Grades 4-5

EALR 1 Systems SYS

EALR 2 Inquiry INQ

EALR 3 Application APP

EALR 4 Domains of Science

Physical Science

PS1 Measurement of Force and Motion

PS2 States of Matter

PS3 Heat, Light, Sound, and Electricity

ES1 Earth in Space

ES2 Formation of Earth Materials

ES3 Focus on Fossils

Life Science

LS1 Structures and Behaviors

LS2 Food Webs

LS3 Heredity and Adaptation

Content Standards

Performance Expectations

Students know that:

Students are expected to:

4-5 SYSA

Systems contain subsystems.

Identify at least one of the subsystems of an object, plant, or animal (e.g., an airplane contains subsystems for propulsion, landing, and control).

4-5 SYSB

A system can do things that none of its subsystems can do by themselves.

Specify how a system can do things that none of its subsystems can do by themselves (e.g., a forest ecosystem can sustain itself, while the trees, soil, plant, and animal populations cannot).

4-5 SYSC

Systems have inputs and outputs. Changes in inputs may change the outputs of a system

Describe what goes into a system (input) and what comes out of a system (output) (e.g., when making cookies, inputs include sugar, flour, and chocolate chips; outputs are finished cookies).

Describe the effect on a system if its input is changed (e.g., if sugar is left out, the cookies will not taste very good).

4-5 SYSD

One defective part can cause a subsystem to malfunction, which in turn will affect the system as a whole.

Predict what might happen to a system if a part in one or more of its subsystems is missing, broken, worn out, mismatched, or misconnected (e.g., a broken toe will affect the skeletal system, which can greatly reduce a person's ability to walk).*a

Content Standards

Performance Expectations

Students know that:

Students are expected to:

4-5 INQA

Scientific investigations involve asking and answering questions and comparing the answers with evidence from the real world.

Identify the questions being asked in an investigation. Gather scientific evidence that helps to answer a question. *a

4-5 INQB

Scientists plan and conduct different kinds of investigations, depending on the questions they are trying to answer. Types of investigations include systematic observations and descriptions, field studies, models, and open-ended explorations as well as controlled experiments.

Given a research question, plan an appropriate investigation, which may include systematic observations, field studies, models, open-ended explorations, or controlled experiments.

Work collaboratively with other students to carry out a controlled experiment, selecting appropriate tools and demonstrating safe and careful use of equipment.

4-5 INQC

An experiment involves a comparison. For an experiment to be valid and fair, all of the things that can possibly change the outcome of the experiment should be kept the same, if possible.

Conduct or critique an experiment, noting when the experiment might not be fair because things that might change the outcome are not kept the same.

4-5 INQD

Investigations involve systematic collection and recording of relevant observations and data.

Gather, record, and organize data using appropriate units, tables, graphs, or maps.

4-5 INQE

Repeated trials are necessary for reliability.

Explain that additional trials are needed to ensure that the results are repeatable.

4-5 INQF

A scientific model is a simplified representation of an object, event, system, or process created to understand some aspect of the natural world. When learning from a model, it is important to realize that the model is not exactly the same as the thing being modeled.

Create a simple model to represent an event, system, or process.

Use the model to learn something about the event, system, or process.

Explain how the model is similar to and different from the thing being modeled.

4-5 INQG

Generate a conclusion from a scientific investigation and show how the conclusion is supported by evidence and other scientific principles.*c

4-5 INQH

Display the findings of an investigation using tables, graphs, or other visual means to represent the data accurately and meaningfully.*b

Communicate to peers the purpose, procedure, results, and conclusions of an investigation.

Respond non-defensively to comments and questions about their investigation.

Discuss differences in findings and conclusions reported by other students.

4-5 INQI

Explain why records of observations must never be changed, even when the observations do not match expectations.

Content Standards

Performance Expectations

Students know that:

Students are expected to:

4-5 APPA

Technology involves changing the natural world to meet human needs or wants.

Describe ways that people use technology to meet their needs and wants (e.g., text messages to communicate with friends, use bicycles or cars for transportation).

4-5 APPB

People in different cultures all around the world use different materials or technologies to solve the same problems

Give examples of how people around the world use different materials or technologies to solve the same problem (e.g., people in different countries use different materials to build their houses).

4-5 APPC

Problems of moderate complexity can be solved using the technological design process. This process begins by defining and researching the problem to be solved.

Define a problem and list several criteria for a successful solution.

Research the problem to better understand the need and to see how others have solved similar problems.

4-5 APPD

Scientists and engineers often work in teams with other individuals to generate different ideas for solving a problem.

