4th Grade Science: What Happens

Fourth grade science can be divided into two broad categories: processes and concepts. Science processes include observing and measuring objects, organisms, and/or events; classifying objects, organisms, and/or events using two or more observable properties; arranging items in serial order (for example, least to greatest or fastest to slowest); planning and conducting a science experiment; using a hypothesis; interpreting graphs, charts, and tables; and communicating the results of a science experiment.

Science concepts your child will learn this year include how the position and motion of an object can be changed by pushing or pulling; how motion can be described by tracing and measuring; how the flow of electricity is controlled by open and closed circuits and the role of conductors and insulators; the adaptive characteristics of organisms, how organisms can be classified, and the roles of organisms in a living system; inherited traits versus learned traits; the processes of erosion, weathering, and sedimentation; and fossils as evidence about plants and animals that lived long ago.

Whew! That's a lot to cover in a school year! Curriculum varies from state-to-state. But there are some constants across state borders, typical to the fourth grade classroom. By the end of the school year, students working at the standard level:

• Have begun to use scientific methods

• Can identify pushing and pulling as a means to change the position of an object

• Understand closed and open electric circuits

• Know how matter is changed by adding or reducing heat

• Can identify adaptive characteristics in organisms

• Know that the needs of organisms must be met by their environment

• Can classify organisms and know the roles of organisms in living systems

• Can distinguish between inherited and learned traits

• Can identify the effects of weathering, erosion, and sedimentation

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