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Human Interactions
Human Interactions
In grade 3, students develop and sharpen their skills at obtaining, recording and charting, and analyzing data in order to study their environment. They use these practices to study the interactions between humans and earth systems, humans and the environment, and humans and the designed world. They learn that these entities not only interact but influence behaviors, reactions, and traits of organisms.
Grade 3 students analyze weather patterns and consider humans’ influence and opportunity to impact weather-related events.
In life science they study the interactions between and influence of the environment and human traits and characteristics.
They use the engineering design process to identify a problem and design solutions that enhance humans’ interactions with their surroundings and to meet their needs.
Students consider the interactions and consequent reactions between objects and forces, including forces that are balanced or not.
Students reason and provide evidence to support arguments for the influence of humans on nature and nature on human experience.
ESS2. Earth’s Systems
3-ESS2-1. Use graphs and tables of local weather data to describe and predict typical weather during a particular season in an area.
Clarification Statements:
Examples of weather data could include temperature, amount and type of precipitation
(e.g., rain, snow), wind direction, and wind speed.
Graphical displays should focus on pictographs and bar graphs.
3-ESS2-2. Obtain and summarize information about the climate of different regions of the world to illustrate that typical weather conditions over a year vary by region.
Clarification Statement:
Examples of information can include climate data (average temperature, average precipitation, average wind speed) or comparative descriptions of seasonal weather for different regions.
State Assessment Boundary:
An understanding of climate change is not expected in state assessment.
What this looks like in the classroom:
Weather journal: Have students keep a daily weather journal for a week or two. They can record the temperature, precipitation, and sky conditions (sunny, cloudy, rainy, etc.) each day. Afterward, students can create a graph or chart to display the data they collected.
Weather forecast: Assign students to groups and have them create a weather forecast for a specific location. They can research current weather conditions and predict future conditions based on data and patterns. They can then present their forecast to the class.
Cloud identification: Teach students about different types of clouds and their characteristics. Then, take the class outside and have them identify and sketch the clouds they see. Students can also label the clouds with their names and characteristics.
Weather instruments: Show students different types of weather instruments such as a thermometer, barometer, and anemometer. Teach them how each instrument works and how it is used to measure weather conditions. Then, have students create their own simple weather instruments using common household items.
Weather patterns: Teach students about different types of weather patterns such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and thunderstorms. Show them videos or images of these weather events and discuss their causes and effects. Then, have students create their own visual representation of a weather pattern ( Chat GPT)
ESS3. Earth and Human Activity
ESS3. Earth and Human Activity
3-ESS3-1. Evaluate the merit of a design solution that reduces the damage caused by weather.*
Clarification Statement:
• Examples of design solutions to reduce weather-related damage could include a barrier to prevent flooding, a wind-resistant roof, and a lightning rod.
What this looks like in the classroom:
Use the Engineering Design process to design, evaluate, and test structures to protect against extreme weather
LS1. From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
3-LS1-1. Use simple graphical representations to show that different types of organisms have unique and diverse life cycles. Describe that all organisms have birth, growth, reproduction, and death in common but there are a variety of ways in which these happen.
Clarification Statements:
Examples can include different ways plants and animals begin (e.g., sprout from a seed, born from an egg), grow (e.g., increase in size and weight, produce a new part), reproduce (e.g., develop seeds, root runners, mate and lay eggs that hatch), and die (e.g., length of life).
Plant life cycles should focus on those of flowering plants.
Describing variation in organism life cycles should focus on comparisons of the general stages of each, not specifics.
State Assessment Boundary:
Detailed descriptions of any one organism’s cycle, the differences of “complete metamorphosis” and “incomplete metamorphosis,” or details of human reproduction are not expected in state assessment.
What this looks like in the classroom:
Grow plants from seeds
Hatch Mealworms
LS3. Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits
LS3. Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits
3-LS3-1. Provide evidence, including through the analysis of data, that plants and animals
have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exist in a group of similar organisms.
Clarification Statements:
Examples of inherited traits that vary can include the color of fur, shape of leaves, length of legs, and size of flowers.
Focus should be on non-human examples.
State Assessment Boundary:
Genetic mechanisms of inheritance or prediction of traits are not expected in state assessment.
3-LS3-2. Distinguish between inherited characteristics and those characteristics that result from a direct interaction with the environment. Give examples of characteristics of living organisms that are influenced by both inheritance and the environment.
Clarification Statements:
Examples of the environment affecting a characteristic could include normally tall plants stunted because they were grown with insufficient water or light, a lizard missing a tail due to a predator, and a pet dog becoming overweight because it is given too much food and little exercise.
