Courses of Study : Science (Grade 4)

Energy
Science (2015)
Grade(s): 4
All Resources: 3
Learning Activities: 1
Lesson Plans: 2
1 ) Use evidence to explain the relationship of the speed of an object to the energy of that object.

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Crosscutting Concepts: Energy and Matter
Disciplinary Core Idea: Energy
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Use evidence, e.g. measurements, observations, and patterns, to explain the relationship between energy and speed.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • Construct
  • Evidence
  • Energy
  • Explanation
  • Relative speed
  • Phenomenon
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Motion can indicate the energy of an object.
  • The observable impact of a moving object interacting with its surroundings reflects how much energy can be transferred between objects and therefore relates to the energy of the moving object.
  • The faster a given object is moving the more observable the impact it can have on another object.
  • The speed of an object is related to the energy of the object.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Articulate from evidence to explain the observable impact of the speed of an object and the energy of an object.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Energy can be transferred in various ways and between objects.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Energy and Waves
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.1- Recognize that objects move at different speeds.
Science (2015)
Grade(s): 4
All Resources: 23
Learning Activities: 5
Lesson Plans: 2
Classroom Resources: 16
2 ) Plan and carry out investigations that explain transference of energy from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

a. Provide evidence that heat can be produced in many ways (e.g., rubbing hands together, burning leaves) and can move from one object to another by conduction.

b. Demonstrate that different objects can absorb, reflect, and/or conduct energy.

c. Demonstrate that electric circuits require a complete loop through which an electric current can pass.

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Planning and Carrying out Investigations; Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions; Developing and Using Models
Crosscutting Concepts: Energy and Matter
Disciplinary Core Idea: Energy
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Plan and carry out investigations that explain transference of energy from place to place by sound.
  • Plan and carry out investigations that explain transference of energy from place to place by light.
  • Plan and carry out investigations that explain transference of energy from place to place by heat.
  • Plan and carry out investigations that explain transference of energy from place to place by electric currents.
  • Provide evidence that heat can be produced in many ways.
  • Provide evidence that heat can move from one object to another by conduction.
  • Demonstrate that different objects can absorb energy.
  • Demonstrate that different objects can reflect energy.
  • Demonstrate that different objects can conduct energy.
  • Demonstrate that electric circuits require a complete loop for the electric current to pass through.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • Construct
  • Transfer
  • Energy
  • Potential energy
  • Kinetic energy
  • Friction
  • Conduction
  • Absorb
  • Reflect
  • Circuit
  • Open circuit
  • Close circuit
  • Heat
  • Radiation
  • Convection
  • Collision
  • Motion
  • Electrical energy
  • Stored energy
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Energy is present whenever there are moving objects, sound, light, or heat.
  • The transfer of energy, including the following:
    • Collisions between objects.
    • Light traveling from one place to another.
    • Electric currents producing motion, sound, heat, or light.
    • Sound traveling from one place to another.
    • Heat passing from one object to another.
    • Motion, sound, heat, and light causing a different type of energy to be observed after an interaction.
  • Heat is produced in many ways.
  • Heat can move via conduction.
  • The properties of different objects cause them to be able to absorb, reflect, and/or conduct energy.
  • Electric currents pass through a circuit.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Collaboratively plan and carry out an investigation that converts energy one form to another.
    • Identify the phenomenon.
    • Identify the evidence to address the purpose of the investigation.
    • Collect the data.
  • Construct an explanation using evidence about heat production.
  • Develop a model demonstrating that different objects can absorb, reflect, and/or conduct energy.
  • Develop a model demonstrating electric circuits.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Energy can be transferred in various ways and between objects.
  • Heat energy can be produced in many ways.
  • The properties of objects, e.g. ability to absorb, reflect, or conduct energy, relate to their function.
  • Electric energy can be transferred through circuits.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Energy and Waves
NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
P4.11: Electricity flowing through an electrical circuit produces magnetic effects in the wires. In an electrical circuit containing a battery, a bulb, and a bell, energy from the battery is transferred to the bulb and the bell, which in turn transfer the energy to their surroundings as light, sound, and heat (thermal energy).

NAEP Statement::
P4.2: Objects vary in the extent to which they absorb and reflect light and conduct heat (thermal energy) and electricity.

NAEP Statement::
P4.7: Heat (thermal energy), electricity, light, and sound are forms of energy.§

NAEP Statement::
P4.8: Heat (thermal energy) results when substances burn, when certain kinds of materials rub against each other, and when electricity flows though wires. Metals are good conductors of heat (thermal energy) and electricity. Increasing the temperature of any substance requires the addition of energy.

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.2- Recognize different sources of heat; Identify materials that are conductors of heat, such as metals.
Science (2015)
Grade(s): 4
All Resources: 4
Learning Activities: 2
Lesson Plans: 2
3 ) Investigate to determine changes in energy resulting from increases or decreases in speed that occur when objects collide.

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Planning and Carrying out Investigations
Crosscutting Concepts: Energy and Matter
Disciplinary Core Idea: Energy
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Use evidence from investigations to describe changes in energy that occur when objects collide.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • collide
  • relative motion
  • relative speed
  • relative brightness
  • phenomenon
  • inertia
  • momentum
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Qualitative measure of energy (e.g. relative motion, relative speed, relative brightness) before the collision.
  • Mechanism of energy transfer.
  • Energy can transfer between colliding objects.
  • Energy can transfer to the surrounding air when objects collide resulting in sound and heat.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Plan and carry out an investigation to determine changes in energy that occur when objects collide.
    • Identify the evidence to address the purpose of the investigation.
    • Collect the data.
  • Use data to provide evidence that energy is present whenever there are moving objects, sound, light, or heat and that it can be transferred from place to place.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Energy can be transferred in various ways and between objects.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Energy and Waves
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.3- Identify the effect of an opposing force on a moving object.
Science (2015)
Grade(s): 4
All Resources: 13
Lesson Plans: 5
Classroom Resources: 8
4 ) Design, construct, and test a device that changes energy from one form to another (e.g., electric circuits converting electrical energy into motion, light, or sound energy; a passive solar heater converting light energy into heat energy).*

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Crosscutting Concepts: Energy and Matter
Disciplinary Core Idea: Energy
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Given a problem to solve, students collaboratively design a device that converts energy from one form to another. In the design, students:
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • criteria
  • constraint
  • energy
  • device
  • convert
  • design
  • construct
  • kinetic
  • potential
  • transform
  • evidence
  • engineering design process
  • ask
  • imagine
  • plan
  • create
  • improve
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Energy can be transferred from place to place by electric currents.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Use scientific knowledge to generate design solutions that convert energy from one form to another.
  • Describe the given criteria and constraints of the design, which include the following:
    • The initial and final forms of energy.
    • Describe how the solution functions to transfer energy from one form to another.
  • Evaluate potential solutions in terms of the desired features.
  • Modify the design solutions to make them more effective.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Energy can be transferred in various ways and between objects.
  • Engineers improve existing technologies or develop new ones but are limited by available resources.
NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
P4.11: Electricity flowing through an electrical circuit produces magnetic effects in the wires. In an electrical circuit containing a battery, a bulb, and a bell, energy from the battery is transferred to the bulb and the bell, which in turn transfer the energy to their surroundings as light, sound, and heat (thermal energy).

NAEP Statement::
P4.7: Heat (thermal energy), electricity, light, and sound are forms of energy.§

NAEP Statement::
P4.8: Heat (thermal energy) results when substances burn, when certain kinds of materials rub against each other, and when electricity flows though wires. Metals are good conductors of heat (thermal energy) and electricity. Increasing the temperature of any substance requires the addition of energy.

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.4- Identify common sources of energy used every day (e.g., electricity, gas, sun).
Science (2015)
Grade(s): 4
All Resources: 12
Classroom Resources: 12
5 ) Compile information to describe how the use of energy derived from natural renewable and nonrenewable resources affects the environment (e.g., constructing dams to harness energy from water, a renewable resource, while causing a loss of animal habitats; burning of fossil fuels, a nonrenewable resource, while causing an increase in air pollution; installing solar panels to harness energy from the sun, a renewable resource, while requiring specialized materials that necessitate mining).

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect
Disciplinary Core Idea: Energy
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Combine information across complex texts and other reliable media to describe how the use of energy derived from natural renewable and nonrenewable resources affects the environments.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • natural resources
  • natural renewable resources
  • nonrenewable resources
  • fossil fuels
  • air pollution
  • pollution
  • solar energy
  • environment
  • effects
  • affects
  • habitat
  • solar panel
  • impact
  • solution
  • derived
  • harness
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • How energy is derived from natural resources.
  • How energy resources derived from natural resources address human energy needs.
  • Positive and negative environmental effects of using each energy resource.
  • The role of technology in improving or mediating the environmental effects of using a given resource.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Waves, which are the regular patterns of motion, can be made in water by disturbing the surface.
  • When waves move across the surface of deep water, the water goes up and down in place; there is no net motion in the direction of the wave except when the water meets a beach.
  • Waves of the same type can differ in amplitude (height of the wave) and wavelength (spacing between wave peaks).
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Energy and fuels that humans use are derived from natural sources, and their use affects the environment in numerous ways.
  • Resources are renewable over time, while others are not.
NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
E4.6: Some Earth materials have properties either in their present form or after design and modification that make them useful in solving human problems and enhancing the quality of life, as in the case of materials used for building or fuels used for heating and transportation.

NAEP Statement::
E4.7: The Sun warms the land, air, and water and helps plants grow.

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.5- Identify common resources as renewable or nonrenewable.
Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer
Science (2015)
Grade(s): 4
All Resources: 15
Learning Activities: 4
Lesson Plans: 3
Classroom Resources: 8
6 ) Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength, and including that waves can cause objects to move.

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Developing and Using Models
Crosscutting Concepts: Patterns
Disciplinary Core Idea: Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Develop a model of waves to describe patterns of amplitude.
  • Develop a model of waves to describe patterns of wavelength.
  • Develop a model of waves that describes patterns that cause objects to move.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • Patterns
  • Propagated
  • Waves
  • Wave amplitude
  • Wavelength
  • Net motion
  • Model
  • Relevant components
  • Peaks
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Waves can be described in terms of patterns of repeating amplitude and wavelength (e.g., in a water wave there is a repeating pattern of water being higher and then lower than the baseline level of the water).
  • Waves can cause an object to move.
  • The motion of objects varies with the amplitude and wavelength of the wave carrying it.
  • The patterns in the relationships between a wave passing, the net motion of the wave, and the motion of an object caused by the wave as it passes.
  • How waves may be initiated (e.g., by disturbing surface water or shaking a rope or spring).
  • The repeating pattern produced as a wave is propagated.
  • Waves, which are the regular patterns of motion, can be made in water by disturbing the surface. When waves move across the surface of deep water, the water goes up and down in place; there is no net motion in the direction of the wave except when the water meets a beach.
  • Waves of the same type can differ in amplitude (height of the wave) and wavelength (spacing between wave peaks).
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Develop a model to make sense of wave patterns that includes relevant components (i.e., waves, wave amplitude, wavelength, and motion of objects).
  • Describe patterns of wavelengths and amplitudes.
  • Describe how waves can cause objects to move.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • There are similarities and differences in patterns underlying waves and use these patterns to describe simple relationships involving wave amplitude, wavelength, and the motion of an object.
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.6- Using given models, identify patterns found in waves.
Science (2015)
Grade(s): 4
All Resources: 4
Learning Activities: 1
Lesson Plans: 2
Classroom Resources: 1
7 ) Develop and use models to show multiple solutions in which patterns are used to transfer information (e.g., using a grid of 1s and 0s representing black and white to send information about a picture, using drums to send coded information through sound waves, using Morse code to send a message).*

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Developing and Using Models
Crosscutting Concepts: Patterns
Disciplinary Core Idea: Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Develop a model to show multiple solutions in which patterns are used to transfer information.
  • Use a model to show multiple solutions in which patterns are used to transfer information.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • transmit
  • transfer
  • decoded
  • accuracy
  • digitized
  • convert
  • coded
  • signals
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • About digitized information transfer. (e.g., information can be converted from a sound wave into digital signals such as patterns of 1s and 0s and vice versa; visual or verbal messages can be encoded in patterns of flashes of light to be decoded by someone else across the room).
  • Ways that high-tech devices convert and transmit information. (e.g., cell phones convert sound waves into digital signals, so they can be transmitted long distances, and then converted back into sound waves; a picture or message can be encoded using light signals to transmit the information over a long distance).
  • Information can be transmitted over long distances without significant degradation. High tech devices, such as computers or cell phones, can receive and decode information - convert form to voice - and vice versa.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Generate multiple design solutions that use patterns to transmit a given piece of information.
  • Apply the engineering design process to develop a model to show multiple solutions to transfer information.
  • Describe the given criteria for the design solutions.
  • Describe the given constraints of the design solutions, including the distance over which information is transmitted, safety considerations, and materials available.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Similarities and differences in the types of patterns used in the solutions to determine whether some ways of transmitting information are more effective than others and addressing the problem.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Energy and Waves
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.7- 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).
Science (2015)
Grade(s): 4
All Resources: 9
Lesson Plans: 3
Classroom Resources: 6
8 ) Construct a model to explain that an object can be seen when light reflected from its surface enters the eyes.

