Utah Elementary Science Core Curriculum

Fifth Grade

2003 TEST ITEM POOL

The items in this pool represent the work of many Utah science teachers.  The items are aligned to the 2003 Fifth Grade Science Core Curriculum.  All rights to this pool are the property of the Utah State Office of Education.  Permission is granted to teachers, districts, or state agencies to use these items, provided they are not used in a manner that results in the distribution of items or instructional materials for profit.

The items in this pool will be refined each year.  If you find errors in the pool, we wish to correct them. Please contact us. If you are interested in working with the refinement of this item pool, please contact USOE via email.

            Kevin King, Science Assessment Specialist        kking@usoe.k12.ut.us

            Brett Moulding, Science Education Specialist   bmouldin@usoe.k12.ut.us

STANDARD I: Students will understand that chemical and physical changes occur in matter.

Objective 1: Describe that matter is neither created nor destroyed even though it may undergo change.

Objective 2: Evaluate evidence that indicates a physical change has occurred.

Objective 3: Investigate evidence for changes in matter that occur during a chemical reaction.

STANDARD II: Students will understand that volcanoes, earthquakes, uplift, weathering, and erosion reshape Earth's surface.

Objective 1: Describe how weathering and erosion change Earth’s surface.

Objective 2: Explain how volcanoes, earthquakes, and uplift affect Earth’s surface.

Objective 3: Relate the building up and breaking down of Earth’s surface over time to the various physical land features.

STANDARD III: Students will understand that magnetism can be observed when there is an interaction between the magnetic fields of magnets or between a magnet and materials made of iron.

Objective 1: Investigate and compare the behavior of magnetism using magnets.

Objective 2: Describe how the magnetic field of Earth and a magnet are similar.

STANDARD IV: Students will understand features of static and current electricity.

Objective 1: Describe the behavior of static electricity as observed in nature and everyday occurrences.

Objective 2: Analyze the behavior of current electricity.

STANDARD V: Students will understand that traits are passed from the parent organisms to their offspring, and that sometimes the offspring may possess variations of these traits that may help or hinder survival in a given environment.

Objective 1: Using supporting evidence, show that traits are transferred from a parent organism to its offspring.

Objective 2: Describe how some characteristics could give a species a survival advantage in a particular environment.