Utah
Elementary Science Core Curriculum
Third
Grade
Adopted
by Utah State Board of Education
March
12, 2002
Science is a way of
knowing, a process for gaining knowledge and understanding of the natural
world. The Science Core Curriculum places emphasis on understanding and using
skills. Students should be active learners. It is not enough for students to
read about science; they must do science. They should observe, inquire,
question, formulate and test hypotheses, analyze data, report, and evaluate
findings. The students, as scientists, should have hands–on, active experiences
throughout the instruction of the science curriculum.
The Elementary Science
Core describes what students should know and be able to do at the end of each
of the K–6 grade levels. It was developed, critiqued, piloted, and revised by a
community of Utah science teachers, university science educators, State Office
of Education specialists, scientists, expert national consultants, and an
advisory committee representing a wide variety of people from the
community. The Core reflects the
current philosophy of science education that is expressed in national documents
developed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the
National Academies of Science. This Science
Core has the endorsement of the Utah Science Teachers Association. The Core reflects high standards of
achievement in science for all students.
The Core is designed
to help teachers organize and deliver instruction.
The Science Core
Curriculum’s organization:
ü Each
grade level begins with a brief course description.
ü The
INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES (ILOs) describe the goals for science skills and
attitudes. They are found at the
beginning of each grade, and are an integral part of the Core that should be
included as part of instruction.
ü The
SCIENCE BENCHMARKS describe the science content students should know. Each grade level has three to five Science
Benchmarks. The ILOs and Benchmarks
intersect in the Standards, Objectives and Indicators.
ü A
STANDARD is a broad statement of what students are expected to understand.
Several Objectives are listed under each Standard.
ü An
OBJECTIVE is a more focused description of what students need to know and be able
to do at the completion of instruction. If students have mastered the
Objectives associated with a given Standard, they are judged to have mastered
that Standard at that grade level. Several Indicators are described for each
Objective.
ü An
INDICATOR is a measurable or observable student action that enables one to
judge whether a student has mastered a particular Objective. Indicators are not
meant to be classroom activities, but they can help guide classroom
instruction.
Eight Guidelines Were
Used in Developing the Elementary Science Core
Reflects the Nature of
Science: Science is a way of knowing, a process of
gaining knowledge and understanding of the natural world. The Core is designed
to produce an integrated set of Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) for students.
Please see the Intended Learning Outcomes document for each grade level core.
As described in these
ILOs, students will:
1.
Use science process and thinking skills.
2.
Manifest science interests and attitudes.
3.
Understand important science concepts and
principles.
4.
Communicate effectively using science language
and reasoning.
5.
Demonstrate awareness of the social and
historical aspects of science.
6.
Understand the nature of science.
Coherent:
The Core has been designed so that, wherever possible, the science ideas taught
within a particular grade level have a logical and natural connection with
each other and with those of earlier grades. Efforts have also been made to
select topics and skills that integrate well with one another and with other subject
areas appropriate to grade level. In addition, there is an upward articulation
of science concepts, skills, and content.
This spiraling is intended to prepare students to understand and use
more complex science concepts and skills as they advance through their science
learning.
Developmentally
Appropriate: The Core
takes into account the psychological and social readiness of students. It
builds from concrete experiences to more abstract understandings. The Core
describes science language students should use that is appropriate to
each grade level. A more extensive
vocabulary should not be emphasized. In
the past, many educators may have mistakenly thought that students understood
abstract concepts (such as the nature of the atom), because they repeated
appropriate names and vocabulary (such as electron and neutron). The Core
resists the temptation to tell about abstract concepts at inappropriate grade
levels, but focuses on providing experiences with concepts that students can
explore and understand in depth to build a foundation for future science
learning.
Encourages Good
Teaching Practices: It
is impossible to accomplish the full intent of the Core by lecturing and having
students read from textbooks. The Elementary Science Core emphasizes student
inquiry. Science process skills are central in each standard. Good science encourages students to gain
knowledge by doing science: observing, questioning, exploring, making and
testing hypotheses, comparing predictions, evaluating data, and communicating
conclusions. The Core is designed to encourage instruction with students
working in cooperative groups.