Focus should be on non-human examples.
Inherited characteristics are traits that are passed down from parents to their offspring through genes. These traits are determined by the genetic information that is present in the DNA of an organism. Examples of inherited characteristics include eye color, hair color, and skin color. These traits are present in an organism from the moment of its birth and remain relatively stable throughout its life.
On the other hand, characteristics that result from a direct interaction with the environment are traits that are not determined by genes, but rather by the conditions and experiences that an organism encounters during its lifetime. Examples of such traits include the ability to swim, the ability to speak a language, and the development of calluses on the feet due to walking barefoot on rough surfaces.
However, some traits of living organisms can be influenced by both inheritance and the environment. For example, height is partially determined by genetics, but it can also be influenced by factors such as nutrition and exercise. Another example is the ability to run fast, which can be influenced by both genetic factors, such as the structure of the legs and the distribution of muscle fibers, and environmental factors, such as training and practice.(Chat GPT)
LS4. Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
3-LS4-1. Use fossils to describe types of organisms and their environments that existed long ago and compare those to living organisms and their environments. Recognize that most kinds of plants and animals that once lived on Earth are no longer found anywhere.
Clarification Statement:
Comparisons should focus on physical or observable features.
3-LS4-2. Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals within the same species may provide advantages to these individuals in their survival and reproduction.
Clarification Statements:
Examples can include rose bushes of the same species, one with slightly longer thorns than the other which may prevent its predation by deer, and color variation within a species that may provide advantages so one organism may be more likely to survive and therefore more likely to produce offspring.
Examples of evidence could include needs and characteristics of the organisms and habitats involved.
3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular environment some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive.
Clarification Statement:
Examples of evidence could include needs and characteristics of the different organisms (species) and habitats involved.
3-LS4-4. Analyze and interpret given data about changes in a habitat and describe how the changes may affect the ability of organisms that live in that habitat to survive and reproduce.
Clarification Statements:
Changes should include changes to landforms, distribution of water, climate, and availability of resources.
Changes in the habitat could range in time from a season to a decade.
While it is understood that ecological changes are complex, the focus should be on a single change to the habitat.
3-LS4-5(MA). Provide evidence to support a claim that the survival of a population is dependent upon reproduction.
What this looks like in the classroom:
Life Cycle of Mealworms(2022)
Field Trip to Harvard Natural History Museum
PS2. Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
PS2. Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
3-PS2-1. Provide evidence to explain the effect of multiple forces, including friction, on an object. Include balanced forces that do not change the motion of the object and unbalanced forces that do change the motion of the object.
Clarification Statements:
Descriptions of force magnitude should be qualitative and relative.
Force due to gravity is appropriate but only as a force that pulls objects down.
State Assessment Boundaries:
Quantitative force magnitude is not expected in state assessment.
State assessment will be limited to one variable at a time: number, size, or direction of forces.
Simple Machines:
Lesson Plan: Getting into Inquiry-Based Learning with Inclined Planes
Exploratorium: Exploring Balance
Exploratorium: Balancing Sculptures https://www.exploratorium.edu/tinkering/projects/balancing-sculptures
3-PS2-3. Conduct an investigation to determine the nature of the forces between two magnets based on their orientations and distance relative to each other.
Clarification Statement:
Focus should be on forces produced by magnetic objects that are easily manipulated.
3-PS2-4. Define a simple design problem that can be solved by using interactions between magnets.*
Clarification Statement:
Examples of problems could include constructing a latch to keep a door shut and creating a device to keep two moving objects from touching each other.
What this looks like in the classroom:
Examples of problems could include constructing a latch to keep a door shut and creating a device to keep two moving objects from touching each other.
ETS1. Engineering Design
3.3-5-ETS1-1. Define a simple design problem that reflects a need or a want. Include criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost that a potential solution must meet.*
3.3-5-ETS1-2. Generate several possible solutions to a given design problem. Compare each solution based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the design problem.*
Clarification Statement:
Examples of design problems can include:
adapting a switch on a toy for children who have a motor coordination disability,
designing a way to clear or collect debris or trash from a storm drain, or
creating safe moveable playground equipment for a new recess game.
3.3-5-ETS1-4(MA). Gather information using various informational resources on possible solutions to a design problem. Present different representations of a design solution.*
Clarification Statements:
Examples of informational resources can include books, videos, and websites.
Examples of representations can include graphic organizers, sketches, models, and prototypes.
What this looks like in the classroom:
Have students design, test, and calibrate weather instruments such as a weather vane, anemometer, hygrometer, and thermometer.
Designing Knee Braces Unit
Kite Design Challenge
Paper Airplane Design Challenge
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