Grade 3 Science Alabama Standards

Conduct investigations to explain the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces exerted on an object, varying the size, number, and direction of the forces.

Make a claim from evidence that an organism's likelihood of survival depends upon access to sufficient resources in its habitat, including sunlight, air, water, food, and shelter.

Construct explanations of how forming groups helps some organisms survive.

Obtain and communicate information regarding the impact of existing solutions on plant and animal populations when environmental changes occur.

Represent data in tables or graphical displays to reveal typical weather patterns during a particular season.

Use information from a variety of sources to describe climates in different regions of the world.

Obtain and communicate information on the effectiveness of existing solutions designed to reduce the impact of weather-related hazards.

Observe and measure an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern of motion can be used to predict future motion.

Conduct investigations to determine cause and effect relationships between objects not in contact with one another, including magnetic and electrostatic forces.

Apply scientific ideas about magnetic interactions to solve a problem using the engineering design process.

Develop and use models to compare the diverse life cycles of organisms other than humans, including birth, growth, reproduction, and death.

Use data to provide evidence that plants and animals have observable traits inherited from parents and that variations of these traits exist in groups of similar organisms.

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

Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the existence of organisms and information about the environments in which they lived.

Construct an explanation from evidence of how variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing.

Patterns

Earth’s Systems

Cause and Effect

Growth and Development

Human Impact

Systems and System Models

Changes in Motion

Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

Biodiversity

Fossil Evidence

Cause and Effect

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

Biodiversity

Cause and Effect

Non-Contact Forces

Earth and Human Activity

Patterns

From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

Weather

Non-Contact Forces

Climate

Systems and System Models

Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

Unity and Diversity

Systems and System Models

Stability and Change

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

Patterns

Natural Hazard Solutions

Biodiversity

Changes in Motion

Cause and Effect

Energy and Matter

Inherited Traits and Environmental Impact

Cause and Effect

Inherited Traits and Environmental Impact

Earth and Human Activity

Unity and Diversity

Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

Earth’s Systems

Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

Identify the effect of a force (e.g., push, pull, gravity) applied to an object.

Recognize that living things have specific needs (water, light, temperature, food, shelter) to live and grow in an environment.

Identify common animals that group in their environment as a method of survival.

Predict the effect of a simple change in the habitat of a plant or animal (e.g., lack of water, lack of plants).

Use a graph or pictograph to answer questions about the weather.

Identify differences in a region's climate (e.g., deserts, oceans).

Identify practices that keep people safe during severe weather.

Recognize motion patterns (e.g., straight, back and forth, zig-zag, fast, slow, falling, rolling).

Identify cause-and-effect relationships of magnetic interactions between two objects (opposite poles attract, similar poles repel).

Apply scientific ideas about magnets to solve a problem. (e.g., using a magnet to pick up an object, or using a magnet to push or pull an object).

Observe and recognize the major stages (birth, growth, reproduction, and death) in the life cycles of organisms other than humans (e.g., flowering plants, frogs, butterflies).

Recognize similarities between traits of plant and animal (other than human) parents and their offspring

Match a fossil to the organism from which it was formed.

Patterns: Similarities and differences in patterns can be used to sort, classify, communicate, and analyze simple rates of change for natural phenomena and designed products. Patterns of change can be used to make predictions. Patterns can be used as evidence to support an explanation

Cause and Effect: Mechanism and Prediction: Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified, tested, and used to explain change. Events that occur together with regularity might or might not be a cause and effect relationship.

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity: Natural objects and/or observable phenomena exist from the very small to the immensely large or from very short to very long time periods. Standard units are used to measure and describe physical quantities such as weight, time, temperature, and volume.

Systems and System Models: A system is a group of related parts that make up a whole and can carry out functions its individual parts cannot. A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions.

Energy and Matter: Flows, Cycles, and Conservation: Matter is made of particles. Matter flows and cycles can be tracked in terms of the weight of the substances before and after a process occurs. The total weight of the substances does not change. This is what is meant by conservation of matter. Matter is transported into, out of, and within systems. Energy can be transferred in various ways; energy can be transferred between objects.

Structure and Function: Different materials have different substructures, which can sometimes be observed. Substructures have shapes and parts that serve functions.

Stability and Change: Change is measured in terms of differences over time and may occur at different rates. Some systems appear stable, but over long periods of time will eventually change.

Asking Questions and Defining Problems: Specifying qualitative relationships.

Developing and Using Models: Building and revising simple models; using models to represent events and design solutions

Planning and Carrying Out Investigations: Designing and conducting investigations with controlled variables; providing evidence to support explanations or design solutions

Analyzing and Interpreting Data: Introducing quantitative approaches to collecting data and conducting multiple trials of qualitative observations, using digital tools whenever possible.

Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking: Extending quantitative measurements to a variety of physical properties; using computation and mathematics to analyze data and compare alternative design solutions.

Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions: Using evidence in constructing explanations that specify variables, describing and predicting phenomena, and designing multiple solutions to design problems.

Engaging in Argument from Evidence: Critiquing the scientific explanations or solutions proposed by peers, citing relevant evidence about the natural and designed world(s).

Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information: Evaluating the merit and accuracy of ideas and methods.

Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs)

Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs)