The development of science and engineering practices begins very early, even as babies and young children inquire about and explore how the world works. Formal education should advance students’ development of the skills necessary to engage in scientific inquiry and engineering design. These are the skills that provide the foundation for the scientific and technical reasoning that is so critical to success in civic life, postsecondary education, and careers. Inclusion of science and engineering practices in standards only speaks to the types of performances students should be able to demonstrate at the end of instruction at a particular grade; the standards do not limit what educators and students should or can be engaged in through a well-rounded curriculum.
Pre-K through grade 2 standards integrate all eight science and engineering practices. Pre-K standards
ask students to demonstrate an ability to ask questions, set up simple investigations, analyze evidence, observations, and data for patterns, and use evidence to explain or develop ideas about how phenomena work. Kindergarten standards call for students to show further development of investigation and communication skills, as well as application of science concepts to designing solutions to problems, and to now use information obtained from text and media sources. Grade 1 standards call for students to continue developing investigation skills, including their ability to pose scientific questions as well as their ability to analyze observations and data and to effectively use informational sources.
Grade 1 standards also call for students to demonstrate their ability to craft scientific explanations using evidence from a variety of sources. Grade 2 standards call for students to use models in a scientific context and further their skills in a number of the practices, including investigations, data analysis, designing solutions, argumentation, and use of informational sources.
Some examples of specific skills students should develop in these grades:
1. Raise questions about how different types of environments provide homes for living things; ask and/or identify questions that can be answered by an investigation.
2. Use a model to compare how plants and animals depend on their surroundings; develop and/or use a model to represent amounts, relationships, and/or patterns in the natural world; distinguish between a model and the actual object and/or process the model represents.
3. Conduct an investigation of light and shadows; plan and conduct an investigation collaboratively to produce data to answer a question; make observations and/or relative measurements to collect data that can be used to make comparisons.
4. Analyze data to identify relationships among seasonal patterns of change; use observations to describe patterns and/or relationships in the natural world and to answer scientific questions.
5. Decide when to use qualitative vs. quantitative information; use counting and numbers to describe patterns in the natural world.
6. Use information from observations to construct an evidence-based account of nature.
7. Construct an argument with evidence for how plants and animals can change the
environment; distinguish between opinions and evidence in one’s own explanations; listen actively to others to indicate agreement or disagreement based on evidence.
8. Obtain information to compare ways that parents and their offspring behave to survive; obtain information using various texts, text features, or other media to answer a question.
While presented as distinct skill sets, the eight practices intentionally overlap and interconnect. Skills such as those outlined above should be reflected in curricula and instruction that engage students in an integrated use of the practices. See the Science and Engineering Practices Progression Matrix (Appendix I) for more information, including particular skills for students in grades pre-K–2.
Pre-K students focus on experiencing and making observations of the world around them. They are beginning to learn about their own environment as they observe plants and animals, the Moon and the Sun, and the daily weather. They experience their world through their senses and body parts and begin to recognize that animals also use their senses and body parts to meet their basic needs. They investigate pitch and volume, shadow and light, liquids and solids, and how things move. They sort materials by simple observable properties such as texture and color. They share their understanding of these concepts through discussion as they develop their language and quantitative skills. Pre-K students build awareness of the wide variety of natural phenomena and processes in the world around them.
PreK-ESS1-1(MA). Demonstrate awareness that the Moon can be seen in the daytime and at night, and of the different apparent shapes of the Moon over a month.
Clarification Statement:
• The names of moon phases or sequencing of moon phases is not expected.
PreK-ESS1-2(MA). Observe and use evidence to describe that the Sun is in different places in the sky during the day.
PreK-ESS2-1(MA). Raise questions and engage in discussions about how different types of local environments (including water) provide homes for different kinds of living things.
PreK-ESS2-2(MA). Observe and classify non-living materials, natural and human made, in the local environment.
PreK-ESS2-3(MA). Explore and describe different places water is found in the local environment. PreK-ESS2-4(MA). Use simple instruments to collect and record data on elements of daily weather, including sun or clouds, wind, snow or rain, and higher or lower temperature.
