Grade 4

Embedded Inquiry

Embedded Technology & Engineering

Life Science

Earth and Space Science

Physical Science

Grade Level Expectations

Checks for Understanding

State Performance Indicators

Grade Level Expectations

Checks for Understanding

State Performance Indicators

Standard 1 - Cells

Standard 2 - Interdependence

Standard 3 - Flow of Matter and Energy

Standard 4 - Heredity

Standard 5 - Biodiversity and Change

Standard 6 - The Universe

Standard 7 – The Earth

Standard 8 - The Atmosphere

Standard 9 - Matter

Standard 10 - Energy

Standard 11 - Motion

Standard 12 - Forces in Nature

Explore different scientific phenomena by asking questions, making logical predictions, planning investigations, and recording data.

Select and use appropriate tools and simple equipment to conduct an investigation.

Organize data into appropriate tables, graphs, drawings, or diagrams.

Identify and interpret simple patterns of evidence to communicate the findings of multiple investigations.

Recognize that people may interpret the same results in different ways.

Compare the results of an investigation with what scientists already accept about this question.

Identify specific investigations that could be used to answer a particular question and identify reasons for this choice.

Identify tools needed to investigate specific questions.

Maintain a science notebook that includes observations, data, diagrams, and explanations.

Analyze and communicate findings from multiple investigations of similar phenomena to reach a conclusion.

Select an investigation that could be used to answer a specific question.

Describe how tools, technology, and inventions help to answer questions and solve problems.

Recognize that new tools, technology, and inventions are always being developed.

Identify appropriate materials, tools, and machines that can extend or enhance the ability to solve a specified problem.

Recognize the connection between scientific advances, new knowledge, and the availability of new tools and technologies.

Apply a creative design strategy to solve a particular problem generated by societal needs and wants.

Explain how different inventions and technologies impact people and other living organisms.

Design a tool or a process that addresses an identified problem caused by human activity.

Determine criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of a solution to a specified problem.

Evaluate an invention that solves a problem and determine ways to improve the design.

Select a tool, technology, or invention that was used to solve a human problem.

Recognize the connection between a scientific advance and the development of a new tool or technology.

Grade Level Expectations

Checks for Understanding

State Performance Indicators

Grade Level Expectations

Checks for Understanding

State Performance Indicators

Grade Level Expectations

Checks for Understanding

State Performance Indicators

Grade Level Expectations

Checks for Understanding

State Performance Indicators

Grade Level Expectations

Checks for Understanding

State Performance Indicators

Grade Level Expectations

Checks for Understanding

State Performance Indicators

Grade Level Expectations

Checks for Understanding

State Performance Indicators

Grade Level Expectations

Checks for Understanding

State Performance Indicators

Grade Level Expectations

Checks for Understanding

State Performance Indicators

Grade Level Expectations

Checks for Understanding

State Performance Indicators

Grade Level Expectations

Checks for Understanding

State Performance Indicators

Grade Level Expectations

Checks for Understanding

State Performance Indicators

Recognize that cells are the building blocks of all living things.

Use illustrations or direct observations to compare and contrast the basic structures of plant and animal cells.

Create a basic model of the cell that illustrates different cell structures and describes their functions.

Compare basic structures of plant and animal cells.

Analyze the effects of changes in the environment on the stability of an ecosystem.

Analyze how an increase or decrease in competition or predation affects an ecosystem.

Design a simple experiment to illustrate the effects of competition, predation, and interdependency among living things.

Recognize the impact of predation and competition on an ecosystem.

Demonstrate that plants require light energy to grow and survive.

Investigate different ways that organisms meet their energy needs.

Create a food web that illustrates the energy relationships between plants and animals and the key issues or assumptions found in the model.

Classify organisms as carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores.

Identify how a variety of organisms meet their energy needs.

Determine how different organisms function within an environment in terms of their location on an energy pyramid.

Recognize the relationship between reproduction and the continuation of a species.

Differentiate between complete and incomplete metamorphosis.

Design a simple demonstration that illustrates the relationship between reproduction and survival of a species.

Study the life cycles of a variety of organisms and determine whether these processes illustrate complete or incomplete metamorphosis.

Draw conclusions about the relationship between reproduction and the survival of a species.

