• Individuals have some responsibility for their own health. Students should engage in personal care—dental hygiene, cleanliness, and exercise—that will maintain and improve health. Understandings include how communicable diseases, such as colds, are transmitted and some of the body's defense mechanisms that prevent or overcome illness.

• Nutrition is essential to health. Students should understand how the body uses food and how various foods contribute to health. Recommendations for good nutrition include eating a variety of foods, eating less sugar, and eating less fat.

• Different substances can damage the body and how it functions. Such substances include tobacco, alcohol, over-the-counter medicines, and illicit drugs. Students should understand that some substances, such as prescription drugs, can be beneficial, but that any substance can be harmful if used inappropriately.

CHARACTERISTICS AND CHANGES IN POPULATIONS

• Human populations include groups of individuals living in a particular location. One important characteristic of a human population is the population density—the number of individuals of a particular population that lives in a given amount of space.

• The size of a human population can increase or decrease. Populations will increase unless other factors such as disease or famine decrease the population.

TYPES OF RESOURCES

[See Content Standard D (grades K-4)]

• Resources are things that we get from the living and nonliving environment to meet the needs and wants of a population.

• Some resources are basic materials, such as air, water, and soil; some are produced from basic resources, such as food, fuel, and building materials; and some resources are nonmaterial, such as quiet places, beauty, security, and safety.

• The supply of many resources is limited. If used, resources can be extended through recycling and decreased use.

CHANGES IN ENVIRONMENTS

[See Content Standard C (grades K-4)]

• Environments are the space, conditions, and factors that affect an individual's and a population's ability to survive and their quality of life.

• Changes in environments can be natural or influenced by humans. Some changes are good, some are bad, and some are neither good nor bad. Pollution is a change in the environment that can influence the health, survival, or activities of organisms, including humans.

• Some environmental changes occur slowly, and others occur rapidly. Students should understand the different consequences of changing environments in small increments over long periods as compared with changing environments in large increments over short periods.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN LOCAL CHALLENGES

[See Content Standard E (grades K-4)]

• People continue inventing new ways of doing things, solving problems, and getting work done. New ideas and inventions often affect other people; sometimes the effects are good and sometimes they are bad. It is helpful to try to determine in advance how ideas and inventions will affect other people.