PreK-ESS2-5(MA). Describe how local weather changes from day to day and over the seasons and recognize patterns in those changes.
Clarification Statement:
• Descriptions of the weather can include sunny, cloudy, rainy, warm, windy, and snowy.
PreK-ESS2-6(MA). Provide examples of the impact of weather on living things.
Clarification Statement:
• Make connections between the weather and what they wear and can do and the weather and the needs of plants and animals for water and shelter.
PreK-ESS3-1(MA). Engage in discussion and raise questions using examples about local resources (including soil and water) humans use to meet their needs.
PreK-ESS3-2(MA). Observe and discuss the impact of people’s activities on the local environment.
PreK-LS1-1(MA). Compare, using descriptions and drawings, the external body parts of animals (including humans) and plants and explain functions of some of the observable body parts.
Clarification Statement:
• Examples can include comparison of humans and horses: humans have two legs and horses four, but both use legs to move.
PreK-LS1-2(MA). Explain that most animals have five senses they use to gather information about the world around them.
PreK-LS1-3(MA). Use their five senses in their exploration and play to gather information.
PreK-LS2-1(MA). Use evidence from animals and plants to define several characteristics of living things that distinguish them from non-living things.
PreK-LS2-2(MA). Using evidence from the local environment, explain how familiar plants and animals meet their needs where they live.
Clarification Statements:
• Basic needs include water, food, air, shelter, and, for most plants, light.
• Examples of evidence can include squirrels gathering nuts for the winter and plants growing in the presence of sun and water.
• The local environment includes the area around the student’s school, home, or adjacent community.
PreK-LS2-3(MA). Give examples from the local environment of how animals and plants are dependent on one another to meet their basic needs.
PreK-LS3-1(MA). Use observations to explain that young plants and animals are like but not exactly like their parents.
Clarification Statement:
• Examples of observations include puppies that look similar but not exactly the same as their parents.
PreK-LS3-2(MA). Use observations to recognize differences and similarities among themselves and their friends.
PreK-PS1-1(MA). Raise questions and investigate the differences between liquids and solids and develop awareness that a liquid can become a solid and vice versa.
PreK-PS1-2(MA). Investigate natural and human-made objects to describe, compare, sort, and classify objects based on observable physical characteristics, uses, and whether something is manufactured or occurs in nature.
PreK-PS1-3(MA). Differentiate between the properties of an object and those of the material of which it is made.
PreK-PS1-4(MA). Recognize through investigation that physical objects and materials can change under different circumstances.
Clarification Statement:
• Changes include building up or breaking apart, mixing, dissolving, and changing state.
PreK-PS2-1(MA). Using evidence, discuss ideas about what is making something move the way it does and how some movements can be controlled.
PreK-PS2-2(MA). Through experience, develop awareness of factors that influence whether things stand or fall.
Clarification Statement:
• Examples of factors in children’s construction play include using a broad foundation when building, considering the strength of materials, and using balanced weight distribution in a block building.
PreK-PS4-1(MA). Investigate sounds made by different objects and materials and discuss explanations about what is causing the sounds. Through play and investigations, identify ways to manipulate different objects and materials that make sound to change volume and pitch.
PreK-PS4-2(MA). Connect daily experiences and investigations to demonstrate the relationships between the size and shape of shadows, the objects creating the shadow, and the light source.
In kindergarten, students build on early experiences observing the world around them as they continue to make observations that are more quantitative in nature and help them identify why some changes occur. Students begin to learn to use these observations as evidence to support a claim through growing language skills. They learn that all animals and plants need food, water, and air to grow and thrive and that the fundamental difference between plants and animals is a plant’s ability to make its own food.
Students build their quantitative knowledge of temperature in relation to the weather and its effect on different kinds of materials. They observe that the amount of sunlight shining on a surface causes a temperature change and they design a structure to reduce the warming effects of sunlight. They investigate motions of objects by changing the strength and direction of pushes and pulls. They provide examples of plants and animals that can change their environment through their interactions with it. In kindergarten science, students begin to identify reasons for changes in some common phenomena.
