1. (a) Introduction. The Oklahoma Academic Standards for Science ("OAS-S") are three-dimensional performance expectations representing the skills and knowledge students should understand and be able to do to be proficient in science and engineering. Every standard includes a science and engineering practice (everyday skills of scientists and engineers), disciplinary core ideas (science and engineering ideas used by scientists and engineers), and a crosscutting concept (ways of thinking like scientists and engineers). Pre-Kindergarten standards emphasize one dimension, the science and engineering practices, to provide early learners with ample time for exploratory play and background experiences that will inform K-12 learning experiences. The 2026 OAS-S also includes Connections to Scientific Literacy. These connections are integrated throughout the standards, providing additional support for engaging students in understanding and applying basic scientific concepts, processes, and reasoning to everyday situations.
2. (b) Science Standards Overview. The Performance Expectation of each standard summarizes the three dimensions and highlights what students should understand and be able to do once that standard is mastered.
3. (1) Dimension 1: Science and Engineering Practices.
4. (2) Dimension 2: Disciplinary Core Ideas.(3) Dimension 3: Crosscutting Concepts.
5. (c) Performance Expectation. The following additional components serve as support for educators in providing clarity and further guidance for each Performance Expectation.
6. (1) Clarification Statement. A Clarification Statement is a short explanation that provides additional context or examples to a Performance Expectation, helping educators understand exactly what is expected of students when demonstrating a specific set of science ideas.
7. (2) Assessment Boundary. An Assessment Boundary provides educators additional support in understanding the intent of the Performance Expectation and its relation to other standards in the learning progression. Educators should use the Assessment Boundaries as tools for developing assessments. For Grade 5, Biology I, and Physical Science, the Assessment Boundaries are used to inform the development of the state summative assessments.
8. (d) Dimension 1: Science and Engineering Practice. The Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) describe two (2) things, 1) the actions and processes scientists use as they investigate, experiment, build models, and develop theories about the world, and 2) the actions and processes engineers use as they design and build systems. Each science standard integrates one SEP, and all standards that emphasize engineering skills or ideas are designated with an asterisk*. The eight science and engineering practices are:
9. (1) Asking Questions and Defining Problems. A practice of science is to ask and refine questions that lead to descriptions and explanations of how the natural and designed worlds work. Engineering questions clarify problems to determine criteria for successful solutions.
10. (2) Developing and Using Models. A practice of both science and engineering is to use and construct models as helpful tools for representing ideas and explanations. Models can include diagrams, drawings, physical replicas, mathematical representations, analogies, and computer simulations.
11. (3) Planning and Carrying Out Investigations. Scientists and engineers plan and carry out investigations in the field or laboratory, as individuals and collaborators on a team. Investigations are systematic and require clarifying what counts as data and identifying variables or parameters.
12. (4) Analyzing and Interpreting Data. Investigations produce data that must be analyzed to derive meaning or effectiveness of a design.
13. (5) Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking. Mathematics and computation are fundamental tools for representing physical variables and their relationships. They are used for constructing simulations, solving equations, and recognizing, expressing, and applying quantitative relationships.
14. (6) Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions. End products of science are explanations, and end products of engineering are solutions. The construction of theories provides explanatory accounts of the world, and scientific knowledge is utilized in the development of solutions to problems.
15. (7) Engaging in Scientific Argument from Evidence. Argumentation is the process by which evidence-based conclusions and solutions are reached. Reasoning and arguments informed by evidence are essential to identifying the best explanation for a natural phenomenon or the best solution to a design problem.
16. (8) Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information. Scientists and engineers clearly and persuasively communicate the ideas and methods they generate, both individually and in groups.
17. (e) Dimension 2: Disciplinary Core Ideas. Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) represent a set of science and engineering ideas for K-12 science education that have broad importance across multiple sciences and engineering disciplines; provide a key tool for understanding or investigating more complex ideas and solving problems; relate to the interests and life experiences of students; and are teachable and learnable over multiple grades at increasing levels of sophistication [NRC, 2012, p. 21]. Disciplinary Core Ideas are grouped into four domains:
18. (1) Physical Sciences (PS). Most systems or processes depend on physical and chemical subprocesses, whether the system is Earth’s atmosphere, a star, river, bicycle, or living cell. To understand the physical and chemical basis of a system, students must understand the structure of matter, the forces between objects, the related energy transfers, and their consequences. In this way, the underlying principles of physical science, chemistry, and physics allow students to understand all natural and designed phenomena.
19. (2) Life Sciences (LS). Life sciences focus on patterns, processes, and relationships of living organisms. The study of life ranges over scales from single molecules, organisms, and ecosystems, to the entire biosphere. A core principle is that organisms are related through common ancestry and that processes of natural selection have led to the tremendous diversity of the biosphere. Through courses like Biology I and Environmental Science, students explore all aspects of living things and the environments they live in.
20. (3) Earth and Space Sciences (ESS). Through Earth and Space Sciences, students investigate processes that operate on Earth (e.g., connections between the atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere) as well as address Earth’s place in the solar system and universe. ESS involves phenomena that range in scale (from microscopic to cosmic) and timeframes (from short-term weather events to long-term geological processes).