Work with other students to generate possible solutions to a problem and agree on the most promising solution based on how well each different idea meets the criteria for a successful solution.*a

4-5 APPE

Possible solutions should be tested to see if they solve the problem. Building a model or prototype is one way to test a possible solution.

Use suitable tools, techniques, and materials to make a drawing or build a model or prototype of the proposed design.

Communicate the solution, results of any tests, and modifications persuasively, using oral, written, and/or pictorial representations of the process and product.

Describe specific ways that science and technology have improved the quality of the students' lives.

Content Standards

Performance Expectations

Students know that:

Students are expected to:

4-5 PS1A

The weight of an object is a measure of how strongly it is pulled down toward the ground by gravity. A spring scale can measure the pulling force.

Use a spring scale to measure the weights of several objects accurately. Explain that the weight of an object is a measure of the force of gravity on the object. Record the measurements in a table.*a

4-5 PS1B

The relative speed of two objects can be determined in two ways: (1) If two objects travel for the same amount of time, the object that has traveled the greatest distance is the fastest. (2) If two objects travel the same distance, the object that takes the least time to travel the distance is the fastest.

Measure the distance that an object travels in a given interval of time and compare it with the distance that another object moved in the same interval of time to determine which is fastest.*b

Content Standards

Performance Expectations

Students know that:

Students are expected to:

4-5 PS2A

Substances can exist in different physical states-solid, liquid, and gas. Many substances can be changed from one state to another by heating or cooling.

Explain that water is still the same substance when it is frozen as ice or evaporated and becomes a gas.1

4-5 PS2B

Air is a gas. Air fills a closed container completely. Wind is moving air.

Explain that a balloon expands when you blow air into it because blowing air into the balloon creates greater air pressure inside the balloon than outside the balloon.

Describe how the wind can move things (e.g., wind can move the branches of trees when it blows and moves sailboats through the water).

4-5 PS2C

The total amount of matter is conserved (stays the same) when it undergoes a physical change such as when an object is broken into tiny pieces, when a solid is dissolved in a liquid, or when matter changes state (solid, liquid, gas).

Explain that dissolved substances have not disappeared, and cite evidence to determine that the substance is still there (e.g., sprinkle sugar on cereal, add milk, and you can taste it even though you can no longer see the sugar).

Predict that the weight2 of a sample of water will be nearly the same before and after it is frozen or melted. Explain why the weight will be almost the same.*a

If an object is weighed, then broken into small pieces, predict that the small pieces will weigh the same as the large piece. Explain why the weight will be the same.*a

Content Standards

Performance Expectations

Students know that:

Students are expected to:

4-5 PS3A

Energy has many forms, such as heat, light, sound, motion, and electricity.

Identify different forms of energy (e.g., heat, light, sound, motion, electricity) in a system.

Draw and label diagrams showing several ways that energy can be transferred from one place to another (e.g., sound energy passing through air, electrical energy through a wire, heat energy conducted through a frying pan, light energy through space).

Identify several ways to generate heat energy (e.g., lighting a match, rubbing hands together, or mixing different kinds of chemicals together).

Give examples of two different ways that heat energy can move from one place to another, and explain which direction the heat moves (e.g., when placing a pot on the stove, heat moves from the hot burner to the cooler pot).

Demonstrate how sound can be generated by vibrations, and explain how sound energy is transferred through the air from a source to an observer.

Connect wires to produce a complete circuit involving a battery and at least one other electrical component to produce observable change (e.g., light a bulb, sound a buzzer, and make a bell ring).

Repair an electric circuit by completing a closed loop.

Describe how electrical energy is transferred from one place to another, and how it is transformed from electrical energy to different kinds of energy in the circuit above.

Content Standards

Performance Expectations

Students know that:

Students are expected to:

4-5 ES1A

Earth is approximately spherical in shape. Things on or near the Earth are pulled toward Earth's center by the force of gravity.

Give evidence to support the idea that Earth is spherical in shape (e.g., research Earth images from space, shape of Earth's shadow on the Moon during an eclipse of the Moon).

Draw how objects would fall when dropped from various places around Earth, demonstrating that all things fall "down" toward Earth's center.

Use a physical model or diagram to show that Earth's spin causes night and day.

Use a physical model or diagram to show how the different constellations are visible in different seasons, as a consequence of Earth orbiting the sun.

Identify that our Solar System contains only one star, the Sun.

Explain that the Sun appears brighter and larger than any other star because it is very close to us.

Content Standards

Performance Expectations

Students know that:

Students are expected to:

4-5 ES2A

Earth materials include solid rocks and soil, water, and gases of the atmosphere. Materials have different physical and chemical properties which make them useful in different ways. Earth materials provide many of the resources that humans use.

Describe Earth materials and list their physical and chemical properties.