K-ESS2-1. Use and share quantitative observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time.
Clarification Statements:
• Examples of quantitative observations could include numbers of sunny, windy, and rainy days in a month, and relative temperature.
• Quantitative observations should be limited to whole numbers.
K-ESS2-2. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment.
Clarification Statement:
• Examples of plants and animals changing their environment could include a squirrel digging holes in the ground and tree roots that break concrete.
K-ESS3-2. Obtain and use information about weather forecasting to prepare for, and respond to, different types of local weather.
K-ESS3-3. Communicate solutions to reduce the amount of natural resources an individual uses.* Clarification Statement:
• Examples of solutions could include reusing paper to reduce the number of trees cut down and recycling cans and bottles to reduce the amount of plastic or metal used.
K-LS1-1. Observe and communicate that animals (including humans) and plants need food, water, and air to survive. Animals get food from plants or other animals. Plants make their own food and need light to live and grow.
K-LS1-2(MA). Recognize that all plants and animals grow and change over time.
K-PS1-1(MA). Investigate and communicate the idea that different kinds of materials can be solid or liquid depending on temperature.
Clarification Statements:
• Materials chosen must exhibit solid and liquid states in a reasonable temperature range for kindergarten students (e.g., 0–80°F), such as water, crayons, or glue sticks.
• Only a qualitative description of temperature, such as hot, warm, and cool, is expected.
K-PS2-1. Compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.
Clarification Statements:
• Examples of pushes or pulls could include a string attached to an object being pulled, a person pushing an object, a person stopping a rolling ball, and two objects colliding and pushing on each other.
• Comparisons should be on different relative strengths or different directions, not both at the same time.
• Non-contact pushes or pulls such as those produced by magnets are not expected. [K-PS2-2 from NGSS is not included.]
K-PS3-1. Make observations to determine that sunlight warms materials on Earth’s surface.
Clarification Statements:
• Examples of materials on Earth’s surface could include sand, soil, rocks, and water.
• Measures of temperature should be limited to relative measures such as warmer/cooler. K-PS3-2. Use tools and materials to design and build a model of a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on an area.*
In grade 1, students have more fluency with language, number sense, and inquiry skills. This allows them to describe patterns of motion between the Sun, Moon, and stars in relation to the Earth. From this understanding they can identify seasonal patterns from sunrise and sunset data that will allow them to predict future patterns. Building from their experiences in pre-K and kindergarten observing and describing daily weather, they can now examine seasonal data on temperature and rainfall to describe patterns over time. Grade 1 students investigate sound and light through various materials. They describe patterns in how light passes through and sounds differ from different types of materials and use this to design and build a device to send a signal. Students compare the ways different animals and plants use their body parts and senses to do the things they need to do to grow and survive, including typical ways parents keep their young safe so they will survive to adulthood. They notice that though there are differences between plants or animals of the same type, the similarities of behavior and appearance are what allow us to identify them as belonging to a group. Grade 1 students begin to understand the power of patterns to predict future events in the natural and designed world.
1-ESS1-1. Use observations of the Sun, Moon, and stars to describe that each appears to rise in one part of the sky, appears to move across the sky, and appears to set.
1- ESS1-2. Analyze provided data to identify relationships among seasonal patterns of change, including relative sunrise and sunset time changes, seasonal temperature and rainfall or snowfall patterns, and seasonal changes to the environment.
Clarification Statement:
• Examples of seasonal changes to the environment can include foliage changes, bird migration, and differences in amount of insect activity.
1- LS1-1. Use evidence to explain that (a) different animals use their body parts and senses in different ways to see, hear, grasp objects, protect themselves, move from place to place, and seek, find, and take in food, water, and air, and (b) plants have roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits that are used to take in water, air, and other nutrients, and produce food for the plant.
