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A. Agriculture
By the end of 5th grade, students should know that:
- Some plant varieties and animal breeds have more desirable characteristics than others, but some may be more difficult or costly to grow.
- The damage to crops caused by rodents, weeds, and insects can be reduced by using poisons, but their use may harm other plants or animals as well, and pests tend to develop resistance to poisons.
- Heating, salting, smoking, drying, cooling, and airtight packaging are ways to slow down the spoiling of food by microscopic organisms.
- Modern technology has increased the efficiency of agriculture so that fewer people are needed to work on farms than ever before.
- Places too cold or dry to grow certain crops can obtain food from places with more suitable climates.
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B. Materials and Manufacturing
By the end of 5th grade, students should know that:
- Naturally occurring materials such as wood, clay, cotton, and animal skins may be processed or combined with other materials to change their properties.
- Through science and technology, a wide variety of materials that do not appear in nature at all have become available, ranging from steel to nylon to liquid crystals.
- Discarded products contribute to the problem of waste disposal.
- Through mass production, the time required to make a product and its cost can be greatly reduced.
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C. Energy Sources and Use
By the end of 5th grade, students should know that:
- Moving air and water can be used to run machines.
- The sun is the main source of energy for people and they use it in various ways.
- Some energy sources cost less than others and some cause less pollution than others.
- People try to conserve energy in order to slow down the depletion of energy resources and/or to save money.
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D. Communication
By the end of 5th grade, students should know that:
- People have always tried to communicate with one another.
- Communication involves coding and decoding information.
- People have invented devices, such as paper and ink, engraved plastic disks, and magnetic tapes, for recording information.
- Communication technologies make it possible to send and receive information more and more reliably, quickly, and cheaply over long distances.
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E. Information Processing
By the end of 5th grade, students should know that:
- Computers are controlled partly by how they are wired and partly by special instructions called programs that are entered into a computer's memory.
- Computers can be programmed to store, retrieve, and perform operations on information.
- Mistakes can occur when people enter programs or data into a computer.
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F. Health Technology
By the end of 5th grade, students should know that:
- There are normal ranges for body measurements including temperature, heart rate, and what is in the blood and urine that help to tell when people are well.
- Technology has made it possible to repair and sometimes replace some body parts.
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