fourth grade science overview
The performance expectations in
fourth grade help students formulate answers to questions such as: “What are
waves and what are some things 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? How can
energy be used to solve a problem?” Fourth grade performance expectations
include PS3, PS4, LS1, ESS1, ESS2, ESS3,
and ETS1 Disciplinary Core Ideas from the NRC Framework. Students are able
to use a model of waves to describe patterns of waves in terms of amplitude and
wavelength, and that waves can cause objects to move. Students are expected to
develop understanding of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by
water, ice, wind, or vegetation. They apply their knowledge of natural Earth
processes to generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of
such processes on humans. In order to describe patterns of Earth’s features,
students analyze and interpret data from maps. Fourth graders are expected to
develop an understanding that plants and animals have internal and external
structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
By developing a model, they describe that an object can be seen when light
reflected from its surface enters the eye. Students are able to use evidence to
construct an explanation of the relationship between the speed of an object and
the energy of that object. Students are expected to develop an understanding
that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and
electric currents or from object to object through collisions. They apply their
understanding of energy to design, test, and refine a device that converts
energy from one form to another. The crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause
and effect; energy and matter; systems and system models; interdependence of
science, engineering, and technology; and influence of engineering, technology,
and science on society and the natural world are called out as organizing
concepts for these disciplinary core ideas. In the fourth grade performance
expectations, students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate
proficiency in asking questions, developing and using models, planning and
carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, constructing
explanations and designing solutions, engaging in argument from evidence, and
obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information. Students are expected to
use these practices to demonstrate understanding of the core ideas.
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Fourth Grade Curriculum
Kit materials
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