Instruction should connect lessons with students’ daily lives. The Core
directs experiential science instruction for all students, not just those who
have traditionally succeeded in science classes. The vignettes listed on the
“Utah Science Home Page” at http://www.usoe.k12.ut.us/curr/science
for each of the Core standards provide examples, based on actual practice, that
demonstrate that excellent teaching of the Science Core is possible.
Comprehensive: The Elementary Science
Core does not cover all topics that have traditionally been in the elementary
science curriculum; however, it does provide a comprehensive background in
science. By emphasizing depth rather than breadth, the Core seeks to empower
students rather than intimidate them with a collection of isolated and
eminently forgettable facts. Teachers are free to add related concepts and
skills, but they are expected to teach all the standards and objectives
specified in the Core for their grade level.
Feasible: Teachers and others who are familiar with
Utah students, classrooms, teachers, and schools have designed the Core. It can be taught with easily obtained
resources and materials. A Teacher Resource Book (TRB) is available for
elementary grades and has sample lessons on each topic for each grade level.
The TRB is a document that will grow as teachers add exemplary lessons aligned
with the new Core. The middle grade
levels have electronic textbooks available at the Utah State Office of
Education’s “Utah Science Home Page” at http://www.usoe.k12.ut.us/curr/science.
Useful and
Relevant: This
curriculum relates directly to student needs and interests. It is grounded in
the natural world in which we live. Relevance of science to other endeavors
enables students to transfer skills gained from science instruction into their
other school subjects and into their lives outside the classroom.
Encourages Good
Assessment Practices: Student achievement of the standards and
objectives in this Core are best assessed using a variety of assessment
instruments. One’s purpose should be clearly in mind as assessment is planned
and implemented. Performance tests are
particularly appropriate to evaluate student mastery of science processes and
problem-solving skills. Teachers should use a variety of classroom assessment
approaches in conjunction with standard assessment instruments to inform their
instruction. Sample test items, keyed to each Core Standard, may be located on
the Utah Science Home Page. Observation of students engaged in science
activities is highly recommended as a way to assess students’ skills as well as
attitudes in science. The nature of the
questions posed by students provides important evidence of students’
understanding of science.
Elementary school
reaches the greatest number of students for a longer period of time during the
most formative years of the school experience. Effective elementary science
instruction engages students actively in enjoyable learning experiences. Science instruction should be as thrilling
an experience for a child as seeing a rainbow, growing a flower, or holding a
toad. Science is not just for those who have traditionally succeeded in the
subject, and it is not just for those who will choose science–related careers.
In a world of rapidly expanding knowledge and technology, all students must
gain the skills they will need to understand and function responsibly and
successfully in the world. The Core provides skills in a context that enables
students to experience the joy of doing science.
In
third grade students learn about interactions, relationships, relative
motion, and cause and effect. They study the movement of Earth and the
moon. They begin to learn of forces that move things; they learn of heat and
light. Third graders observe, classify, predict, measure, and record.
Third graders should be encouraged to be curious. They should be helped and encouraged to pose their own questions about objects, events, processes, and results. Effective teachers provide students with hands-on science investigations in which student inquiry is an important goal. Teachers should provide opportunities for all students to experience many things. Third graders should use their senses as they feel the warmth of the sun on their face, watch the moon as it seems to move through broken clouds, sort and arrange their favorite rocks, look for patterns in rocks and flowers, observe a snail move ever so slowly up the side of a terrarium, test materials for slipping and sliding, measure the speed of rolling objects, and invent ways to resist gravity. They should come to enjoy science as a process of learning about the world.
Third
grade Core concepts should be integrated with concepts and skills from other
curriculum areas. Reading, writing, and mathematics skills should be emphasized
as integral to the instruction of science.
Personal relevance of science in students’ lives is always an important
part of helping students to value science, and should be emphasized at this grade
level.
