times of the year.
0007.8.1 Collect, compare, and record daily
weather data during different seasons.
0007.8.2 Infer the relationship between
temperature and seasonal change by
maintaining a paper chain on which dates are
recorded and temperature described according
to different colors.
Kindergarten - Physical Science
Kindergarten : Standard 9 - Matter
Conceptual Strand 9
The composition and structure of matter is known, and it behaves according to principles that are generally understood.
Guiding Question 9
How does the structure of matter influence its physical and chemical behavior?
Grade Level Expectations
Checks for Understanding
State Performance Indicators
GLE 0007.9.1 Describe an object by its
observable properties.
GLE 0007.9.2 Identify objects and materials as
solids or liquids.
0007.9.1 Observe, identify, and compare the
properties of various objects such as color,
shape, and size.
0007.9.2 Observe, discuss, and compare
characteristics of various solids and liquids.
Kindergarten : Standard 10 - Energy
Conceptual Strand 10
Various forms of energy are constantly being transformed into other types without any net loss of energy from the system.
Guiding Question 10
What basic energy related ideas are essential for understanding the dependency of the natural and human-made worlds on energy?
Grade Level Expectations
Checks for Understanding
State Performance Indicators
GLE 0007.10.1 Identify the sun as the source of
heat and light.
GLE 0007.10.2 Investigate the effect of the sun
on a variety of materials.
0007.10.1 Place a thermometer in a sunny
window and one in a shady area of the
classroom and record the temperatures over
time. Compare, discuss, and record any
temperature differences.
0007.10.2 Investigate the temperature
differences in various locations around the
school. Discuss and record the results.
0007.10.3 Place a thermometer under pieces
ofdifferent colored paper on a sunny window.
Compare results and discuss possible causes.
Kindergarten : Standard 11 - Motion
Conceptual Strand 11
Objects move in ways that can be observed, described, predicted, and measured.
Guiding Question 11
What causes objects to move differently under different circumstances?
Grade Level Expectations
Checks for Understanding
State Performance Indicators
GLE 0007.11.1 Explore different ways that
objects move.
0007.11.1 Use a variety of objects to
demonstrate different types of movement.
(e.g., straight line/zigzag, backwards/
forward, side to side, in circles, fast/slow).
Kindergarten : Standard 12 - Forces in Nature
Conceptual Strand 12
Everything in the universe exerts a gravitational force on everything else;
there is an interplay between magnetic fields and electrical currents.
Guiding Question 12
What are the scientific principles that explain gravity and electromagnetism?
Grade Level Expectations
Checks for Understanding
State Performance Indicators
None for this Grade Level.
None for this Grade Level.