Synopsis:  Students identify reasons for evaluating risk management strategies, while appreciating that there are reasons why some people might not want to evaluate a strategy.  Students are given an example of an evaluation and identify the main reasons for conducting it and the possible pitfalls of the approach.  Through the investigation, students are encouraged to think critically about health-related and cost-related justifications and their impact on a decision about how to evaluate a risk management strategy.  In conclusion, students realize why it is important to evaluate risk management strategies.

Conceptual and procedural schemes unify science disciplines and provide students with powerful ideas to help them understand the natural world. Because of the underlying principles embodied in this standard, the understandings and abilities described here are repeated in the other content standards.

Inquiry requires that students combine processes and scientific knowledge as they use scientific reasoning and critical thinking to develop their understanding of science. Engaging students in inquiry helps students develop an understanding of scientific concepts, an appreciation of "how we know" what we know in science, an understanding of the nature of science, the skills necessary to become independent inquirers about the natural world, and the dispositions to use the skills, abilities, and attitudes associated with science.

An important purpose of science education is to give students a means to understand and act on personal and social issues. The science in personal and social perspectives standards help students develop decision-making skills.

Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.

Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.

Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.

Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

What are civic life, politics, and government?

Different methods can be used to allocate goods and services. People acting individually or collectively through government, must choose which methods to use to allocate different kinds of goods and services.