Praxis Elem CKT Science key terms

A community of living organisms interacting with one another and with the nonliving parts of their environment, such as water, air, soil, and sunlight.

A diagram or model showing many connected food chains in an ecosystem, illustrating how energy and matter move from producers to consumers and decomposers.

The process by which green plants, algae, and some bacteria use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make sugar and release oxygen.

The process cells use to release energy from sugar by combining it with oxygen, producing carbon dioxide and water as waste products.

A trait or behavior that helps an organism survive and reproduce in its particular environment, such as thick fur in cold climates or camouflage.

The process by which individuals with traits better suited to their environment tend to survive and reproduce more, so those traits become more common over generations.

The series of stages an organism passes through from the beginning of one generation to the beginning of the next, including growth, development, and reproduction.

A characteristic, such as eye color or leaf shape, that is passed from parents to offspring through genetic material and is not learned from the environment.

An organism, usually a plant or alga, that makes its own food using energy from sunlight or chemicals and forms the base of a food web.

An organism, such as a fungus or bacterium, that breaks down dead plants and animals and recycles nutrients back into the ecosystem.

Anything that has mass and takes up space. Matter is made of particles and can exist as a solid, liquid, or gas.

The smallest unit of an element that keeps that element's properties, made of protons and neutrons in a nucleus with electrons around it.

Two or more atoms chemically bonded together, such as a water molecule made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.

A change in a substance's appearance, shape, or state without forming a new substance, such as melting ice or tearing paper.

A change that produces one or more new substances with different properties, often signaled by color change, gas, heat, or light.

A push or pull on an object that can change its motion, direction, or shape; force is measured in newtons.

A force that opposes motion when two surfaces rub against each other, often converting kinetic energy into heat and sound.

A force of attraction between objects that have mass; on Earth it pulls objects toward the planet's center and gives them weight.

The energy an object has because of its motion; faster-moving and more massive objects have more kinetic energy, such as a rolling ball or a moving car.

Stored energy that an object has because of its position or condition, such as a ball held above the ground or a stretched rubber band.

The movement of energy from one object, place, or form to another, such as sunlight warming a rock or a battery lighting a bulb.

The transfer of heat through direct contact between materials, as when a metal spoon becomes warm in hot soup.

A complete, closed path through which electric current can flow, typically including a power source, wires, and a device such as a bulb.

The breakdown of rocks and other materials at Earth's surface by water, wind, ice, plants, or chemical reactions, without moving the pieces away.

The movement of weathered rock, soil, and sediment from one place to another by water, wind, ice, or gravity.

The ongoing processes that change rock among igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic types through melting, cooling, weathering, erosion, and heat and pressure.

The continuous movement of water between Earth's surface, atmosphere, and living things through evaporation, condensation, precipitation, collection, runoff, and snowmelt.

The scientific theory that Earth's outer shell is divided into large moving plates whose interactions cause earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain building.

The spinning of Earth on its axis, which takes about 24 hours and causes the cycle of day and night.

The changing apparent shape of the Moon as seen from Earth, caused by the Moon's position in its orbit around Earth.

A natural resource that can be replenished by natural processes within a human lifetime, such as sunlight, wind, or fresh water.

The process of asking questions, planning investigations, gathering and analyzing data, and using evidence to construct explanations about the natural world.

A testable prediction or proposed explanation about a phenomenon that can be supported or refuted by evidence from an investigation.

A factor in an investigation that can change or be changed; independent variables are manipulated, dependent variables are measured, and controlled variables are kept the same.

A conclusion based on evidence and reasoning rather than direct observation, such as inferring that a puddle shrank because water evaporated.

A simplified representation of a system or phenomenon used to explain, predict, or test ideas, such as a diagram of the water cycle or a physical model of the solar system.

A mistaken idea or incomplete understanding that a learner holds, often resistant to change and needing targeted instruction and evidence to correct.

Ongoing checks of student understanding during instruction, used to adjust teaching and give feedback rather than to assign a final grade.

A lesson sequence with five phases-Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate-that supports students in building science concepts through inquiry and reflection.

A cyclical approach to solving problems by defining a need, designing and building a solution, testing it, and improving it based on evidence.