Physical Sciences

Electricity and magnetism are related effects that have many useful applications in everyday life.

EXP-Weird Magnets - Magnetic poles, making magnets
EXP-Which is the Magnets - Magnetic poles, magnetic fields
EXP-Which is the Magnets, part 2 - Magnetic poles, magnetic fields
EXP-Rubber Magnets - Magnetic poles, magnetic fields

As a basis for understanding this concept:

Students know how to design and build simple series and parallel circuits by using components such as wires, batteries, and bulbs.

Students know how to build a simple compass and use it to detect magnetic effects, including Earth's magnetic field.

EXP-A Compass at the South Pole - Magnetic poles, magnetic fields

Students know electric currents produce magnetic fields and know how to build a simple electromagnet.

EXP-Simple Electromagnet - Magnetic poles, magnetic fields, electromagnetism

Students know the role of electromagnets in the construction of electric motors, electric generators, and simple devices, such as doorbells and earphones.

Students know electrically charged objects attract or repel each other.

EOW-89. Static Charges - induction, positive and negative charges
EOW-17. Making Water Wiggle - electricity, static charges, attract and repel
EOW-89. Static Charges - induction, positive and negative charges
EXP-Static Magic - induction, positive and negative charges
EXP-Sorting Salt and Pepper - induction, positive and negative charges

Students know that magnets have two poles (north and south) and that like poles repel each other while unlike poles attract each other.

EXP-Weird Magnets - Magnetic poles, making magnets
EXP-Which is the Magnets - Magnetic poles, magnetic fields
EXP-Which is the Magnets, part 2 - Magnetic poles, magnetic fields
EXP-Rubber Magnets - Magnetic poles, magnetic fields

Students know electrical energy can be converted to heat, light, and motion.

EXP-Lighting a Bulb with Static - generating static charges

Life Sciences

All organisms need energy and matter to live and grow. As a basis for understanding this concept:

Students know plants are the primary source of matter and energy entering most food chains.

EOW-92. Taking a Marshmallow Apart - photosynthesis
EXP-Why Paper Burns - photosynthesis, chemical energy

Students know producers and consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers) are related in food chains and food webs and may compete with each other for resources in an ecosystem.

EOW-59. Nature Watching - animal behavior, processes of science

Students know decomposers, including many fungi, insects, and microorganisms, recycle matter from dead plants and animals.

Living organisms depend on one another and on their environment for survival. As a basis for understanding this concept:

Students know ecosystems can be characterized by their living and nonliving components.

Students know that in any particular environment, some kinds of plants and animals survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

Students know many plants depend on animals for pollination and seed dispersal, and animals depend on plants for food and shelter.

EOW-12. Seed Search - seed dispersal

Students know that most microorganisms do not cause disease and that many are beneficial.

Earth Sciences

The properties of rocks and minerals reflect the processes that formed them. As a basis for understanding this concept:

Students know how to differentiate among igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks by referring to their properties and methods of formation (the rock cycle).

BCIS-Rocks - types of rocks, the rock cycle
EOW-81. Hydrothermal Quartz - minerals, solutions, boiling point
EXP-Sweet Geology - Igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks
EXP-Solution Crystals - Crystal formation

Students know how to identify common rock-forming minerals (including quartz, calcite, feldspar, mica, and hornblende) and ore minerals by using a table of diagnostic properties.

BCIS-What is a Mineral? - scientific terms, definition of a mineral
BCIS-Identifying Minerals - testing color, luster, hardness, cleavage/fracture, streak, and other properties

Waves, wind, water, and ice shape and reshape Earth's land surface.

BCIS-Erosion - forces of erosion, origin of soil
BCIS-Continuous Change - geologic time, erosion, geologic processes
BCIS-Fast and Slow Change - geologic time, plate tectonics, geologic processes

As a basis for understanding this concept:

Students know some changes in the earth are due to slow processes, such as erosion, and some changes are due to rapid processes, such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes.

BCIS-Fast and Slow Change - geologic time, plate tectonics, geologic processes

Students know natural processes, including freezing and thawing and the growth of roots, cause rocks to break down into smaller pieces.

BCIS-Erosion - forces of erosion, origin of soil

Students know moving water erodes landforms, reshaping the land by taking it away from some places and depositing it as pebbles, sand, silt, and mud in other places (weathering, transport, and deposition).

BCIS-Erosion - forces of erosion, origin of soil

Investigation and Science-Experimentation

Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations.

EOW-33. The Right Answer - getting the right answer
EOW-43. Candles in a Jar and 44. Candles in a Jar, Part 2 - combustion, density, scientific thought
EOW-47. Bottle Tones and 48. Bottle Tones, Part 2 - pitch, vibration, scientific thought
EOW-82. Science Fair Panic, part 1 - scientific method, science fair projects
EOW-82. Science Fair Panic, part 2 - scientific method, science fair projects
EOW-82. Science Fair Panic, part 3 - scientific method, science fair projects
EOW-82. Science Fair Panic, part 4 - scientific method, science fair projects
EOW-68. Oxygen? No! - combustion, composition of air, properties of gases
EOW-86. The Hottest Part of a Flame - scientific observation, combustion, energy

Students will:

Differentiate observation from inference (interpretation) and know scientists’ explanations come partly from what they observe and partly from how they interpret their observations.

Measure and estimate the weight, length, or volume of objects.

EOW-55. Light as Air - gases, density, math, volume

Formulate and justify predictions based on cause-and-effect relationships.

Conduct multiple trials to test a prediction and draw conclusions about the relationships between predictions and results.

Construct and interpret graphs from measurements.

Follow a set of written instructions for a scientific investigation.