Clarification Statement:
• Descriptions are not expected to include mechanisms such as the process of photosynthesis. 1-LS1-2. Obtain information to compare ways in which the behavior of different animal parents and their offspring help the offspring to survive.
Clarification Statement:
• Examples of behaviors could include the signals that offspring make (such as crying, cheeping, and other vocalizations) and the responses of the parents (such as feeding, comforting, and protecting the offspring).
1- LS3-1. Use information from observations (first-hand and from media) to identify similarities and differences among individual plants or animals of the same kind.
Clarification Statements:
• Examples of observations could include that leaves from the same kind of plant are the same shape but can differ in size.
• Inheritance, animals that undergo metamorphosis, or hybrids are not expected.
1- PS4-1. Demonstrate that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.
Clarification Statements:
• Examples of vibrating materials that make sound could include tuning forks, a stretched string or rubber band, and a drum head.
• Examples of how sound can make materials vibrate could include holding a piece of paper near a speaker making sound and holding an object near a vibrating tuning fork.
1- PS4-3. Conduct an investigation to determine the effect of placing materials that allow light to pass through them, allow only some light through them, block all the light, or redirect light when put in the path of a beam of light.
Clarification Statements:
• Effects can include some or all light passing through, creation of a shadow, and redirecting light.
• Quantitative measures are not expected.
1- PS4-4. Use tools and materials to design and build a device that uses light or sound to send a signal over a distance.*
Clarification Statements:
• Examples of devices could include a light source to send signals, paper cup and string “telephones,” and a pattern of drum beats.
• Technological details for how communication devices work are not expected. [1-PS4-2 from NGSS is not included.]
1.K-2-ETS1-1. Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change that can be solved by developing or improving an object or tool.*
1.K-2-ETS1-2. Generate multiple solutions to a design problem and make a drawing (plan) to represent one or more of the solutions.*
As students grow in their ability to speak, read, write, and reason mathematically, they also grow in their ability to grapple with larger systems and the parts that make them up. In grade 2, students start to look beyond the structures of individual plants and animals to looking at the environment in which the plants and animals live as a provider of the food, water, and shelter that the organisms need. They learn that water is found everywhere on Earth and takes different forms and shapes. They map landforms and bodies of water and observe that flowing water and wind shapes these landforms. Grade 2 students use their observation skills gained in earlier grades to classify materials based on similar properties and functions. They gain experience testing different materials to collect and then analyze data for the purpose of determining which materials are the best for a specific function. They construct large objects from smaller pieces and, conversely, learn that when materials are cut into the smallest possible pieces, they still exist as the same material that has weight. These investigations of how parts relate to the whole provide a key basis for understanding systems in later grades.
[2-ESS1-1 from NGSS is not included.]
2- ESS2-1. Investigate and compare the effectiveness of multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land.*
Clarification Statements:
• Solutions to be compared could include different designs of dikes and windbreaks to hold back wind and water, and different designs for using shrubs, grass, and trees to hold back the land.
• Solutions can be generated or provided.
2- ESS2-2. Map the shapes and types of landforms and bodies of water in an area.
Clarification Statements:
• Examples of types of landforms can include hills, valleys, river banks, and dunes.
• Examples of water bodies can include streams, ponds, bays, and rivers.
• Quantitative scaling in models or contour mapping is not expected.
2-ESS2-3. Use examples obtained from informational sources to explain that water is found in the ocean, rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, and may be solid or liquid.
2- ESS2-4(MA). Observe how blowing wind and flowing water can move Earth materials from one place to another and change the shape of a landform.
Clarification Statement:
• Examples of types of landforms can include hills, valleys, river banks, and dunes.
2- LS2-3(MA). Develop and use models to compare how plants and animals depend on their surroundings and other living things to meet their needs in the places they live.
Clarification Statement:
• Animals need food, water, air, shelter, and favorable temperature; plants need sufficient light, water, minerals, favorable temperature, and animals or other mechanisms to disperse seeds.
