science

Grade 4

Overview

Fourth grade science units help students formulate answers to questions such as: "What are waves and what are some thing they can do?" "How can water, ice, wind, and vegetation change the land?" "What patterns of Earth's features can be determined with the use of maps?" "How do internal and external structures support the survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction of plants and animals?" "What is energy and how is it related to motion?" "How is energy transferred and how can energy be used to solve a problem?" Minds-on hands-on performance tasks will develop student proficiency in using the Science and Engineering practices. Explicit attention to the cross cutting concepts of Matter and Energy, Cause and Effect, Patterns, and Systems and System Models will build deeper comprehension of these big ideas as students study concepts across the different disciplines of science.

Unit 1

Energy

In this unit students will explore energy- it's transfer, conservation, and relationship with force and motion. The understanding is developed that faster objects have more energy, energy is transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents or from object to object through collisions, and the expression "produce energy" typically refers to the conversion of stored energy into a desired form for practical use. Students will engage in the engineering design process as they apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another. The big ideas or crosscutting concepts of energy and matter are organizing concepts for the core science ideas. Students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in asking questions and defining problems, planning and carrying out investigations, and constructing explanations and designing solutions. Students will have opportunities to demonstrate understanding of the core science ideas.

Unit 2

Waves: Waves and Information

In this unit students will explore waves and their application in technologies for information transfer. An understanding of wave properties is developed as well as the relation of waves to electromagnetic radiation, and that light traveling from an object to the eye determines what is seen. Further students will investigate the interaction of waves with matter and how the knowledge has been used to design technologies and digitize information. Students will engage in the engineering design process as they generate and compare multiple solutions that use patterns to transfer information. The big ideas or crosscutting concepts of patterns and cause and effect are organizing concepts for the core science ideas. Students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in developing and using models and constructing explanations and designing solutions. Students will have opportunities to demonstrate understanding of the core science ideas.

Unit 3

Structure, Function, and Information Processing

In this unit students will develop the understanding that plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction. Emphasis will be put on information processing, specifically how different sense receptors are specialized for particular kinds of information, which may be then processed by the animal's brain. Further students will investigate the interaction of waves with matter and how the knowledge has been used to design technologies and digitize information. The big ideas or crosscutting concepts of cause and effect and systems and system models are organizing concepts for the core science ideas. Students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in developing and using models and engaging in argument from evidence. Students will have opportunities to demonstrate understanding of the core science ideas.

Unit 4

Earth Systems: Processes that Shape the Earth

In this unit students will explore the history of planet Earth, Earth materials and systems, plate tectonics, biogeology, natural resources, and natural hazards. Emphasis will be put on data interpretation and pattern identification as evidence to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time and the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation. Students will develop skill in reading and interpreting maps of Earth's surface and ocean floor. Further students will generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans. The big ideas or crosscutting concepts of patterns, and cause and effect are organizing concepts for the core science ideas. Students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, and constructing explanations and designing solutions. Students will have opportunities to demonstrate understanding of the core science ideas.

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