This
Core was designed using the American Association for the Advancement of
Science’s Project 2061: Benchmarks For Science Literacy and the
National Academy of Science’s National Science Education Standards as
guides to determine appropriate content and skills.
The
third grade Science Core has three online resources designed to help with
classroom instruction; they include Teacher Resource Book –a set of
lesson plans, assessment items and science information specific to third grade;
Sci-ber Text –an electronic science text book specific to the Utah Core;
and the science test item pool. This
pool includes multiple-choice questions, performance tasks, and interpretive
items aligned to the standards and objectives of the third grade curriculum. These resources are all available on the
Utah Science Home Page at: http://www.usoe.k12.ut.us/curr/science
SAFETY
PRECAUTIONS:
The
hands–on nature of this science curriculum increases the need for teachers to
use appropriate precautions in the classroom and field. Teachers must adhere to
the published guidelines for the proper use of animals, equipment, and
chemicals in the classroom. These
guidelines are available on the Utah Science Home Page.
The
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) describe the skills and attitudes students
should learn as a result of science instruction. They are an essential part of the Science Core Curriculum and
provide teachers with a standard for evaluation of student learning in
science. Instruction should include
significant science experiences that lead to student understanding using the
ILOs.
The main intent of science instruction in Utah is
that students will value and use science as a process of obtaining knowledge
based upon observable evidence.
By
the end of third grade students will be able to:
1. Use Science Process and
Thinking Skills
2. Manifest Scientific
Attitudes and Interests
3. Understand Science Concepts
and Principles
4. Communicate Effectively
Using Science Language and Reasoning
Earth orbits around the sun, and the moon
orbits around Earth. Earth is spherical
in shape and rotates on its axis to produce the night and day cycle. To people on Earth, this turning of the
planet makes it appear as though the sun, moon, planets, and stars are moving
across the sky once a day. However,
this is only a perception as viewed from Earth.
STANDARD I: Students will understand that the shape of
Earth and the moon are spherical and that Earth rotates on its axis to produce
the appearance of the sun and moon moving through the sky.
Objective
1: Describe the appearance of Earth and the
moon.
a.
Describe
the shape of Earth and the moon as spherical.
b.
Explain
that the sun is the source of light that lights the moon.
c.
List
the differences in the physical appearance of Earth and the moon as viewed from
space.
Objective 2: Describe
the movement of Earth and the moon and the apparent movement of other bodies
through the sky.
a.
Describe
the motions of Earth (i.e., the rotation [spinning] of Earth on its axis, the
revolution [orbit] of Earth around the sun).
b.
Use
a chart to show that the moon orbits Earth approximately every 28 days.
c.
Use
a model of Earth to demonstrate that Earth rotates on its axis once every 24
hours to produce the night and day cycle.
d.
Use
a model to demonstrate why it seems to a person on Earth that the sun, planets,
and stars appear to move across the sky.
|
Science language students should use: |
model, orbit, sphere,
moon, axis, rotation, revolution, appearance |
Science Benchmark
For any particular environment, some types of
plants and animals survive well, some survive less well and some cannot survive
at all. Organisms in an environment interact with their environment. Models can be used to investigate these
interactions.
STANDARD II: Students will understand that organisms
depend on living and nonliving things within their environment.
Objective
1: Classify living and nonliving things in an
environment.
a.
Identify
characteristics of living things (i.e., growth, movement, reproduction).
b.
Identify
characteristics of nonliving things.
c.
Classify
living and nonliving things in an environment.
Objective
2: Describe the interactions between living and
nonliving things in a small environment.
a.
Identify
living and nonliving things in a small environment (e.g., terrarium, aquarium,
flowerbed) composed of living and nonliving things.
b.
Predict
the effects of changes in the environment (e.g., temperature, light, moisture)
on a living organism.
c.
Observe
and record the effect of changes (e.g., temperature, amount of water, light)
upon the living organisms and nonliving things in a small–scale environment.
d.
Compare
a small–scale environment to a larger environment (e.g., aquarium to a pond,
terrarium to a forest).
e.