2- LS4-1. Use texts, media, or local environments to observe and compare (a) different kinds of living things in an area, and (b) differences in the kinds of living things living in different types of areas.
Clarification Statements:
• Examples of areas to compare can include temperate forest, desert, tropical rain forest, grassland, arctic, and aquatic.
• Specific animal and plant names in specific areas are not expected.
2-PS1-1. Describe and classify different kinds of materials by observable properties of color, flexibility, hardness, texture, and absorbency.
2- PS1-2. Test different materials and analyze the data obtained to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.*
Clarification Statements:
• Examples of properties could include, color, flexibility, hardness, texture, and absorbency.
• Data should focus on qualitative and relative observations.
2- PS1-3. Analyze a variety of evidence to conclude that when a chunk of material is cut or broken into pieces, each piece is still the same material and, however small each piece is, has weight. Show that the material properties of a small set of pieces do not change when the pieces are used to build larger objects.
Clarification Statements:
• Materials should be pure substances or microscopic mixtures that appear contiguous at observable scales.
• Examples of pieces could include blocks, building bricks, and other assorted small objects. 2-PS1-4. Construct an argument with evidence that some changes to materials caused by heating or cooling can be reversed and some cannot.
Clarification Statements:
• Examples of reversible changes could include materials such as water and butter at different temperatures.
• Examples of irreversible changes could include cooking an egg, freezing a plant leaf, and burning paper.
2- PS3-1(MA). Design and conduct an experiment to show the effects of friction on the relative temperature and speed of objects that rub against each other.
Clarification Statements:
• Examples could include an object sliding on rough vs. smooth surfaces.
• Observations of temperature and speed should be qualitative.
2.K-2-ETS1-3. Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same design problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each object performs.*
Clarification Statements:
• Data can include observations and be either qualitative or quantitative.
• Examples can include how different objects insulate cold water or how different types of grocery bags perform.
Upper elementary is a critical time to engage students in the science and engineering practices. Students form key identities with, or against, science and engineering as they leave elementary school that can shape their relationship to science in later education, and even postsecondary and career choices later in life. Students must be given opportunities to develop the skills necessary for a meaningful progression of development in order to engage in the scientific and technical reasoning so critical to success in civic life, postsecondary education, and careers. Inclusion of science and engineering practices in standards only speaks to the types of performance students should be able to demonstrate at the end of instruction at a particular grade; the standards do not limit what educators and students should or can be engaged in through a well-rounded curriculum.
Standards for grades 3 through 5 integrate all eight science and engineering practices. Some examples of specific skills students should develop in these grades include:
1. Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy when objects collide; distinguish between scientific (testable) and non-scientific (non-testable) questions; define a simple design problem, including criteria for success and constraints on materials or time.
2. Use graphical representations to show differences in organisms’ life cycles; develop a model of a wave to communicate wave features; use a particulate model of matter to explain phase changes; identify limitations of models; use a model to test cause and effect relationships.
3. Conduct an investigation to determine the nature of forces between magnets; make observations and collect data about the effects of mechanical weathering; conduct an experiment on mixing of substances; evaluate appropriate methods for collecting data; make predictions about what would happen if a variable changes.
4. Use graphs and tables of weather data to describe and predict typical weather during a season; analyze and interpret maps of Earth’s physical features; use data to evaluate and refine design solutions.
5. Graph and describe the amounts and percentages of fresh and salt water in various reservoirs; measure and graph weights of substances before and after a chemical reaction.
6. Use evidence to explain how variations among individuals can provide advantages in survival and reproduction; provide evidence to explain the effect of multiple forces on the motion of an object; test and refine a simple system designed to filter impurities out of water.
7. Construct an argument that animals and plants have internal and external structures that support their survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction; distinguish among facts, reasoned judgment based on data, and speculation in an argument.
8. Obtain and summarize information about the climate of different regions; gather information on possible solutions to a given design problem; obtain information about renewable and nonrenewable energy sources.
