Fifth grade students focus on using evidence,
models, and reasoning to form scientific explanations. Evidence consists of
observations and data on which scientific explanations are based. Using evidence
to understand interactions allows students to predict changes in natural and
human-designed systems. Models are tentative schemes or structures constructed
to represent real objects or processes. Models help students understand how
things work. Explanations incorporate prior knowledge and new evidence from
observations, experiments, or models into consistent, logical statements. As
students come to understand science concepts and processes, their explanations
should become more accurate and logical. Activities and other experiences for
fifth grade students continue to emphasize the unifying concepts previously
learned as well as the introduction of models at grade five. The following explanations
characterize the strands at this 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 investigations provide
the background for developing and appreciating the nature of science. Science
is a human endeavor and therefore relies on human qualities, including reasoning,
insight, energy, skill and creativity. Students learn that science is involved
in many different kinds of work and engages men and women of all ages and backgrounds.
Students must actively participate
in science investigations, and use the cognitive and manipulative skills necessary
for formation of scientific explanations. They examine the validity of an explanation
based on evidence rather than speculation. Through experiments and investigations
students conduct, shape, and modify their knowledge of science concepts and
processes. Students explore ecosystems in local environments, focusing on the
interactions between living and nonliving things. They look at food webs within
ecosystems and describe the relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers
while examining the energy flow from one organism to another in a food web.
Students at this level should be able to formulate questions, design and carry
out investigations, interpret and use data to generate explanations, and critique
explanations and procedures. Students will construct understanding of the Earth's
landforms and how those landforms change with time because of interactions among
soil, rocks, water, and wind. Such investigations should lead students to conduct
their own further investigations.
Students should become
interested in technology as they design projects, use tools well, measure things
carefully, make reasonable predictions, calculate accurately, and communicate
clearly. Students explore weather systems by observing, measuring, and recording
local conditions. They use tools such as thermometers, rain gauges, and barometers
to collect data and to identify weather patterns. Students gain confidence in
designing and analyzing their products and solutions. The more experience students
have with design, the less direct guidance they need. Students learn basic physical
concepts about energy and forces affecting the motion of objects and the effects
of design on the movements of a machine. They learn from opportunities to identify
and 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. They become competent designing, analyzing, and explaining
their products and solutions. Does it work? How can I make it work better? Would
it have worked better if I had used different materials? 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, several groups of students may be asked
to design and solve the same problem and then discuss the advantages and disadvantages
of each solution. Students see that solving some problems may lead to other
problems, and gain the ability to overcome simple obstacles in problem solving.
Students learn to analyze and evaluate their own results or solutions to problems,
as well as those of other students, by considering how a product or design met
the challenge to solve a problem.
Students investigate
the progression of tool use and development of tools and machines over time.
They understand that humans continue inventing new ways of solving problems
and getting things done. As they study inventions and technological advances,
they begin to understand how new ideas and inventions affect people. They analyze
the advantages and disadvantages of new ideas and inventions. As students study
ecosystems they will become acquainted with what happens when changes occur
when the environment becomes overpopulated and the use of resources increases.
Through investigation of landforms students observe earth's external processes
that cause natural changes and present challenges, including landslides, floods,
and storms.
Fifth grade students focus
on evidence, models, and scientific explanations. Evidence consists of observations
and data on which to base scientific explanations. Using evidence to understand
interactions allows students to predict changes in natural and designed systems.
Models are tentative schemes or structures that represent real objects. Models
help students understand how things work. Explanations incorporate prior scientific
knowledge and new evidence from observations, experiments, or models into consistent,
logical statements. As students understand more science concepts and processes,
their explanations should become more accurate and logical. Guide student learning
to continue to emphasize the unifying concepts previously introduced as well
as the introduction at grade five of models. 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 conduct investigations to build an understanding of the interdependence
of plants and animals. |
| Objectives 1.01 Describe and compare several common
ecosystems (communities of organisms and their interaction with the environment).
1.02 Identify and analyze the functions of organisms within the population
of the ecosystem:
- Producers.
- Consumers.
- Decomposers.
1.03 Explain why an ecosystem can support a variety of organisms.
1.04 Discuss and determine the role of light, temperature, and soil composition
in an ecosystem's capacity to support life.
1.05 Determine the interaction of organisms within an ecosystem.
1.06 Explain and evaluate some ways that humans affect ecosystems.
- Habitat reduction due to development.
- Pollutants.
-
Increased nutrients.
1.07 Determine how materials are recycled in nature. |
| Competency Goal 2: The learner
will make observations and conduct investigations to build an understanding
of landforms. |
| Objectives 2.01 Identify and analyze forces that cause
change in landforms over time including.
- Water and Ice.
- Wind.
- Gravity.
2.02 Investigate and discuss the role of the water cycle and how movement
of water over and through the landscape helps shape land forms.
2.03 Discuss and consider the wearing away and movement of rock and soil
in erosion and its importance in forming:
- Canyons.
- Valleys.
- Meanders.
- Tributaries.
2.04 Describe the deposition of eroded material and its importance in
establishing landforms including:
2.05 Discuss how the flow of water and the slope of the land affect erosion.
2.06 Identify and use models, maps, and aerial photographs as ways of
representing landforms.
2.07 Discuss and analyze how humans influence erosion and deposition
in local communities, including school grounds, as a result of:
- Clearing land.
- Planting vegetation.
- Building
dams.
|
| Competency Goal 3: The learner
will conduct investigations and use appropriate technology to build an understanding
of weather and climate. |
| Objectives 3.01 Investigate the water cycle including
the processes of:
- Evaporation.
- Condensation.
- Precipitation.
-
Run-off.
3.02 Discuss and determine how the following are affected by predictable
patterns of weather:
- Temperature.
- Wind direction and speed.
- Precipitation.
-
Cloud cover.
- Air pressure.
3.03 Describe and analyze the formation of various types of clouds and
discuss their relation to weather systems.
3.04 Explain how global atmospheric movement patterns affect local weather.
3.05 Compile and use weather data to establish a climate record and reveal
any trends.
3.06 Discuss and determine the influence of geography on weather and
climate:
- Mountains
- Sea breezes
- Water bodies.
|
| Competency Goal 4: : The learner
will conduct investigations and use appropriate technologies to build an understanding
of forces and motion in technological designs. |
| Objectives 4.01 Determine the motion of an object
by following and measuring its position over time.
4.02 Evaluate how pushing or pulling forces can change the position and
motion of an object.
4.03 Explain how energy is needed to make machines move.
4.04 Determine that an unbalanced force is needed to move an object or
change its direction.
4.05 Determine factors that affect motion including:
- Force
- Friction.
- Inertia.
- Momentum
4.06 Build and use a model to solve a mechanical design problem.
- Devise a test for the model.
- Evaluate the results of test.
4.07 Determine how people use simple machines to solve problems. |
