(a) General requirements. This course is recommended for students in Grades 10-12. Prerequisites: one credit of high school science and Algebra I. Students must meet the 40% laboratory and fieldwork requirement. This course satisfies a high school science graduation requirement. Students shall be awarded one credit for successful completion of this course.
(b) Introduction.
  (1) Career and technical education instruction provides content aligned with challenging academic standards and relevant technical knowledge and skills for students to further their education and succeed in current or emerging professions.
  (2) The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Career Cluster focuses on planning, managing, and providing scientific research and professional and technical services, including laboratory and testing services, and research and development services.
  (3) In Principles of Technology, students will conduct laboratory and field investigations, use scientific practices during investigations, and make informed decisions using critical thinking and scientific problem solving. Various systems will be described in terms of space, time, energy, and matter. Students will study a variety of topics that include laws of motion, conservation of energy, momentum, electricity, magnetism, thermodynamics, and characteristics and behavior of waves. Students will apply physics concepts and perform laboratory experimentations for at least 40% of instructional time using safe practices.
  (4) Science, as defined by the National Academy of Sciences, is the "use of evidence to construct testable explanations and predictions of natural phenomena, as well as the knowledge generated through this process." This vast body of changing and increasing knowledge is described by physical, mathematical, and conceptual models. Students should know that some questions are outside the realm of science because they deal with phenomena that are not currently scientifically testable by empirical science.
  (5) Scientific inquiry is the planned and deliberate investigation of the natural world. Scientific methods of investigation are experimental, descriptive, or comparative. The method chosen should be appropriate to the question being asked.
  (6) Scientific decision making is a way of answering questions about the natural world. Students should be able to distinguish between scientific decision-making methods (scientific methods) and ethical and social decisions that involve science (the application of scientific information).
  (7) A system is a collection of cycles, structures, and processes that interact. All systems have basic properties that can be described in terms of space, time, energy, and matter. Change and constancy occur in systems as patterns and can be observed, measured, and modeled. These patterns help to make predictions that can be scientifically tested. Students should analyze a system in terms of its components and how these components relate to each other, to the whole, and to the external environment.
  (8) Students are encouraged to participate in extended learning experiences such as career and technical student organizations and other leadership or extracurricular organizations.
  (9) Statements that contain the word "including" reference content that must be mastered, while those containing the phrase "such as" are intended as possible illustrative examples.
(c) Knowledge and skills.
  (1) The student demonstrates professional standards/employability skills as required by business and industry. The student is expected to:
    (A) demonstrate knowledge of how to dress appropriately, speak politely, and conduct oneself in a manner appropriate for the profession;
    (B) show the ability to cooperate, contribute, and collaborate as a member of a group in an effort to achieve a positive collective outcome;
    (C) present written and oral communication in a clear, concise, and effective manner;
    (D) demonstrate time-management skills in prioritizing tasks, following schedules, and performing goal-relevant activities in a way that produces efficient results; and
    (E) demonstrate punctuality, dependability, reliability, and responsibility in performing assigned tasks as directed.
  (2) The student, for at least 40% of instructional time, conducts laboratory and field investigations using safe, environmentally appropriate, and ethical practices. The student is expected to:
    (A) demonstrate safe practices during laboratory and field investigations; and
    (B) demonstrate an understanding of the use and conservation of resources and the proper disposal or recycling of materials.
  (3) The student uses scientific methods and equipment during laboratory and field investigations. The student is expected to:
    (A) know the definition of science and understand that it has limitations, as specified in subsection (b)(4) of this section;
    (B) know that hypotheses are tentative and testable statements that must be capable of being supported or not supported by observational evidence. Hypotheses of durable explanatory power, which have been tested over a wide variety of conditions, are incorporated into theories;
    (C) know that scientific theories are based on natural and physical phenomena and are capable of being tested by multiple independent researchers. Unlike hypotheses, scientific theories are well-established and highly-reliable explanations, but may be subject to change as new areas of science and new technologies are developed;
    (D) distinguish between scientific hypotheses and scientific theories;
    (E) design and implement investigative procedures, including making observations, asking well-defined questions, formulating testable hypotheses, identifying variables, selecting appropriate equipment and technology, and evaluating numerical answers for reasonableness;
    (F) collect and organize qualitative and quantitative data and make measurements with accuracy and precision using tools such as multimeters (current, voltage, resistance), balances, batteries, dynamics demonstration equipment, collision apparatus, lab masses, magnets, plane mirrors, convex lenses, stopwatches, trajectory apparatus, graph paper, magnetic compasses, protractors, metric rulers, spring scales, thermometers, and slinky springs;
    (G) use a wide variety of additional course equipment as appropriate such as ripple tank with wave generator, wave motion rope, tuning forks, hand-held visual spectroscopes, discharge tubes with power supply (H, He, Ne, Ar), electromagnetic spectrum charts, laser pointers, micrometer, caliper, computer, data acquisition probes, scientific calculators, graphing technology, electrostatic kits, electroscope, inclined plane, optics bench, optics kit, polarized film, prisms, pulley with table clamp, motion detectors, photogates, friction blocks, ballistic carts or equivalent, resonance tube, stroboscope, resistors, copper wire, switches, iron filings, and/or other equipment and materials that will produce the same results;
    (H) make measurements and record data with accuracy and precision using scientific notation and International System (SI) units;
    (I) organize, evaluate, and make inferences from data, including the use of tables, charts, and graphs;
    (J) communicate valid conclusions supported by the data through various methods such as lab reports, labeled drawings, graphic organizers, journals, summaries, oral reports, and technology-based reports; and
    (K) express relationships among physical variables quantitatively, including the use of graphs, charts, and equations.
  (4) The student uses critical thinking, scientific reasoning, and problem solving to make informed decisions within and outside the classroom. The student is expected to:
    (A) analyze, evaluate, and critique scientific explanations by using empirical evidence, logical reasoning, and experimental and observational testing, so as to encourage critical thinking by the student;
    (B) communicate and apply scientific information extracted from various sources such as current events, news reports, published journal articles, and marketing materials;
    (C) explain the impacts of the scientific contributions of a variety of historical and contemporary scientists on scientific thought and society;
    (D) research and describe the connections between physics and future careers; and
    (E) express, manipulate, and interpret relationships symbolically to make predictions and solve problems mathematically.
  (5) The student uses the scientific process to investigate physical concepts. The student is expected to:
    (A) demonstrate an understanding that scientific hypotheses are tentative and testable statements that must be capable of being supported by observational evidence;
Cont'd...