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Developing and Using Models
Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect
Disciplinary Core Idea: Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Construct a model and use it to explain that in order to see objects that do not produce their own light, light must reflect off the object and into the eye.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • reflection
  • opaque
  • translucent
  • transparent
  • refraction
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Light enters the eye, allowing objects to be seen.
  • Light reflects off of objects, and then can travel and enter the eye.
  • Objects can be seen only if light follows a path between a light source, the object, and the eye.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Construct a model to make sense of a phenomenon.
  • Identify relevant components of the model including: light (including the light source), objects, the path that light follows, and the eye.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • An object can be seen when light reflected from its surface enters the eyes.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Energy and Waves
NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
P4.2: Objects vary in the extent to which they absorb and reflect light and conduct heat (thermal energy) and electricity.

NAEP Statement::
P4.9: Light travels in straight lines. When light strikes substances and objects through which it cannot pass, shadows result. When light travels obliquely from one substance to another (air and water), it changes direction.

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.8- Identify a model that shows the path of light reflected from the surface of an object to be seen by the eye.
From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
Science (2015)
Grade(s): 4
All Resources: 27
Learning Activities: 5
Lesson Plans: 3
Classroom Resources: 19
9 ) Examine evidence to support an argument that the internal and external structures of plants (e.g., thorns, leaves, stems, roots, colored petals, xylem, phloem) and animals (e.g., heart, stomach, lung, brain, skin) function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Engage in Argument from Evidence
Crosscutting Concepts: Systems and System Models; Structure and Function
Disciplinary Core Idea: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Argue from evidence to support that the internal and external structures of plants function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
  • Argue from evidence to support that the internal and external structures of animals function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • argue
  • articulate
  • evidence
  • internal
  • external
  • structure
  • survival
  • function
  • behavior
  • reproduction
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Internal and External structures serve specific functions within plants and animals.
  • The functions of internal and external structures can support survival, growth, behavior and/or reproduction in plants and animals.
  • Different structures work together as part of a system to support survival, growth, behavior, and/or reproduction.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Articulate an explanation from evidence explaining how the internal and external structures of plants and animals function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
  • Determine the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence collected, including whether or not it supports a claim about the role of internal and external structures of plants and animals in supporting survival, growth, behavior, and/or reproduction.
  • Use reasoning to connect the relevant and appropriate evidence to support an argument about the function of the internal and external structures of plants and animals.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Animal Studies
NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
L4.4: When the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce; others die or move to new locations.

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.9- Identify basic parts of plants and animals.
Science (2015)
Grade(s): 4
All Resources: 18
Learning Activities: 4
Lesson Plans: 1
Classroom Resources: 13
10 ) Obtain and communicate information explaining that humans have systems that interact with one another for digestion, respiration, circulation, excretion, movement, control, coordination, and protection from disease.

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
Crosscutting Concepts: Systems and System Models
Disciplinary Core Idea: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Obtain information explaining that humans have systems that interact with one another for digestion, respiration, circulation, excretion, movement, control, coordination, and protection from disease.
  • Communicate information explaining that humans have systems that interact with one another for digestion, respiration, circulation, excretion, movement, control, coordination, and protection from disease.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • communicate
  • articulate
  • obtain
  • structure
  • function
  • interactions
  • digestion
  • respiration
  • circulation
  • excretion
  • movement
  • control
  • coordination
  • protection
  • disease
  • body systems
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Humans have systems that interact with one another.
  • The purpose, functions, and interactions of the digestive system.
  • The purpose, functions, and interactions of the respiratory system.
  • The purpose, functions, and interactions of the circulatory system.
  • The purpose, functions, and interactions of the excretory system.
  • The purpose, functions, and interactions of the systems that contribute to movement, control, and coordination.
  • The purpose, functions, and interactions of the systems that protect the body from disease.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Obtain information by reading and comprehending grade-appropriate complex texts about the interacting systems in the human body.
  • Evaluate information about interactions and functions of human body systems by comparing and/or combining across complex texts and/or other reliable media.
  • Communicate information orally and/or in written formats about interactions and functions of human body systems.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • The body is a system of interacting parts that makes up a whole and carries out functions its individual parts can not.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Animal Studies
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.10- Identify human systems (i.e. digestive, circulatory, and respiratory).
Science (2015)
Grade(s): 4
All Resources: 22
Learning Activities: 1
Lesson Plans: 3
Classroom Resources: 18
11 ) Investigate different ways animals receive information through the senses, process that information, and respond to it in different ways (e.g., skunks lifting tails and spraying an odor when threatened, dogs moving ears when reacting to sound, snakes coiling or striking when sensing vibrations).

