19 Grades 3 – 5

Grades 3-5: Overview of Science and Engineering Practices^[1]

Upper elementary is a critical time to engage students in the science and engineering practices. Students form key identities with, or against, science and engineering as they leave elementary school that can shape their relationship to science in later education, and even postsecondary and career choices later in life. Students must be given opportunities to develop the skills necessary for a meaningful progression of development in order to engage in the scientific and technical reasoning so critical to success in civic life, postsecondary education, and careers. Inclusion of science and engineering practices in standards only speaks to the types of performance students should be able to demonstrate at the end of instruction at a particular grade; the standards do not limit what educators and students should or can be engaged in through a well-rounded curriculum.

Standards for grades 3 through 5 integrate all eight science and engineering practices. Some examples of specific skills students should develop in these grades include:

1. Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy when objects collide; distinguish between scientific (testable) and non-scientific (non-testable) questions; define a simple design problem, including criteria for success and constraints on materials or time.
2. Use graphical representations to show differences in organisms’ life cycles; develop a model of a wave to communicate wave features; use a particulate model of matter to explain phase changes; identify limitations of models; use a model to test cause and effect relationships.
3. Conduct an investigation to determine the nature of forces between magnets; make observations and collect data about the effects of mechanical weathering; conduct an experiment on mixing of substances; evaluate appropriate methods for collecting data; make predictions about what would happen if a variable changes.
4. Use graphs and tables of weather data to describe and predict typical weather during a season; analyze and interpret maps of Earth’s physical features; use data to evaluate and refine design solutions.
5. Graph and describe the amounts and percentages of fresh and salt water in various reservoirs; measure and graph weights of substances before and after a chemical reaction.
6. Use evidence to explain how variations among individuals can provide advantages in survival and reproduction; provide evidence to explain the effect of multiple forces on the motion of an object; test and refine a simple system designed to filter impurities out of water.
7. Construct an argument that animals and plants have internal and external structures that support their survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction; distinguish among facts, reasoned judgment based on data, and speculation in an argument.
8. Obtain and summarize information about the climate of different regions; gather information on possible solutions to a given design problem; obtain information about renewable and nonrenewable energy sources.