21. (4) Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science (ETS). The application of science knowledge and skills to engineering have contributed to the development of many technologies. Insights gained from scientific discoveries have altered how buildings, bridges, and cities are constructed; changed the operations of factories; led to new methods of generating and distributing energy; and created new modes of travel and communication. An overarching goal of ETS is for students to explore links among engineering, technology, science, and society throughout their science learning.
22. (f) Dimension 3: Crosscutting Concepts. The Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs) represent common threads or themes that span across the science domains (physical, life, and Earth and space), and have value to both scientists and engineers because they identify universal properties and processes found in all disciplines. The seven crosscutting concepts are:
23. (1) Patterns. Observed patterns in nature guide organization and classification, and prompt questions about the cause and effect relationships underlying them. Patterns are also useful as evidence to support explanations and arguments.
24. (2) Cause and Effect. Events have causes, sometimes simple, sometimes complex. Deciphering causal relationships, and the mechanisms by which they are mediated, is a major activity of scientists and engineers. Mechanisms can then be tested across given contexts and used to predict and explain events in new situations.
25. (3) Scale, Proportion, and Quantity. When investigating phenomena, it is critical to recognize what is relevant at different measures of size, time, and energy, and to recognize how changes in scale, proportion, and quantity affect a system’s structure or performance.
26. (4) System and System Models. Defining the system under study–specifying its boundaries and making explicit a model of that system–provides a tool for understanding and testing ideas.
27. (5) Energy and Matter. Tracking changes of energy and matter into, out of, and within systems helps scientists and engineers understand a system’s possibilities and limitations.
28. (6) Structure and Function. An object’s structure and shape determine many of its properties and functions. For example, the structures, shapes, and substructures of living organisms determine how the organism functions to meet its needs within an environment.
29. (7) Stability and Change. For natural and designed systems, conditions of stability and rates of change provide the focus for understanding how a system operates and the causes of the changes in that system.
30. (g) Connections to Scientific Literacy. The Oklahoma Academic Standards for Science (OAS-S) integrate connections to scientific literacy, providing additional support for engaging students in understanding and applying basic scientific concepts, processes, and reasoning to everyday situations. There are four scientific literacy categories closely related to the science and engineering practices, and four closely related to the crosscutting concepts.
31. (1) Scientific Literacy Connections that Support the Science and Engineering Practices.
32. (A) Scientific Investigations Use a Variety of Methods. Although no single step-by-step scientific method captures the complexity of doing science, scientific investigations follow a systematic approach grounded in reasoning, objectivity, and evidence-based inquiry. Scientific methodology incorporates deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning, guided by rational argument, peer review, and reproducibility.
33. (B) Scientific Knowledge is Based on Empirical Evidence. Scientific knowledge is a combination of observations and scientific reasoning. Logical connections between evidence and explanations, along with shared rules for evaluating evidence and reproducing results, ensure consistency across disciplines and over time.
34. (C) Scientific Knowledge is Open to Revision in Light of New Evidence. Scientific knowledge is simultaneously reliable and subject to change in light of new evidence or reinterpretation of existing evidence. This adaptability ensures that science continuously improves and refines its understanding of the natural world.
35. (D) Scientific Laws, Theories, and Models Explain Natural Phenomena. A primary goal of science is the formation of laws and theories about the natural world. Laws describe regularities or relationships in nature, while theories are substantiated explanations of the why and how something occurs based on a body of evidence, observation, and repeated testing. Models support this understanding by being simplified representations of the natural phenomenon being observed and tested.
36. (2) Scientific Literacy Connections that Support the Crosscutting Concepts.
37. (A) Scientific Investigations Use a Variety of Methods. Although no single step-by-step scientific method captures the complexity of doing science, scientific investigations follow a systematic approach grounded in reasoning, objectivity, and evidence-based inquiry. Scientific methodology incorporates deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning, guided by rational argument, peer review, and reproducibility.
38. (B) Scientific Knowledge is Based on Empirical Evidence. Scientific knowledge is a combination of observations and scientific reasoning. Logical connections between evidence and explanations, along with shared rules for evaluating evidence and reproducing results, ensure consistency across disciplines and over time.
39. (C) Scientific Knowledge is Open to Revision in Light of New Evidence. Scientific knowledge is simultaneously reliable and subject to change in light of new evidence or reinterpretation of existing evidence. This adaptability ensures that science continuously improves and refines its understanding of the natural world.
40. (D) Scientific Laws, Theories, and Models Explain Natural Phenomena. A primary goal of science is the formation of laws and theories about the natural world. Laws describe regularities or relationships in nature, while theories are substantiated explanations of the why and how something occurs based on a body of evidence, observation, and repeated testing. Models support this understanding by being simplified representations of the natural phenomenon being observed and tested.

Added at 20 Ok Reg 159, eff 10-10-02 (emergency)

Added at 20 Ok Reg 821, eff 5-15-03

Amended at 28 Ok Reg 2264, eff 7-25-11

Amended at 31 Ok Reg 1195, eff 9-12-14

Amended at 38 Ok Reg 1754, eff 9-11-21

Amended at 42 Ok Reg, Number 21, effective 7-26-25