Pose
a question about the interaction between living and nonliving things in the
environment that could be investigated by observation.
Science
language students should use:
|
environment,
interaction, living, nonliving, organism, survive, observe, terrarium,
aquarium, temperature, moisture, small–scale
|
Forces cause changes in the speed or direction
of the motion of an object. The greater
the force placed on an object, the greater the change in motion. The more massive an object is, the less
effect a given force will have upon the motion of the object. Earth’s gravity pulls objects toward it
without touching them.
STANDARD III:
Students will understand the relationship between the force applied to
an object and resulting motion of the object.
Objective
1: Demonstrate how forces cause changes in
speed or direction of objects.
a.
Show
that objects at rest will not move unless a force is applied to them.
b.
Compare
the forces of pushing and pulling.
c.
Investigate
how forces applied through simple machines affect the direction and/or amount
of resulting force.
Objective 2: Demonstrate that the greater the force applied to an object, the
greater the change in speed or direction of the object.
a.
Predict
and observe what happens when a force is applied to an object (e.g., wind,
flowing water).
b.
Compare
and chart the relative effects of a force of the same strength on objects of
different weight (e.g., the breeze from a fan will move a piece of paper but
may not move a piece of cardboard).
c.
Compare
the relative effects of forces of different strengths on an object (e.g.,
strong wind affects an object differently than a breeze).
d.
Conduct
a simple investigation to show what happens when objects of various weights
collide with one another (e.g., marbles, balls).
e.
Show
how these concepts apply to various activities (e.g., batting a ball, kicking a
ball, hitting a golf ball with a golf club) in terms of force, motion, speed,
direction, and distance (e.g. slow, fast, hit hard, hit soft).
STANDARD IV:
Students will understand that objects near Earth are pulled toward Earth
by gravity.
Objective
1: Demonstrate that gravity is a force.
a.
Demonstrate
that a force is required to overcome gravity.
b.
Use
measurement to demonstrate that heavier objects require more force than lighter
ones to overcome gravity.
Objective
2: Describe the effects of gravity on the
motion of an object.
a.
Compare
how the motion of an object rolling up or down a hill changes with the incline
of the hill.
b.
Observe,
record, and compare the effect of gravity on several objects in motion (e.g., a
thrown ball and a dropped ball falling to Earth).
c.
Pose
questions about gravity and forces.
|
Science language
students should use: |
distance, force,
gravity, weight, motion, speed, direction, simple machine |
Science
Benchmark
Light is produced by the sun and observed on
Earth. Living organisms use heat and
light from the sun. Heat is also
produced from motion when one thing rubs against another. Things that give off heat often give off
light. While operating, mechanical and
electrical machines produce heat and/or light.
STANDARD V: Students will understand that the sun is the
main source of heat and light for things living on Earth. They will also understand that the motion of
rubbing objects together may produce heat.
Objective 1: Provide evidence showing that the sun is the
source of heat and light for Earth.
a.
Compare
temperatures in sunny and shady places.
b.
Observe
and report how sunlight affects plant growth.
c.
Provide
examples of how sunlight affects people and animals by providing heat and
light.
d.
Identify
and discuss as a class some misconceptions about heat sources (e.g., clothes do
not produce heat, ice cubes do not give off cold).
Objective
2: Demonstrate that mechanical and electrical
machines produce heat and sometimes light.
a.
Identify
and classify mechanical and electrical sources of heat.
b.
List
examples of mechanical or electrical devices that produce light.
c.
Predict,
measure, and graph the temperature changes produced by a variety of mechanical
machines and electrical devices while they are operating.
Objective
3: Demonstrate that heat may be produced when
objects are rubbed against one another.
a.
Identify
several examples of how rubbing one object against another produces heat.
b.
Compare
relative differences in the amount of heat given off or force required to move
an object over lubricated/non–lubricated surfaces and smooth/rough surfaces
(e.g., waterslide with and without water, hands rubbing together with and
without lotion).
|
Science
language students should use: |
mechanical,
electrical, temperature, degrees, lubricated, misconception, heat source, machine
|