Digital Frog International educational software &
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Science

(a) Introduction.

1. Aquatic Science. In Aquatic Science, students study the interactions of biotic and abiotic components in aquatic environments, including impacts on aquatic systems. Investigations and field work in this course may emphasize fresh water or marine aspects of aquatic science depending primarily upon the natural resources available for study near the school. Students who successfully complete Aquatic Science will acquire knowledge about a variety of aquatic systems, conduct investigations and observations of aquatic environments, work collaboratively with peers, and develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.

CD and Workbook

Refer to Ecology section

5. Scientific systems. 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.

Food Web screens; Mechanism screens

Dependency Web screens; Mechanisms screens

Build-A- Desert screens, Mechanisms screens

(b) Knowledge and skills.

5. (A) evaluate data over a period of time from an established aquatic environment documenting seasonal changes and the behavior of organisms;

Refer to Wetland Types and workbook

5. (B) collect baseline quantitative data, including pH, salinity, temperature, mineral content, nitrogen compounds, and turbidity from an aquatic environment;

Refer to Mechanisms & Types sections

5. (C) analyze interrelationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in a local aquatic ecosystem; and

Food Web screens

5. (D) identify the interdependence of organisms in an aquatic environment …

Food Web screens

6. (A) identify the role of carbon, nitrogen, water, and nutrient cycles in an aquatic environment, including upwellings and turnovers; and

Mechanisms section

11. (A) identify how energy flows and matter cycles through both fresh water and salt water aquatic systems, including food webs, chains, and pyramids; and

Food Web screens (fresh water)