Grade 4 Science Alabama Standards

Use evidence to explain the relationship between the speed of an object and its energy.

Develop and use a model to describe how water moves through Earth’s systems by the processes of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.

Construct explanations of Earth's changes over time through slow and rapid processes, citing evidence found in rock formations and fossils in rock layers.

Plan and carry out investigations to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, and vegetation, investigating a single form of weathering or erosion at a time.

Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features on land and in the ocean.

Gather information to describe how the use of energy derived from renewable and nonrenewable resources affects the environment.

Design, test, and evaluate a solution that will protect humans from the effects of natural Earth processes.

Plan and carry out investigations to answer questions regarding changes in energy when objects collide, and predict reasonable outcomes based on observed patterns.

Plan and carry out investigations to provide evidence that energy is transferred by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

Construct an explanation using evidence to support the claim that heat can be produced in many ways.

Construct an explanation with evidence supporting the claim that different objects can absorb, reflect, and/or conduct energy.

Design, construct, and test a device that changes energy from one form to another.

Develop and use models to describe amplitude and wavelength patterns and how waves can cause objects to move.

Construct an explanation of how light, sound, and digitized information are transferred by waves.

Develop a model to demonstrate that light reflecting from objects and entering the eyes allow objects to be seen.

Make a claim, using evidence, that the functions of both internal and external structures of plants and animals (including humans) support growth, survival, and behavior.

Carry out investigations to support a claim that different animals receive information through their senses, process that information, and respond in various ways.

Natural Resources

Earth and Human Activity

Earth’s Systems

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

Patterns

Changes Over Time

From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

Patterns

Energy

Wave Properties

Structure and Function

Energy

Patterns

From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

Natural Hazard Solutions

Systems and System Models

Water

Information Transfer

Cause and Effect

Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

Information Processing

Energy and Matter

Cause and Effect

Cause and Effect

Stability and Change

Patterns

Internal and External Structures

Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information

Cause and Effect

Speed and Energy

Earth’s Systems

Changes Over Time

Physical Features

Wave Properties

Transference of Energy

Systems and System Models

Transference of Energy

Earth and Human Activity

Recognize that objects move at different speeds.

Identify how water moves through the process of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.

Identify patterns in rock formations and rock layers relating to the Earth's changes over time.

Identify the effects of weathering by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.

Use a map key to identify land and water features on a map.

Identify common energy sources as renewable or nonrenewable.

Identify options for human safety in a variety of weather situations and natural Earth processes.

Identify the effect of an opposing force on a moving object.

Recognize different sources of heat.

Identify objects that absorb or reflect energy.

Identify common sources of energy used every day (e.g., electricity, gas, sun).

Identify models that show ways in which patterns are used to transfer information (using drums to send coded information through sound waves, using Morse code to send a message).

Identify a model that shows the path of light reflected from the surface of an object to be seen by the eye.

Identify basic parts of plants and animals and how those parts support growth and survival.

Identify the sense organs and the information they receive (eyes/sight, tongue/taste, ears/hearing, skin/touch, nose/smell).

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)