Embedded Files
Unit 1: Energy and Matter in Ecosystems
Energy and Matter in Ecosystems introduces Grade 5 students to the scientific concept that energy and matter flow through an ecosystem to individual organisms and back to the ecosystem in a continuous cycle. Students will learn that every organism on Earth needs energy to live. Both energy and matter cycle through an ecosystem. Life on Earth derives its energy from the sun.
Plants and algae take in the energy of sunlight and transform it into the chemical energy of food. When animals eat plants, the chemical energy of food moves into the bodies of animals, so the energy that animals use originally came from the sun.
An ongoing theme of this unit’s activities is an exploration the principles and practices of engineering design, using knowledge of ecosystems and the flow of matter to design solutions that help society.
Unit 2: Investigating Matter
This unit introduces Grade 5 students to real-world examples and fundamental concepts of matter, which will be explored in greater depth in later grades. Students will learn about properties, structures, and interactions of matter as well as the basics of the language of chemistry.
The nature and properties of matter become clearer when students understand that:
Matter is all around us. The things we see—a tree, a window—and even things we can’t see—air, the smell of a rose—are all made up of matter.
We can describe and identify matter in terms of properties, such as color, hardness, and whether a material conducts electricity or responds to magnetism.
Matter can exist in different states: as a solid (ice), a liquid (water), or a gas (water vapor).
Matter can be mixed to form solutions, such as salt water, or mixtures, such as cement or granite.
Matter undergoes physical changes when a characteristic of the matter changes, but the chemical nature remains the same (for example, baking soda dissolved in water).
Matter undergoes chemical changes when two types of matter interact to form a new substance (for example, when vinegar is poured into a cup of baking soda). Whether the change is physical or chemical, the amount of matter remains the same.
Students also learn that engineers use their knowledge of matter as they develop solutions to problems and build things that are useful to people. As a series of culminating activities, students explore the principles and practices of engineering design, such as scientifically defining a problem to be solved and evaluating and optimizing possible solutions.
Unit 3: Astronomy: Space Systems
Students will learn about Earth, our solar system, our galaxy the Milky Way, and our place in the universe. They will focus on a big vision: that we are part of a large solar system, which lies within an even larger galaxy that is but one of many millions of galaxies in the universe.
Students will examine the sun and the planets of our solar system. The sun is the closest of all stars to Earth and seems to be the brightest star, but that is because it is the closest to us. Students use this knowledge to understand apparent and absolute brightness.
Students also focus on:
the shape and motion of Earth,
the Earth’s axis, its tilt, and its rotation around the sun, and
terrestrial, gas, and ice planets.
Additionally, students get a chance to learn about the various ways that humans have studied space. They consider engineering design and its contribution to space exploration. Finally, students focus on women who have gone into space and women whose contributions have made space travel possible.
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