Science Standards by Grade

Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time.

Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants or animals and the places they live.

Ask questions to obtain information about the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for, and respond to, severe weather.

Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.

Use observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted.

Make observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the time of year.

Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.

Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.

Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that objects can be seen only when illuminated.

Plan and conduct an investigation to determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.

Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.

Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.

Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.

Make observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the time of year.

Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.

Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.

Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.

Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time.

Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants or animals and the places they live.

Ask questions to obtain information about the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for, and respond to, severe weather.

Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.

Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.

Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.

Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation exists in a group of similar organisms.

Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.

Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.

Make observations and measurements of an object's motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.

Make observations and measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.

Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.

Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment.

Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.

Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.

Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength and that waves can cause objects to move.

Generate and compare multiple solutions that use patterns to transfer information.

Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.

Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Support an argument that differences in the apparent brightness of the sun compared to other stars is due to their relative distances from Earth.

Represent data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky.

Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.

Describe and graph the amounts and percentages of water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth.

Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.

Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.

Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen.

Measure and graph quantities to provide evidence that regardless of the type of change that occurs when heating, cooling, or mixing substances, the total weight of matter is conserved.

Conduct an investigation to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances.

Support an argument that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed down.

Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth’s surface at varying time and spatial scales.

Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.

Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells; either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.

Use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.

Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.

Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.

Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object’s motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.

Construct and present arguments using evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions are attractive and depend on the masses of interacting objects.

Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.

Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Develop and use a model to describe why structural changes to genes may affect proteins and may result in harmful, beneficial, or neutral effects to the structure and function of the organism.

Construct an explanation based on evidence that describes how genetic variations of traits in a population increase some individuals' probability of surviving and reproducing in a specific environment.

Use mathematical representations to support explanations of how natural selection may lead to increases and decreases of specific traits in populations over time.

Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.

Develop and use a model to describe how the total number of atoms does not change in a chemical reaction and thus mass is conserved.

Undertake a design project to construct, test, and modify a device that either releases or absorbs thermal energy by chemical processes.

Use mathematical representations to describe a simple model for waves that includes how the amplitude of a wave is related to the energy in a wave, and how the frequency and wavelength of a wave are related to one another.

Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.

Integrate qualitative scientific and technical information to support the claim that digitized signals are a more reliable way to encode and transmit information than analog signals.

Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth's 4.6-billion-year-old history.

Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.

Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.

Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.

Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.

Develop and use a model to describe how the total number of atoms does not change in a chemical reaction and thus mass is conserved.

Apply Newton's Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects.

Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object's motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.

Construct and present arguments using evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions are attractive and depend on the masses of interacting objects.

Develop a model to describe that when the arrangement of objects interacting at a distance changes, different amounts of potential energy are stored in the system.

Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.

Construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim that when the kinetic energy of an object changes, energy is transferred to or from the object.