Science, grades 3 to 5

Units

1. 1

   Forces and magnets

   4 lessons

   1. Balanced and unbalanced forcesSay when forces are balanced and when they are not, predict what each does to an object's motion, and plan a fair test of it.
   2. Patterns in motionMeasure how an object moves, find the pattern in the measurements, and use the pattern to predict its next motion.
   3. Electric and magnetic forcesAsk and answer questions about magnets and rubbed balloons: what they push and pull, which objects they affect, and why they work without touching.
   4. Solving problems with magnetsDefine a design problem that magnets can solve, plan a solution using poles and strength, and test it against the criteria and constraints.
2. 2

   Life cycles and traits

   3 lessons

   1. Life cyclesModel the life cycles of a butterfly, a frog and a bean plant, and say that every living thing is born, grows, reproduces and dies, even when the cycles look different.
   2. Inherited traitsShow that young plants and animals get traits from their parents, and that the individuals in a group still differ from one another.
   3. Traits shaped by environmentUse evidence to show that some traits come only from parents, some are shaped by the environment, and many are both.
3. 3

   Groups, environments and survival

   5 lessons

   1. Living in groupsArgue from evidence that being in a group helps some animals survive by keeping them safe, helping them find food and keeping them warm.
   2. FossilsExplain what a fossil is and how it forms, and use fossils to describe the living things and the environments of long ago and how they differ from today.
   3. Variation and survivalExplain that differences in traits give some individuals an advantage in surviving and having young, and that which trait helps depends on the environment.
   4. Organisms and their habitatsArgue from evidence that a habitat suits some living things, suits others less well, and does not suit some at all.
   5. When the environment changesExplain how a change in an environment affects the living things there, and compare possible solutions using criteria, constraints and data.
4. 4

   Weather and climate

   3 lessons

   1. Weather dataRecord weather in a table, show it in graphs, and use the graphs to describe the typical weather of a season.
   2. Climate of different regionsTell weather from climate, use climate data to describe a region, and compare the weather we expect in two different regions.
   3. Weather hazardsSay how a weather hazard causes damage and judge a design that reduces the damage by its criteria, its constraints and its test results.
5. 5

   Energy

   4 lessons

   1. Speed and energySay that a moving object has energy of motion, find speed from distance and time, and use test data to show that faster objects have more energy.
   2. Energy moves from place to placeShow that energy moves from one place to another by sound, light, heat and electric current, and follow the path in an example of each.
   3. Energy in collisionsAsk testable questions about collisions, predict what happens to energy when objects hit, and say where the energy goes.
   4. Converting energyName the forms of energy a device takes in and gives out, count where the energy goes, and design, test and improve a device that converts energy.
6. 6

   Waves and information

   3 lessons

   1. Wave patternsModel water and sound waves as repeating patterns, and measure their amplitude and wavelength.
   2. How we seeModel that we see an object when light travels from a source, reflects off the object and enters the eye.
   3. Sending information with patternsShow that patterns of light, sound and on-off signals can send messages by a shared code, and compare some ways of doing it.
7. 7

   Plant and animal structures

   2 lessons

   1. Structures that help survivalMatch the structures of plants and animals to the jobs they do, and argue from test evidence that a structure helps a living thing survive.
   2. Senses and the brainModel how an animal gets information through its senses, how the brain processes it, and how the body responds, and use a test to show that it takes time.
8. 8

   Earth's changing surface

   5 lessons

   1. Rock layers tell a storyRead a cliff of rock layers from the bottom up, use fossils to tell what a place was like long ago, and use a crack or a tilt as evidence that the land changed.
   2. Weathering and erosionTell weathering from erosion, name what water, ice, wind and plants do to rock, and use a fair test to compare how fast soil washes away.
   3. Maps of Earth's featuresRead maps of volcanoes, earthquakes and mountains, find the patterns in where they are, and use a pattern to say which place is more likely to have an earthquake.
   4. Energy and fuels from natural resourcesSay where fuels and electricity come from in Earth's natural resources, tell fuels that run out from sources that do not, and describe what each choice does to the environment.
   5. Reducing the effects of natural hazardsCompare design solutions for earthquakes, floods and volcanoes against criteria and constraints, and say which one best reduces the harm.
9. 9

   Matter

   4 lessons

   1. Matter is made of particlesUse air in a syringe, sugar in water and drops of dye as evidence that matter is made of particles too small to see, and say what the particles do.
   2. Matter is conservedWeigh things before and after dissolving, melting, freezing and heating, graph the weights, and show that the total amount of matter stays the same.
   3. Identifying materials by propertiesUse tests of solubility, hardness and electrical conductivity to tell materials apart, and say why one property alone is often not enough.
   4. Mixing substancesInvestigate mixes of two substances, tell a mixture that keeps its substances from a mix that makes a new substance, and use evidence to decide.
10. 10

    Gravity, the sun and the stars

    3 lessons

    1. Gravity pulls downArgue from evidence that the force of gravity pulls objects toward the center of Earth, so that down means toward the center wherever you stand.
    2. Why some stars look brighterArgue from evidence that the Sun looks far brighter than other stars because it is much closer, and that among similar stars the nearer ones look brighter.
    3. Daily and seasonal patterns in the skyGraph shadow lengths, hours of daylight and the stars seen in each season, and use the graphs to find patterns that repeat each day and each year.
11. 11

    Food and ecosystems

    3 lessons

    1. Where plants get what they needUse evidence to argue that plants get the materials they need to grow mainly from air and water, not from soil.
    2. Energy in food comes from the SunModel how the energy in an animal's food was once energy from the Sun, passed from plants to the animals that eat them.
    3. Food webs and the movement of matterDevelop a model of how matter moves among plants, animals, decomposers and the environment.
12. 12

    Earth's systems

    3 lessons

    1. Earth's four spheresDevelop a model of how the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere interact, and use it to follow a change from one sphere to another.
    2. Where Earth's water isDescribe and graph how much of Earth's water is salt water and fresh water, and where the fresh water is found.
    3. Protecting Earth's resourcesObtain and combine information from two sources on ways communities protect Earth's water, air and land.
13. 13

    Engineering design

    3 lessons

    1. Defining a design problemDefine a simple design problem with a clear problem statement, criteria for success and constraints on materials, time and cost.
    2. Comparing possible solutionsGenerate several possible solutions to a design problem and compare how well each meets the criteria and stays within the constraints.
    3. Testing and improvingPlan and carry out a fair test in which variables are controlled, find where a design fails, and improve it.