While presented as distinct skill sets, the eight practices intentionally overlap and interconnect. Skills
such as those outlined above should be reflected in curricula and instruction that engage students in an integrated use of the practices. See the Science and Engineering Practices Progression Matrix (Appendix I) for more information, including particular skills for students in grades 3–5.
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.
2- 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.
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.
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.
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.
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. State Assessment Boundary:
• Identification of specific fossils or specific present-day plants and animals, dynamic processes, or genetics are not expected in state assessment.
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.
State Assessment Boundary:
• Details of reproduction are not expected in state assessment.
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.
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.
[3-PS2-2 from NGSS is not included.]
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.
In grade 4, students observe and interpret patterns related to the transfer of matter and energy on Earth, in physical interactions, and in organisms. Students learn about energy—its motion, transfer, and conversion—in different physical contexts. Grade 4 students interpret patterns of change over time as related to the deposition and erosion in landscape formation. They study today’s landscapes to provide evidence for past processes. Students learn that animals’ internal and external structures support life, growth, behavior, and reproduction. They work through the engineering design process, focusing on developing solutions by building, testing, and redesigning prototypes to fit a specific purpose. Each domain relates to the use of matter and energy over time and for specific purposes.
4- ESS1-1. Use evidence from a given landscape that includes simple landforms and rock layers to support a claim about the role of erosion or deposition in the formation of the landscape over long periods of time.
Clarification Statements:
• Examples of evidence and claims could include rock layers with shell fossils above rock layers with plant fossils and no shells, indicating a change from deposition on land to deposition in water over time; and a canyon with rock layers in the walls and a river in the bottom, indicating that a river eroded the rock over time.
• Examples of simple landforms can include valleys, hills, mountains, plains, and canyons.
• Focus should be on relative time. State Assessment Boundary:
• Specific details of the mechanisms of rock formation or specific rock formations and layers are not expected in state assessment.
4- ESS2-1. Make observations and collect data to provide evidence that rocks, soils, and sediments are broken into smaller pieces through mechanical weathering and moved around through erosion.
Clarification Statements:
• Mechanical weathering processes can include frost wedging, abrasion, and tree root wedging.
• Erosion can include movement by blowing wind, flowing water, and moving ice. State Assessment Boundary:
• Chemical processes are not expected in state assessment.
4-ESS2-2. Analyze and interpret maps of Earth’s mountain ranges, deep ocean trenches, volcanoes, and earthquake epicenters to describe patterns of these features and their locations relative to boundaries between continents and oceans.
4- ESS3-1. Obtain information to describe that energy and fuels humans use are derived from natural resources and that some energy and fuel sources are renewable and some are not.
Clarification Statements:
• Examples of renewable energy resources could include wind energy, water behind dams, tides, and sunlight.
• Non-renewable energy resources are fossil fuels and nuclear materials.
4- ESS3-2. Evaluate different solutions to reduce the impacts of a natural event such as an earthquake, blizzard, or flood on humans.*
Clarification Statement:
• Examples of solutions could include an earthquake-resistant building or a constructed wetland to mitigate flooding.
4- LS1-1. Construct an argument that animals and plants have internal and external structures that support their survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
Clarification Statements:
• Animal structures can include legs, wings, fins, feathers, trunks, claws, horns, antennae, eyes, ears, nose, heart, stomach, lung, brain, and skin.
• Plant structures can include leaves, roots, stems, bark, branches, flowers, fruit, and seeds. State Assessment Boundary:
• State assessment will be limited to macroscopic structures. [4-LS1-2 from NGSS is not included.]
4- PS3-1. Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object.
State Assessment Boundaries:
• State assessment will be limited to analysis of kinetic energy.
• Accounting for mass, quantitative measures of changes in the speed of an object, or any precise or quantitative definition of energy is not expected in state assessment.
4- PS3-2. Make observations to show that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
Clarification Statements:
• Evidence of energy being transferred can include vibrations felt a small distance from a source, a solar-powered toy that moves when placed in direct light, warming a metal object on one end and observing the other end getting warm, and a wire carrying electric energy from a battery to light a bulb.
