THIRD GRADE SCIENCE

Alaska Content Standards

 

Standard A.  A student should understand scientific facts, concepts, 

                        principles, and theories.

Standard B.  A student should possess and understand the skills of

                        scientific inquiry.

Standard C.  A student should understand the nature and history of

                        science.

Standard D.  A student should be apply scientific knowledge and skills

                        to make reasoned decisions about the use of science and

                        scientific innovations.

 

Students will investigate the human body, earth materials, physics of sound, and ideas and inventions.  Scientific process skills in third grade will include: observing, communicating, classifying, measuring, hypothesizing, experimenting, asking questions, and constructing principles, laws, and theories from data.

·        Gather information using at least two different methods

·        Communicate observations using clear, complete, accurate, objective descriptions

·        Group objects or events according to characteristics

·        Gain familiarity with commonly used units of measurement

·        Seek clarification of knowledge and observations

·        Predict results for their own questions and set up investigations to test their theories

·        Choose and correctly use appropriate tools to enhance observations

·        Fill in data tables from independent observations

·        Use numerical data in describing and comparing objects, events, and measurements

·        Analyze process to confirm results of experiments, tests, or observations

 

 

Alaska Science Performance Standards

 

A 1.  Students use models to represent structures and identify different scale relationships.

A 2.  Students observe physical properties of substances and observe that a substance maintains many of the same properties whether it is big or small.

A 3.  Students make observations of the daytime and nighttime sky over a period of time and chart the movement of objects.

A 4.  Students observe natural events and identify patterns in the weather and the seasons.

A 5.  Students show how objects can be moved without being touched, and how shadows are formed by light.

A 6.  Students observe and record changes in an object’s position and motion when applying a push or pull.

A 7.  Students observe and describe earth materials such as clay, silt, sand, rocks, and pebbles that exist in a variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and hardness.

A 8a.  Students observe and describe changes in matter and identify some changes that are easily reversible, and some that are not.

A 8b.  Students observe that the sun warms the land, air and water.

A 8c.  Students observe that there are many ways to produce heat and other forms of energy.

A 9.  Students identify examples of living and non-living things in their environment and demonstrate understanding that things change over time.

A 10.  Students use a hand lens to observe minute details of living things.

A 11.  Students identify similarities and differences between offspring and their parents.

A 12.  Students sort plants and animals into groups using consistent criteria, and describe how some characteristics are for the survival of the plant or animal.

A 13.  Students describe organisms that once lived on earth, but have completely disappeared.

A 14a.  Students identify those things which plants and animals need in order to survive and reproduce.

A 14b.  Students identify local animals that live together in groups.

A 14c.  Students listen to a story (from the past or present) that describes how a shortage or surplus of resources affects the survival of plants and animals.

A 15.  Students identify local landforms and resources.

B 1.  Students observe and describe their world.

B 2.  Students use appropriate measuring and observation instruments to explore the natural world around them.

B 3.  Students ask questions about the natural world.

B 4.  Students collaborate to investigative the natural world.

B 5.  Students differentiate between what they observe with their senses and what they interpret about those observations.

B 6.  Student learn classroom safety procedures, identify consequences or unsafe behavior, and practice safe behavior in the classroom and laboratory.

C 1.  Students will use observations to collect and identify facts.

C 2.  Students will compare observations and/or repeat observations to check for validity of results.

C 3.  Students recite a tribal folklore describing a scientific event.

C 4.  Students observe a phenomenon and record a personal (non-scientific) belief about that phenomenon.

C 5.  Students work together to explore and share scientific discoveries about their environment.

C 6.  Students share information about their world that they have learned through observation.

C 7.  Students examine inventions and describe the human efforts required to produce it.

C 8.  Students observe and discuss phenomena that conflict with common sense.

D 1.  Students use science knowledge to describe everyday events.

D 2.  Students role-play and discuss the positive and negative consequences of a single scientific or technological event.

D 3.  Students propose and discuss solutions to simple problems.

D 4.  Students describe simple technology used in everyday life.

D 5.  Students discuss how tools are used to observe, measure, and make things that help us.

