The focus for the fourth grade student is
on analyzing systems and learning how they work. Thinking about and analyzing
systems helps students understand the relationships of mass, energy, objects,
and organization. They learn that systems consist of combinations of organisms,
machines, objects, ideas, and numbers. Systems have boundaries, components,
resources flow and feedback. The following explanations characterize the strands
at the fourth grade level.
The Nature of Science Strand
helps students understand the human dimensions of science, the nature of scientific
thought, and the role of science in society. Science teaches that nature and
natural laws are the same everywhere, and that nature is understandable and
predictable. Students develop an understanding of the organization of systems,
which in turn leads to understanding of basic laws of nature, scientific theories,
and models that help explain the world. Students read, investigate, and learn
that science is a human endeavor. Students begin to realize that doing science
involves more than being a "scientist," and that science is used in
many occupations including medicine, engineering, agriculture, business, and
many others.
Fourth grade students can master
some skills of a good inquirer. Students make measurements using tools, rulers,
thermometers, containers, and balances. They learn that the most useful skills
are the ability to make careful measurements, to record observations and measurements,
to make predictions based on observations, and to communicate results using
charts and simple graphs as well as by writing and speaking. They discover that
the best explanations of processes and events are based on evidence from systematic
investigations. By grade four, students learn that similarities and differences
between the properties of objects and materials can be understood and described
in specific context, such as a set of rocks or a group of living materials.
Through experiments with electricity and magnetism, students begin to understand
that phenomena can be observed, measured and manipulated by changing specific
variables. Students develop their abilities to communicate, infer, analyze,
and critique their own work and that of other students. The results of their
work may be spoken, drawn, written, or presented in multimedia.
Students become interested
in technology as they design projects, use tools well, measure things carefully,
make reasonable predictions, calculate accurately, and communicate clearly.
Students become confident in designing and analyzing projects, and the more
experience they have with design, the less direct guidance they need. They begin
to enjoy opportunities to clarify a problem, generate criteria for an acceptable
solution, suggest possible solutions, try one out, and then make adjustments
or start over with another proposed solution. It is important for students to
find out that there is more than one way to design a product or solve a problem.
To accomplish this goal, several groups of students can be asked to design and
solve the same problem and then discuss the advantages and disadvantages of
each solution. Students discover that solving some problems may lead to others,
and they become able to use simple constraint in problem solving. Students learn
to analyze and evaluate their own results and solutions, as well as those of
other students, by considering how well a product or design met a specific challenge
need or problem.
Students investigate
the progression of uses of tools over time. They understand that people continue
to invent new ways of solving problems and getting things done. As they research
inventions and technological advances, students begin to understand how new
ideas and inventions affect human life. They analyze advantages and disadvantages
of new ideas and inventions and learn to consider the costs and benefits of
various solutions.
The focus for fourth grade
students is on analyzing systems and learning how systems work. Thinking about
and analyzing systems help students understand the relationships of mass, energy,
objects, and organisms. Students learn that systems may be made up of subsystems
and that systems have structure and function, feedback, equilibrium, and that
there are both open and closed systems. Guide student learning to continue to
emphasize the unifying concepts previously introduced (including evidence, explanation,
measurement, order, organization and change, and systems) as well as the introduction
at grade four of form and function. The strands provide a context for teaching
the content throughout all goals.
Strands: Nature of Science, Science as Inquiry, Science and
Technology, Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
| Competency Goal 1: The learner
will make observations and conduct investigations to build an understanding
of animal behavior and adaptation. |
| Objectives 1.01 Observe and describe how all living
and nonliving things affect the life of a particular animal including:
- Other animals.
- Plants.
- Weather.
- Climate.
1.02 Observe and record how animals of the same kind differ in some of
their characteristics and discuss possible advantages and disadvantages
of this variation.
1.03 Observe and discuss how behaviors and body structures help animals
survive in a particular habitat.
1.04 Explain and discuss how humans and other animals can adapt their
behavior to live in changing habitats.
1.05 Recognize that humans can understand themselves better by learning
about other animals.
|
| Competency Goal 2: The learner
will conduct investigations and use appropriate technology to build an understanding
of the composition and uses of rocks and minerals. |
| Objectives 2.01 Describe and evaluate the properties
of several minerals.
2.02 Recognize that minerals have a definite chemical composition and
structure, resulting in specific physical properties including:
- Hardness.
- Streak color.
- Luster.
- Magnetism.
2.03 Explain how rocks are composed of minerals.
2.04 Show that different rocks have different properties.
2.05 Discuss and communicate the uses of rocks and minerals.
2.06 Classify rocks and rock-forming minerals using student-made rules.
2.07 Identify and discuss different rocks and minerals in North Carolina
including their role in geologic formations and distinguishing geologic
regions. |
| Competency Goal 3: The learner
will make observations and conduct investigations to build an understanding
of magnetism and electricity. |
| Objectives 3.01 Observe and investigate the pull of
magnets on all materials made of iron and the pushes or pulls on other
magnets.
3.02 Describe and demonstrate how magnetism can be used to generate electricity.
3.03 Design and test an electric circuit as a closed pathway including
an energy source, energy conductor, and an energy receiver.
3.04 Explain how magnetism is related to electricity.
3.05 Describe and explain the parts of a light bulb.
3.06 Describe and identify materials that are conductors and nonconductors
of electricity.
3.07 Observe and investigate that parallel and series circuits have different
characteristics.
3.08 Observe and investigate the ability of electric circuits to produce
light, heat, sound, and magnetic effects.
3.09 Recognize lightning as an electrical discharge and show proper safety
behavior when lightning occurs. |
| Competency Goal 4: The learner
will conduct investigations and use appropriate technology to build an understanding
of how food provides energy and materials for growth and repair of the body. |
| Objectives 4.01 Explain why organisms require energy
to live and grow.
4.02 Show how calories can be used to compare the chemical energy of
different foods.
4.03 Discuss how foods provide both energy and nutrients for living organisms.
4.04 Identify starches and sugars as carbohydrates.
4.05 Determine that foods are made up of a variety of components: |
