Science

Previous 3rd Grade Curriculum

Describe the properties of solids, liquids, and gases and identify that matter is made up of particles too small to be seen.
Differentiate between changes caused by heating or cooling that can be reversed and that cannot.
Describe and compare the physical properties of matter including color, texture, shape, length, mass, temperature, volume, state, hardness, and flexibility.
Explain the cause and effect relationship of magnets.
Solve a problem by applying the use of the interactions between two magnets.
Recognize that energy is present when objects move; describe the effects of energy transfer from one object to another.
Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts electrical energy to another form of energy, using open or closed simple circuits.
Evaluate how magnets cause changes in the motion and position of objects, even when the objects are not touching the magnet.

Analyze the internal and external structures that aquatic and land animals and plants have to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
Construct an argument to explain why some animals benefit from forming groups.
Explain the cause and effect relationship between a naturally changing environment and an organism's ability to survive.
Infer that plant and animal adaptations help them survive in land and aquatic biomes.

Use data to categorize the planets in the solar system as inner or outer planets according to their physical properties.
Explain the cycle of water on Earth.
Associate major cloud types (cumulus, cumulonimbus, cirrus, stratus, nimbostratus) with weather conditions.
Use tables, graphs, and tools to describe precipitation, temperature, and wind (direction and speed) to determine local weather and climate.
Incorporate weather data to describe major climates (polar, temperate, tropical) in different regions of the world.

Explain how natural hazards (fires, landslides, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods) impact humans and the environment.
Design solutions to reduce the impact of natural hazards (fires, landslides, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods) on the environment.

Design a solution to a real-world problem that includes specified criteria for constraints.
Apply evidence or research to support a design solution.

Use evidence to explain the cause and effect relationship between the speed of an object and the energy of an object.
Observe and explain the relationship between potential energy and kinetic energy.
Describe how stored energy can be converted into another form for practical use.
Use a model of a simple wave to explain regular patterns of amplitude, wavelength, and direction.
Describe how the colors of available light sources and the bending of light waves determine what we see.
Investigate how lenses and digital devices like computers or cell phones use waves to enhance human senses.

Support an argument with evidence that plants get the materials they need for growth and reproduction chiefly through a process in which they use carbon dioxide from the air, water, and energy from the sun to produce sugars, plant materials, and waste (oxygen); and that this process is called photosynthesis.
Develop models of terrestrial and aquatic food chains to describe the movement of energy among producers, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers.
Using information about the roles of organisms (producers, consumers, decomposers), evaluate how those roles in food chains are interconnected in a food web, and communicate how the organisms are continuously able to meet their needs in a stable food web.
Develop and use models to determine the effects of introducing a species to, or removing a species from, an ecosystem and how either one can damage the balance of an ecosystem.
Analyze and interpret data about changes (land characteristics, water distribution, temperature, food, and other organisms) in the environment and describe what mechanisms organisms can use to affect their ability to survive and reproduce.
Obtain information about what a fossil is and ways a fossil can provide information about the past.

Ecosystems (DiscoveryEd Credential Required)

Generate and support a claim with evidence that over long periods of time, erosion (weathering and transportation) and deposition have changed landscapes and created new landforms.
Use a model to explain how the orbit of the Earth and sun cause observable patterns: a. day and night; b. changes in length and direction of shadows over a day
Collect and analyze data from observations to provide evidence that rocks, soils, and sediments are broken into smaller pieces through mechanical weathering (frost wedging, abrasion, tree root wedging) and are transported by water, ice, wind, gravity, and vegetation.
Interpret maps to determine that the location of mountain ranges, deep ocean trenches, volcanoes, and earthquakes occur in patterns.
Provide examples to support the claim that organisms affect the physical characteristics of their regions.
Analyze and interpret data on the four layers of the Earth, including thickness, composition, and physical states of these layers.

Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and that some energy and fuel sources are renewable (sunlight, wind, water) and some are not (fossil fuels, minerals).
Create an argument, using evidence from research, that human activity (farming, mining, building) can affect the land and ocean in positive and/or negative ways.

Categorize the effectiveness of design solutions by comparing them to specified criteria for constraints.

Use appropriate tools and measurements to build a model.
Determine the effectiveness of multiple solutions to a design problem given the criteria and the constraints.
Explain how engineers have improved existing technologies to increase their benefits, to decrease known risks, and to meet societal demands (artificial limbs, seat belts, and cell phones).