State Assessment Boundary:
• Quantitative measurements of energy are not expected in state assessment.
4- PS3-3. Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects
collide.
Clarification Statement:
• Changes in energy can include a change in the object’s motion, position, and the generation of heat and/or sound.
State Assessment Boundary:
• Analysis of forces or quantitative measurements of energy are not expected in state assessment.
4- PS3-4. Apply scientific principles of energy and motion to test and refine a device that converts kinetic energy to electrical energy or uses stored energy to cause motion or produce light or sound.*
Clarification Statement:
• Sources of stored energy can include water in a bucket or a weight suspended at a height, and a battery.
4- PS4-1. Develop a model of a simple mechanical wave (including sound) to communicate that waves (a) are regular patterns of motion along which energy travels and (b) can cause objects to move.
Clarification Statement:
• Examples of models could include diagrams, analogies, and physical models. State Assessment Boundary:
• Interference effects, electromagnetic waves, or non-periodic waves are not expected in state assessment.
4- PS4-2. Develop a model to describe that light must reflect off an object and enter the eye for the object to be seen.
State Assessment Boundary:
• Specific colors reflected and seen, the cellular mechanisms of vision, angles of incidence and reflection, or how the retina works are not expected in state assessment.
4- PS4-3. Develop and compare multiple ways to transfer information through encoding, sending, receiving, and decoding a pattern.*
Clarification Statement:
• Examples of solutions could include drums sending coded information through sound waves, using a grid of 1s and 0s representing black and white to send information about a picture, and using Morse code to send text.
4.3-5-ETS1-3. Plan and carry out tests of one or more design features of a given model or prototype in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify which features need to be improved. Apply the results of tests to redesign a model or prototype.*
Clarification Statement:
• Examples of design features can include materials, size, shape, and weight.
4.3-5-ETS1-5(MA). Evaluate relevant design features that must be considered in building a model or prototype of a solution to a given design problem.*
In grade 5, students model, provide evidence to support arguments, and obtain and display data about relationships and interactions among observable components of different systems. By studying systems, grade 5 students learn that objects and organisms do not exist in isolation and that animals, plants and their environments are connected to, interact with, and are influenced by each other. They study the relationships between Earth and other nearby objects in the solar system and the impact of those relationships on patterns of events as seen from Earth. They learn about the relationship among elements of Earth’s systems through the cycling of water and human practices and processes with Earth’s resources. They also learn about the connections and relationships among plants and animals, and the ecosystems within which they live, to show how matter and energy are cycled through these (building on the theme of grade 4). An ability to describe, analyze, and model connections and relationships of observable components of different systems is key to understanding the natural and designed world.
4- ESS1-1. Use observations, first-hand and from various media, to argue that the Sun is a star that appears larger and brighter than other stars because it is closer to Earth.
State Assessment Boundary:
• Other factors that affect apparent brightness (such as stellar masses, age, or stage) are not expected in state assessment.
5- ESS1-2. Use a model to communicate Earth’s relationship to the Sun, Moon, and other stars that explain (a) why people on Earth experience day and night, (b) patterns in daily changes in length and direction of shadows over a day, and (c) changes in the apparent position of the Sun, Moon, and stars at different times during a day, over a month, and over a year.
Clarification Statement:
• Models should illustrate that the Earth, Sun, and Moon are spheres; include orbits of the Earth around the Sun and of the Moon around Earth; and demonstrate Earth’s rotation about its axis.
State Assessment Boundary:
• Causes of lunar phases or seasons, or use of Earth’s tilt are not expected in state assessment.
5- ESS2-1. Use a model to describe the cycling of water through a watershed through evaporation, precipitation, absorption, surface runoff, and condensation.
State Assessment Boundary:
• Transpiration or explanations of mechanisms that drive the cycle are not expected in state assessment.