Explain how the properties of an Earth material make it useful for certain purposes, but not useful for other purposes (e.g., rocks are heavy and strong so they are good for building walls, but they are not as useful as lighter materials for roofs).

Give examples of human-made materials, including those that are changed only a little (e.g., wood and stones used for building) and those that look very different from the raw materials (e.g., metal, ceramics, and plastics).

Describe and give examples of the physical and chemical processes of weathering of rock.

Describe the forces of water and wind as major causes of erosion.

Identify local examples where erosion has occurred and describe the processes that most likely caused the erosion.

Explain how the formation of soils is related to the following processes: weathering of rock; decay of plant matter; settling of volcanic ash; transport by rain, streams, and rivers; deposition of sediments in rivers and lakes.

Compare different layers in soil with respect to physical properties (e.g., color, texture, particle size, amount of dead plant and animal material, capacity for holding water).

Explain the role that erosion plays in forming soils and how erosion can also deplete soils.

Content Standards

Performance Expectations

Students know that:

Students are expected to:

4-5 ES3A

Different kinds of events caused the formation of different kinds of fossils.

Describe an event that could cause the formation of a given fossil (e.g., the plant or animal may have been buried in sediment that hardened into rock and left an imprint, or dissolved minerals may have seeped into a piece of wood and hardened into rock).*a

Infer from a picture of several fossils in a layer of rock the environmental conditions that existed when the fossils were formed (e.g., fish fossils would indicate that a body of water existed at the time the fossils formed).*a

Content Standards

Performance Expectations

Students know that:

Students are expected to:

4-5 LS1A

Plants and animals can be sorted according to their structures and behaviors.

Sort plants and animals according to their structures (e.g., presence of hair, feathers, or scales on their skin) and behaviors (e.g., grazing, hunting, or diving for food).

List parts of an animal's body and describe how it helps the animal meet its basic needs (e.g., the bones support the body so it can move; the blood carries food and oxygen throughout the body).

Describe the function of a given animal behavior (e.g., salmon swim upstream to spawn, owls hunt at night when prey are vulnerable).*a

Give examples of how plants and animals respond to their environment (e.g., many plants grow toward the light, animals hide when they see a predator).

4-5 LS1D

Give examples of how plants and animals respond to internal needs (e.g., plants wilt when they don't have water; animals seek food when they are hungry).

Describe how various types of foods contribute to the maintenance of healthy body structures.

Based on the above list, develop a balanced plan for eating that will allow you to build and maintain your body.

Content Standards

Performance Expectations

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Students are expected to:

4-5 LS2A

An ecosystem includes all of the plant and animal populations and nonliving resources in a given area. Plants and animals depend on one another and the nonliving resources in their ecosystem to help them survive.

Identify the living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

Give examples to show how the plants and animals depend on one another for survival (e.g., worms decompose waste and return nutrients to the soil, which helps plants grow).

Describe how the plants and animals in an ecosystem depend on nonliving resources.

Explain that plants make their own food, and animals, including humans, get food by eating plants and/or eating other animals.

Draw a simple food web given a list of three common organisms. Draw arrows properly and identify the producers and consumers.

Compare the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem.

4-5 LS2D

Apply knowledge of a plant or animal's relationship to its ecosystem and to other plants and animals to predict whether and how a slow or rapid change in the ecosystem might affect the population of that plant or animal.*a

Describe how one population may affect other plants and/or animals in the ecosystem (e.g., increase in Scotch Broom replaces native plants normally eaten by butterfly caterpillars, reducing the butterfly population).

Describe ways that humans can improve the health of ecosystems (e.g., recycling wastes, establishing rain gardens, planting native species to prevent flooding and erosion).

Content Standards

Performance Expectations

Students know that:

Students are expected to:

4-5 LS3A

In any ecosystem, some populations of organisms thrive and grow, some decline, and others do not survive at all.

List some reasons why some populations may not survive as well as others.*a

Evaluate similar populations in an ecosystem with regard to their ability to thrive and grow (e.g., bird populations with differently colored feathers). *a

Communicate that plants and animals inherit many characteristics (e.g., color of a flower or number of limbs at birth) from the parents of the plant or animal.

Give examples to illustrate an inherited characteristic that would enable an organism to better survive and reproduce in a given ecosystem.

Use an example to explain that some characteristics or behaviors result from an individual plant's or animal's interactions with the environment and are not passed from one generation to the next by heredity (e.g., trees can lose a limb, animals can have accidents that cause scars, people can exercise and build muscles).

4-5 LS3D

Compare and contrast fossils with one another and with living plants and animals to illustrate that fossils provide evidence that plant and animal species have changed over time.