Grade 3

Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

Earth's Systems

Earth and Human Activity

Engineering Design

Science and Engineering Practices

Disciplinary Core Ideas

Crosscutting Concepts

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

Analyzing and Interpreting Data

Asking Questions and Defining Problems

Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions

Developing and Using Models

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

Planning and Carrying Out Investigations

Scientific Investigations Use a Variety of Methods

Scientific Knowledge is Based on Empirical Evidence

Forces and Motion

Types of Interactions

Growth and Development of Organisms

Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience

Social Interactions and Group Behavior

Inheritance of Traits

Variation of Traits

Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity

Natural Selection

Adaptation

Biodiversity and Humans

Weather and Climate

Natural Hazards

Defining and Delimiting Engineering Problems

Developing Possible Solutions

Optimizing the Design Solution

Patterns

Cause and Effect

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

Systems and System Models

Influence of Engineering, Technology, and Science on Society and the Natural World

Interdependence of Science, Engineering, and Technology

Scientific Knowledge Assumes an Order and Consistency in Natural Systems

Science is a Human Endeavor

Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.

Make observations and/or measurements of an object's motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.

Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other.

Define a simple design problem that can be solved by applying scientific ideas about magnets.

Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.

Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.

Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms.

Use evidence to support the explanation that traits can be influenced by the environment.

Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.

Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing.

Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.

Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.

Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.

Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard.

Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.

Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

Analyzing data in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to introducing quantitative approaches to collecting data and conducting multiple trials of qualitative observations. When possible and feasible, digital tools should be used.

Asking questions and defining problems in grades 3–5 builds on grades K–2 experiences and progresses to specifying qualitative relationships.

Constructing explanations and designing solutions in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to the use of evidence in constructing explanations that specify variables that describe and predict phenomena and in designing multiple solutions to design problems.

Modeling in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to building and revising simple models and using models to represent events and design solutions.

Engaging in argument from evidence in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to critiquing the scientific explanations or solutions proposed by peers by citing relevant evidence about the natural and designed world(s).

Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to evaluating the merit and accuracy of ideas and methods.

Planning and carrying out investigations to answer questions or test solutions to problems in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to include investigations that control variables and provide evidence to support explanations or design solutions.

Science investigations use a variety of methods, tools, and techniques.

Science findings are based on recognizing patterns.

Each force acts on one particular object and has both strength and a direction. An object at rest typically has multiple forces acting on it, but they add to give zero net force on the object. Forces that do not sum to zero can cause changes in the object's speed or direction of motion. (Boundary: Qualitative and conceptual, but not quantitative addition of forces are used at this level.)

The patterns of an object's motion in various situations can be observed and measured; when that past motion exhibits a regular pattern, future motion can be predicted from it. (Boundary: Technical terms, such as magnitude, velocity, momentum, and vector quantity, are not introduced at this level, but the concept that some quantities need both size and direction to be described is developed.)

Objects in contact exert forces on each other.

Electric, and magnetic forces between a pair of objects do not require that the objects be in contact. The sizes of the forces in each situation depend on the properties of the objects and their distances apart and, for forces between two magnets, on their orientation relative to each other.

Reproduction is essential to the continued existence of every kind of organism. Plants and animals have unique and diverse life cycles.

When the environment changes in ways that affect a place's physical characteristics, temperature, or availability of resources, some organisms survive and reproduce, others move to new locations, yet others move into the transformed environment, and some die.

Being part of a group helps animals obtain food, defend themselves, and cope with changes. Groups may serve different functions and vary dramatically in size (Note: Moved from K–2).

Many characteristics of organisms are inherited from their parents.

Other characteristics result from individuals' interactions with the environment, which can range from diet to learning. Many characteristics involve both inheritance and environment.

Different organisms vary in how they look and function because they have different inherited information.

The environment also affects the traits that an organism develops.

Some kinds of plants and animals that once lived on Earth are no longer found anywhere.

Fossils provide evidence about the types of organisms that lived long ago and also about the nature of their environments.

Sometimes the differences in characteristics between individuals of the same species provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing.

For any particular environment, some kinds of organisms survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

Populations live in a variety of habitats, and change in those habitats affects the organisms living there.

Scientists record patterns of the weather across different times and areas so that they can make predictions about what kind of weather might happen next.

Climate describes a range of an area's typical weather conditions and the extent to which those conditions vary over years.

A variety of natural hazards result from natural processes. Humans cannot eliminate natural hazards but can take steps to reduce their impacts.

Possible solutions to a problem are limited by available materials and resources (constraints). The success of a designed solution is determined by considering the desired features of a solution (criteria). Different proposals for solutions can be compared on the basis of how well each one meets the specified criteria for success or how well each takes the constraints into account.

Research on a problem should be carried out before beginning to design a solution. Testing a solution involves investigating how well it performs under a range of likely conditions.

At whatever stage, communicating with peers about proposed solutions is an important part of the design process, and shared ideas can lead to improved designs.

Tests are often designed to identify failure points or difficulties, which suggest the elements of the design that need to be improved.

Different solutions need to be tested in order to determine which of them best solves the problem, given the criteria and the constraints.

Patterns of change can be used to make predictions.

Similarities and differences in patterns can be used to sort and classify natural phenomena.

Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified.

Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified, tested, and used to explain change.

Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change.

Observable phenomena exist from very short to very long time periods.

A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions.

Engineers improve existing technologies or develop new ones to increase their benefits (e.g., better artificial limbs), decrease known risks (e.g., seatbelts in cars), and meet societal demands (e.g., cell phones).

People's needs and wants change over time, as do their demands for new and improved technologies.

Engineers improve existing technologies or develop new ones to increase their benefits, to decrease known risks, and to meet societal demands.

Scientific discoveries about the natural world can often lead to new and improved technologies, which are developed through the engineering design process.

Knowledge of relevant scientific concepts and research findings is important in engineering.

Science assumes consistent patterns in natural systems.

Science affects everyday life.

Analyze and interpret data to make sense of phenomena using logical reasoning.

Represent data in tables and various graphical displays (bar graphs and pictographs) to reveal patterns that indicate relationships.

Ask questions that can be investigated based on patterns such as cause and effect relationships.

Define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.

Define a simple design problem that can be solved through the development of an object, tool, process, or system and includes several criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.

Use evidence (e.g., observations, patterns) to support an explanation.

Use evidence (e.g., observations, patterns) to construct an explanation.

Generate and compare multiple solutions to a problem based on how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the design solution.

Generate and compare multiple solutions to a problem based on how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the design problem.

Develop models to describe phenomena.

Construct an argument with evidence, data, and/or a model.

Construct an argument with evidence.

Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem by citing relevant evidence about how it meets the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Obtain and combine information from books and other reliable media to explain phenomena.

Plan and conduct an investigation collaboratively to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence, using fair tests in which variables are controlled and the number of trials considered.

Make observations and/or measurements to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence for an explanation of a phenomenon or test a design solution.