Distinguish between complete and incomplete metamorphosis.

Analyze physical and behavioral adaptations that enable organisms to survive in their environment.

Describe how environmental changes caused the extinction of various plant and animal species.

Classify animals according to their physical adaptations for obtaining food, oxygen, and surviving within a particular environment.

Describe how animal behaviors such as migration, defense, means of locomotion, and hibernation enable them to survive in an environment.

Investigate tropisms that plants exhibit in response to changes in their environment.

Gather fossil information to draw conclusions about organisms that exist today.

Analyze the common causes of extinction and explain how human actions sometimes result in the extinction of a species.

Determine how a physical or behavioral adaptation can enhance the chances of survival.

Infer the possible reasons why a species became endangered or extinct.

Analyze patterns, relative movements, and relationships among the sun, moon, and earth.

Chart the movements of the sun, moon, and earth to develop an explanation for the phases of the moon and solar and lunar eclipses.

Sequence the major phases of the moon during a lunar cycle.

Organize the phases of the moon in the correct sequence.

Infer that the moon's phases are caused by the revolution of the moon and earth around the sun.

Investigate how the Earth's geological features change as a result of erosion (weathering and transportation) and deposition.

Evaluate how some earth materials can be used to solve human problems and enhance the quality of life.

Prepare a demonstration to illustrate how wind and water affect the earth's surface features.

Design an investigation to demonstrate how erosion and deposition change the earth's surface.

List factors that determine the appropriate use of an earth material.

Use data from a variety of informational texts to analyze and evaluate man's impact on non-renewable resources.

Design a simple model to illustrate how the wind and movement of water alter the earth's surface.

Analyze how different earth materials are utilized to solve human problems or improve the quality of life.

Recognize the major components of the water cycle.

Differentiate between weather and climate.

Prepare a model that illustrates the basic features of the water cycle.

Use long term weather data to distinguish between weather and climate.

Use an illustration to predict and draw conclusions about how weather and climate affect the water cycle.

Identify the basic features of the water cycle and describe their importance to life on earth.

Distinguish between weather and climate.

Collect data to illustrate that the physical properties of matter can be described with tools that measure weight, mass, length, and volume.

Explore different types of physical changes in matter.

Use appropriate tools to measure and compare the physical properties of various solids and liquids.

Compare the causes and effects of various physical changes in matter.

Choose an appropriate tool for measuring a specific physical property of matter.

Determine the mass, volume, and temperature of a substance or object using proper units of measurement.

Interpret the causes and effects of a physical change in matter.

Distinguish among heat, radiant, and chemical forms of energy.

Investigate how light travels and is influenced by different types of materials and surfaces.

Design an investigation to demonstrate how different forms of energy release heat or light.

Design an experiment to investigate how different surfaces determine if light is reflected, refracted, or absorbed

Gather and organize information about a variety of materials to categorize them as translucent, transparent, or opaque.

Identify different forms of energy, such as heat, light, and chemical.

Determine which surfaces reflect, refract, or absorb light.

Determine whether a material is transparent, translucent, or opaque.

Recognize that the position of an object can be described relative to other objects or a background.

Design a simple investigation to demonstrate how friction affects the movement of an object.

Investigate the relationship between the speed of an object and the distance traveled during a certain time period.

Identify the position of objects relative to fixed reference points.

Design an investigation to identify factors that affect the speed and distance traveled by an object in motion.

Complete a coordinate graph to describe the relative positions of objects.

Plan and execute an investigation that demonstrates how friction affects the movement of an object.

Design and implement an investigation to determine that the speed of an object is equal to the distance traveled over time.

Describe the position of an object relative to fixed reference points.

Identify factors that influence the motion of an object.

Determine the relationship between speed and distance traveled over time.

Explore the interactions between magnets.

Observe that electrically charged objects exert a pull on other materials.

Explain how electricity in a simple circuit requires a complete loop through which current can pass.

Explore the interactions between an electrically charged object and other materials.

Design an experiment to investigate how a simple electromagnet affects common objects.

Describe how electricity passes through a simple circuit that includes a battery, wire, switch, and bulb.

Identify how magnets attract or repel one another.

Determine how an electrically charged material interacts with other objects.

Determine the path of an electrical current in a simple circuit.