| (a) Implementation. The provisions of this section
shall be implemented by school districts beginning with the 2023-2024
school year.
(1) No later than August 31, 2023, the commissioner
of education shall determine whether instructional materials funding
has been made available to Texas public schools for materials that
cover the essential knowledge and skills identified in this section.
(2) If the commissioner makes the determination that
instructional materials funding has been made available, this section
shall be implemented beginning with the 2023-2024 school year and
apply to the 2023-2024 and subsequent school years.
(3) If the commissioner does not make the determination
that instructional materials funding has been made available under
this subsection, the commissioner shall determine no later than August
31 of each subsequent school year whether instructional materials
funding has been made available. If the commissioner determines that
instructional materials funding has been made available, the commissioner
shall notify the State Board of Education and school districts that
this section shall be implemented for the following school year.
(b) General requirements. The course is recommended
for students in Grades 11 and 12. Prerequisites: one credit in biology,
one credit in chemistry, integrated physics and chemistry, or physics.
This course satisfies a high school science graduation requirement.
Students shall be awarded one credit for successful completion of
this course.
(c) Introduction.
(1) Career and technical education instruction provides
content aligned with challenging academic standards, industry-relevant
technical knowledge, and college and career readiness skills for students
to further their education and succeed in current and emerging professions.
(2) The Law and Public Service Career Cluster focuses
on planning, managing, and providing legal services, public safety,
protective services, and homeland security, including professional
and technical support services.
(3) Forensic Science is a survey course that introduces
students to the application of science to law. Students learn terminology
and procedures related to the collection and examination of physical
evidence using scientific processes performed in a field or laboratory
setting. Students also learn the history and the legal aspects of
forensic science.
(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.
(5) Students are expected to know that:
(A) hypotheses are tentative and testable statements
that must be capable of being supported or not supported by observational
evidence. Hypotheses of durable explanatory power that have been tested
over a wide variety of conditions are incorporated into theories;
and
(B) 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 they may be subject to change
as new areas of science and new technologies are developed.
(6) Scientific inquiry is the planned and deliberate
investigation of the natural world using scientific and engineering
practices. Scientific methods of investigation are descriptive, comparative,
or experimental. The method chosen should be appropriate to the question
being asked. Student learning for different types of investigations
include descriptive investigations, which involve collecting data
and recording observations without making comparisons; comparative
investigations, which involve collecting data with variables that
are manipulated to compare results; and experimental investigations,
which involve processes similar to comparative investigations but
in which a control is identified.
(A) Scientific practices. Students should be able to
ask questions, plan and conduct investigations to answer questions,
and explain phenomena using appropriate tools and models.
(B) Engineering practices. Students should be able
to identify problems and design solutions using appropriate tools
and models.
(7) Scientific decision making is a way of answering
questions about the natural world involving its own set of ethical
standards about how the process of science should be carried out.
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).
(8) Science consists of recurring themes and making
connections between overarching concepts. Recurring themes include
systems, models, and patterns. All systems have basic properties that
can be described in 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, while models allow for boundary specification and provide
a tool for understanding the ideas presented. 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.
(9) Students are encouraged to participate in extended
learning experiences such as career and technical student organizations
and other leadership or extracurricular organizations.
(10) 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.
(d) Knowledge and skills.
(1) The student demonstrates professional standards/employability
skills as required by business and industry. The student is expected
to demonstrate professional standards/employability skills such as
demonstrating good attendance, punctuality, and ethical conduct; meeting
deadlines, and working toward personal and team goals.
(2) The student, for at least 40% of instructional
time, asks questions, identifies problems, and plans and safely conducts
classroom, laboratory, and field investigations to answer questions,
explain phenomena, or design solutions using appropriate tools and
models. The student is expected to:
(A) ask questions and define problems based on observations
or information from text, phenomena, models, or investigations;
(B) apply scientific practices to plan and conduct
descriptive, comparative, and experimental investigations and use
engineering practices to design solutions to problems;
(C) use appropriate safety equipment and practices
during laboratory, classroom, and field investigations as outlined
in Texas Education Agency-approved safety standards;
(D) use appropriate tools and equipment such as scientific
calculators, computers, internet access, digital cameras, video recording
devices, meter sticks, metric rulers, measuring tapes, digital range
finders, protractors, calipers, light microscopes up to 100x magnification,
hand lenses, stereoscopes, digital scales, dissection equipment, standard
laboratory glassware, appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE),
an adequate supply of consumable chemicals, biological specimens,
prepared evidence slides and samples, evidence packaging and tamper
evident tape, evidence tents, crime scene tape, L-rulers, American
Board of Forensic Odontology (ABFO) scales, alternate light sources
(ALS) and ALS protective goggles, blood specimens, blood presumptive
tests, glass samples of various chemical composition, human and non-human
bones, fingerprint brushes and powders, lifting tapes and cards, ten-print
cards and ink pads, swabs with containers, disposable gloves, and
relevant and necessary kits;
(E) collect quantitative data with accuracy and precision
using the International System of Units (SI) and United States customary
units and qualitative data as evidence;
(F) organize quantitative and qualitative data using
appropriate methods of communication such as reports, graphs, tables,
or charts;
(G) develop and use models to represent phenomena,
systems, processes, or solutions to engineering problems; and
(H) distinguish between scientific hypotheses, theories,
and laws.
(3) The student analyzes and interprets data to derive
meaning, identify features and patterns, and discover relationships
or correlations to develop evidence-based arguments or evaluate designs.
The student is expected to:
(A) identify advantages and limitations of models such
as their size, scale, properties, and materials;
(B) analyze data by identifying significant statistical
features, patterns, sources of error, and limitations;
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