D 6.  Students retell examples of consequences that have resulted from their actions.

 

CORE CONCEPTS

 

Life Science

·        Distinguish living from nonliving things

·        Describe the basic needs e.g., food, water, air, shelter, space of an organism

·        Observe and investigate the human skeletal and muscle systems

·        Become aware of the versatility of movement provided by an articulated skeleton

·        Gain experience with the use of photographs, diagrams, and model bones to gather information

·        Build mechanical models to demonstrate how muscles are responsible for human movement

·        Compare the bones and muscles in their own bodies to photographs and models

·        Describe human body systems e.g., digestive, respiratory, muscular, circulatory, and skeletal

·        Investigate response time of hands and feet

·        Develop an awareness of human bone and muscle structure and function and an appreciation for the versatility of the human body

·        Measure common physical properties

·        Recognize that energy e.g., light, heat, motion, sound, mechanical can affect common objects and is involved in common events

Physical Science

·        Observe and compare sounds to develop discrimination ability

·        Discover how sounds are made by using a variety of instruments and sound makers

·        Communicate with others using a drop code

·        Learn that sound originates from a source that is vibrating and is detected as a receiver such as the human ear

·        Identify the parts of the ear and their function

·        Distinguish between absorb and reflect

·        Determine the pitch of the sound by changing the rate of the vibration (how fast)

·        Operationally define volume and pitch

·        Compare methods to amplify sound at the source and at the receiver

·        Understand the relationship between pitch of a sound and the physical properties of the sound source (i.e., length, of vibrating object, frequency of vibrations, and tension of vibrating string)

·        Observe and compare how sound travels through solids, liquids and air

·        Infer that vibrating objects create sound waves that travel through both air and solids

·        Use knowledge of the physics of sound to solve simple sound challenges

Earth/Space Science

·        Develop an interest in earth materials

·        Gain experiences with rocks and minerals

·        Understand the processes of taking apart and putting together to find out about materials

·        Use measuring tools to gather data about rocks

·        Collect and organize data about rocks

·        Observe, describe, and record properties of minerals (each mineral has a definite chemical composition and structures resulting in definite physical properties)

·        Organize minerals on the basis of the property of hardness

·        Investigate the effect of vinegar (acid) on a specific mineral, calcite

·        Use evaporation to investigate rock composition

·        Learn that rocks are composed of minerals and that minerals cannot be physically separated into other materials

·        Describe examples of extinct organisms based on fossil evidence e.g., dinosaurs

·        Identify major features of Earth’s surface e.g., weathering, erosion, mountain building, and volcanic activity

·        Compare their activities to the work of geologists

·        Asses the natural resources necessary to construct machines and tools

Scientific Reasoning and Technology

·        Use techniques to see details about the world that would otherwise be difficult to observe

·        Explore the techniques of chromatography, rubbing, carbon printing, and mirror imagery

·        Analyze the reflection of light

·        Solve problems using the techniques of chromatography and carbon printing

·        Record and compare patterns observed in leaf veins, fingerprints, and ink pigments

·        Express individual and group creativity through open-ended discoveries and inventions

·        Invent applications to extend the use of specific techniques

World to Work

·        Maintain a research journal recording observations and data from experiments and our environment  B.1,6;  C.4;  D.7;

·        Develop questions for guest speakers and presenters on field trips  B.1

·        Survey parents on how science is used at their place of work  B.1,2,7;  C.6;  D.6;

·        Discuss the importance of safety in science careers  B.5,7;  D.7;

·        Discuss how personal interest are important considerations when choosing a career  B.4;  C.8;  D.7;

·        Maintain high quality work in a timely fashion  B.4;  C.8;  D.7;

·        Discuss the importance of cooperation in group work  B.4;  C.8;  D.7;

·        Understand classroom duties of students  B.7;  D.7;

·        Explore future careers and lifestyles  B.7;  D.7;

Textbook:
ISBN#:
Publisher:
Human Body 4A-742-7078 Foss
Physics of Sound 4A-742-7199 Foss
Earth Materials 4A-742-7034 Foss
Ideas & Inventions 4A-742-7089 Foss