5- ESS2-2. Describe and graph the relative amounts of salt water in the ocean; fresh water in lakes, rivers, and groundwater; and fresh water frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps to provide evidence about the availability of fresh water in Earth’s biosphere.
State Assessment Boundary:
• Inclusion of the atmosphere is not expected in state assessment.
5- ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information about ways communities reduce human impact on the Earth’s resources and environment by changing an agricultural, industrial, or community practice or process.
Clarification Statement:
• Examples of changed practices or processes include treating sewage, reducing the amounts of materials used, capturing polluting emissions from factories or power plants, and preventing runoff from agricultural activities.
State Assessment Boundary:
• Science of climate change or social science aspects of practices such as regulation or policy are not expected in state assessment.
5-ESS3-2(MA). Test a simple system designed to filter particulates out of water and propose one change to the design to improve it.*
5- LS1-1. Ask testable questions about the process by which plants use air, water, and energy from sunlight to produce sugars and plant materials needed for growth and reproduction.
State Assessment Boundary:
• The chemical formula or molecular details about the process of photosynthesis are not expected in state assessment.
5- LS2-1. Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among producers, consumers, decomposers, and the air, water, and soil in the environment to (a) show that plants produce sugars and plant materials, (b) show that animals can eat plants and/or other animals for food, and (c) show that some organisms, including fungi and bacteria, break down dead organisms and recycle some materials back to the air and soil.
Clarification Statement:
• Emphasis is on matter moving throughout the ecosystem. State Assessment Boundary:
• Molecular explanations, or distinctions among primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers, are not expected in state assessment.
5- LS2-2(MA). Compare at least two designs for a composter to determine which is most likely to encourage decomposition of materials.*
Clarification Statement:
• Measures or evidence of decomposition should be on qualitative descriptions or comparisons.
5- PS1-1. Use a particle model of matter to explain common phenomena involving gases, and phase changes between gas and liquid and between liquid and solid.
Clarification Statement:
• Examples of common phenomena the model should be able to describe include adding air to expand a balloon, compressing air in a syringe, and evaporating water from a salt water solution.
State Assessment Boundary:
• Atomic-scale mechanisms of evaporation and condensation or defining unseen particles are not expected in state assessment.
5- PS1-2. Measure and graph the weights (masses) of substances before and after a reaction or phase change to provide evidence that regardless of the type of change that occurs when heating, cooling, or combining substances, the total weight (mass) of matter is conserved.
Clarification Statement:
• Assume that reactions with any gas production are conducted in a closed system. State Assessment Boundary:
• Distinguishing mass and weight is not expected in state assessment.
5- PS1-3. Make observations and measurements of substances to describe characteristic properties of each, including color, hardness, reflectivity, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, response to magnetic forces, and solubility.
Clarification Statements:
• Emphasis is on describing how each substance has a unique set of properties.
• Examples of substances could include baking soda and other powders, metals, minerals, and liquids.
State Assessment Boundary:
• Density, distinguishing mass and weight, or specific tests or procedures are not expected in state assessment.
5-PS1-4. Conduct an experiment to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances with new properties (a chemical reaction) or not (a mixture).
5- PS2-1. Support an argument with evidence that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed toward Earth’s center.
State Assessment Boundary:
• Mathematical representations of gravitational force are not expected in state assessment.
5- PS3-1. Use a model to describe that the food animals digest (a) contains energy that was once energy from the Sun, and (b) provides energy and nutrients for life processes, including body repair, growth, motion, body warmth, and reproduction.
Clarification Statement:
• Examples of models could include diagrams and flow charts. State Assessment Boundary:
• Details of cellular respiration, ATP, or molecular details of the process of photosynthesis or respiration are not expected in state assessment.
5.3-5-ETS3-1(MA). Use informational text to provide examples of improvements to existing technologies (innovations) and the development of new technologies (inventions). Recognize that technology is any modification of the natural or designed world done to fulfill human needs or wants.
5.3-5-ETS3-2(MA). Use sketches or drawings to show how each part of a product or device relates to other parts in the product or device.*