Note: The Iowa Core Essential Elements are intended only for students with significant cognitive disabilities and who participate in alternate assessments.

Back to top

Physical Science (EE.HS-PS)

Matter and Its Interactions (EE.HS-PS1)

EE.HS-PS1-2

Target Level: Make a claim supported by evidence to explain patterns of chemical properties that occur in a substance during a common chemical reaction (e.g., baking soda and vinegar).

Precursor Level: Identify the changes that have occurred during a chemical reaction (e.g., metal-rust, paper-burn).

Initial Level: Recognize that a change has occurred during a chemical reaction.

Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions (EE.HS-PS2)

EE.HS-PS2-3

Target Level: Evaluate the effectiveness of safety devices and design a solution that could minimize the force of a collision.

Precursor Level: Use data to compare the effectiveness of safety devices to determine which best minimizes the force of a collision.

Initial Level: Identify safety equipment devices that minimize force of a collision (e.g., floor mats, helmets, or steel-toed boots).

Energy (EE.HS-PS3)

EE.HS-PS3-4

Target Level: Investigate and predict the temperatures of two liquids before and after combining to show uniform energy distribution.

Precursor Level: Compare the temperatures of two liquids of different temperatures before and after combining.

Initial Level: Compare relative difference in temperature (warmth, coldness) of two liquids.

Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer (EE.HS-PS4)

EE.HS-PS4-5

Target Level: Make a claim supported by evidence that shows how some devices use light and sound waves to transmit and capture information.

Precursor Level: Identify common devices which use light or sound waves to transmit information.

Initial Level: Identify how common technological devices are used for different purposes.

Back to top

Life Science (EE.HS-LS)

From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes (EE.HS-LS1)

EE.HS-LS1-2

Target Level: Use a model to illustrate the organizations and interaction of major organs into systems (e.g., circulatory respiratory, digestive, sensory) in the body to provide specific functions.

Precursor Level: Identify which organs work for a specific functions.

Initial Level: Recognize that different organs have different functions.

EE.HS-LS1-4

Target Level: Use a model to illustrate the organization and interaction of major organs into systems (e.g., circulatory, respiratory, digestive, sensory) in the body to provide specific functions.

Precursor Level: Identify which organs work for a specific function.

Initial Level: Recognize that different organs have different functions.

Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics (EE.HS-LS2)

EE.HS-LS2-2

Target Level: Use a graphical representation to explain the dependence of an animal population on other organisms for food and their environment for shelter.

Precursor Level: Recognize the relationship between population size and available resources for food and shelter from a graphical representation.

Initial Level: Identify food and shelter needs for familiar wildlife.

Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits (EE.HS-LS3)

EE.HS-LS3-2

Target Level: Defend why reproduction may or may not result in offspring with different traits.

Precursor Level: Make a claim supported by evidence that parents and offspring may have different traits.

Initial Level: Compare traits of parents and offspring.

Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity (EE.HS-LS4)

EE.HS-LS4-2

Target Level: Explain how the traits of particular species that allow them to survive in their specific environments.

Precursor Level: Identify factors in an environment that require special traits to survive.

Initial Level: Match particular species to their various environments.

Back to top

Earth and Space Sciences (EE.HS-ESS)

Earth's Place in the Universe (EE.HS-ESS1)

EE.HS-ESS1-4

Target Level: Use a model of Earth and the Sun to show how Earth's tilt and orbit around the Sun cause changes in seasons.

Precursor Level: Use a model of Earth and sun to show how Earth’s positions in its orbit around the Sun correspond with the four seasons.

Initial Level: Identify characteristics of the seasons.

Earth's Systems (EE.HS-ESS2)

EE.HS-ESS2-1

Target Level: Use a model to show how constructive forces (e.g., volcanoes) and destructive mechanisms (e.g., weathering, coastal erosions) change Earth's surface.

Precursor Level: Recognize if processes that change Earth's surface are constructive or destructive.

Initial Level: Recognize changes (e.g., mountain formation, erosion, and glacial changes) that occurred on Earth's surface.

EE.HS-ESS2-4

Target Level: Using a model, recognize how the effects of changes in climate can impact human lives.

Precursor Level: Recognize climate changes have occurred (e.g., a change in average temperature, precipitation patterns, glacial ice volumes, sea levels).

Initial Level: Recognize the differences between geographical climates (e.g., Minnesota versus Florida, desert versus rainforest).

Earth and Human Activity (EE.HS-ESS3)

EE.HS-ESS3-1

Target Level: Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural hazards have influenced human activity.

Precursor Level: Recognize how natural hazards (e.g., floods, earthquakes, tornadoes) influence human activity.

Initial Level: Recognize characteristics of natural hazards (e.g., floods, earthquakes, tornadoes).

EE.HS-ESS3-2

Target Level: Construct an argument for a strategy to conserve, recycle, or reuse resources.

Precursor Level: Describe the factors that would favor one strategy to conserve, recycle, or reuse resources over another.

Initial Level: Recognize strategies to manage objects (e.g., dispose, repurpose, or recycle).

EE.HS-ESS3-3

Target Level: Analyze data to determine the effects of a conservation strategy on the level of a natural resource.

Precursor Level: Organize data on the effects of conservation strategies (e.g., using less energy, using rechargeable batteries, recycling or repurposing materials).

Initial Level: Gather data on the effects of a local (e.g., class or school-wide) conservation strategy.

Back to top