| NSES Content Standard Unifying Concepts
and Processes:
Systems, order, and organization Grades K-12, page 117 Types and levels of organization provide useful ways of thinking about
the world. Types of organization include the periodic table and the classification
of organisms. Physical systems can be described at different levels of
organization, such as fundamental particles, atoms, and molecules. Living
systems also have different levels of organization, for example, cells,
tissues, organs, organisms, populations, and communities. The complexity
and number of fundamental units change in extended hierarchies of organization.
Within these systems, interactions between components occur. Further, systems
at different levels of organization can manifest different properties and
functions.
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Benchmark 11A Common Themes: Systems
Grades 6-8, page 265
Thinking about things as systems means looking for how every part relates
to others. The output from one part of a system (which can include material,
energy, or information) can become the input to other parts. Such feedback
can serve to control what goes on in the system as a whole.
Benchmark 11A Common Themes: Systems
Grades 6-8, page 265
Any system is usually connected to other systems, both internally and
externally. Thus a system may be thought of as containing subsystems and
as being a subsystem of a larger system.
Benchmark 11A Common Themes: Systems
Grades 9-12, page 266
A system usually has some properties that are different from those
of its parts, but appear because of the interaction of those parts.
Benchmark 11A Common Themes: Systems
Grades 9-12, page 266
Understanding how things work and designing solutions to problems of
almost any kind can be facilitated by systems analysis. In defining a system,
it is important to specify its boundaries and subsystems, indicate its
relation to other systems, and identify what its input and its output are
expected to be.
See also Chapter 11 Common Themes, Section A: Systems, for precursor ideas.