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Planning and Carrying out Investigations
Crosscutting Concepts: Systems and System Models
Disciplinary Core Idea: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Investigate different ways animals receive information through the senses.
  • Investigate different ways animals process the information they receive and how they respond to it.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • investigate
  • evidence
  • transmit
  • perception
  • receptors
  • senses
  • sensory information
  • process
  • memories
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Different types of sense receptors detect specific types of information within the environment.
  • Sense receptors send information about the surroundings to the brain.
  • Information that is transmitted to the brain by sense receptors can be processed immediately as perceptions of the environment and/or stored as memories.
  • Immediate perceptions or memories processed by the brain influences an animal's actions or responses to features in the environment.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Identify different ways animals receive, process, and respond to information.
  • Identify evidence of different ways animals receive, process, and respond to information to be investigated.
  • Plan ways to Investigate different ways animals receive, process, and respond to information.
  • Collect and communicate data of different ways animals receive, process, and respond to information.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Sensory input, the brain, and behavioral output are all parts of a system that allows animals to engage in appropriate behaviors.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Animal Studies
NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
L4.4: When the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce; others die or move to new locations.

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.11- Identify the sense organs and the information they receive (eyes/sight, tongue/taste, ears/hearing, skin/touch, nose/smell).
Earth's Systems
Science (2015)
Grade(s): 4
All Resources: 4
Lesson Plans: 2
Classroom Resources: 2
12 ) Construct explanations by citing evidence found in patterns of rock formations and fossils in rock layers that Earth changes over time through both slow and rapid processes (e.g., rock layers containing shell fossils appearing above rock layers containing plant fossils and no shells indicating a change from land to water over time, a canyon with different rock layers in the walls and a river in the bottom indicating that over time a river cut through the rock).

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Crosscutting Concepts: Patterns
Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth's Systems
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Construct explanations by citing evidence found in patterns of rock formations that Earth changes over time through both slow and rapid processes.
  • Construct explanations by citing evidence of fossils in rock layers that Earth changes over time through both slow and rapid processes.
  • Cite evidence from patterns in fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • Evidence
  • Patterns
  • Rock Formations
  • Fossils
  • Rock Layers
  • Landscape
  • Marine fossils
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Different rock layers found in areas can show either marine fossils or land fossils.
  • Ordering of rock layers (e.g. layer with marine fossils found below layer with land fossils).
  • Presence of particular fossils (e.g., shells, land plants) in specific rock layers as evidence of Earth's changes over time.
  • The occurrence of events (e.g., earthquakes) due to Earth forces.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Observe evidence from rock patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.
  • Identify evidence from rock patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.
  • Articulate and describe from evidence patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.
  • Use reasoning to connect the evidence to support the explanation including the identification of a specific pattern of rock layers and fossils.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Local, regional, and global patterns of rock formations reveal changes over time due to earth forces, such as earthquakes. The presence and location of certain fossil types indicate the order in which rock layers were formed.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Water and Landforms
NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
E4.3: The surface of Earth changes. Some changes are due to slow processes such as erosion and weathering, and some changes are due to rapid processes such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes.

NAEP Statement::
E4.4: Earth materials that occur in nature include rocks, minerals, soils, water, and the gases of the atmosphere.

NAEP Statement::
E8.4: Earth processes seen today, such as erosion and mountain building, make it possible to measure geologic time through methods such as observing rock sequences and using fossils to correlate the sequences at various locations.

NAEP Statement::
E8.6: Soil consists of weathered rocks and decomposed organic material from dead plants, animals, and bacteria. Soils are often found in layers with each having a different chemical composition and texture.

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.12- Identify patterns in rock formations and rock layers; explain how Earth changes over time.
Science (2015)
Grade(s): 4
All Resources: 6
Lesson Plans: 2
Classroom Resources: 4
13 ) Plan and carry out investigations to examine properties of soils and soil types (e.g., color, texture, capacity to retain water, ability to support growth of plants).

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Planning and Carrying out Investigations
Crosscutting Concepts: Patterns
Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth's Systems
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Identify the properties of soil.
  • Plan and carry out an investigation that examines the various types of soil and soil properties.
  • Describe the data collected that will serve as the basis for the evidence.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • color
  • absorbency
  • texture
  • capacity
  • properties of soil
  • types of soil ( sand, silt, clay, humus)
  • infiltration
  • particle size
  • structure
  • consistency
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Soil properties (particle size, color, texture).
  • Soil types ( sand, silt, clay, and humus).
  • Relationship between soil types and water.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Plan and conduct simple tests using various soil types.
  • Collect, describe and evaluate data.
  • Articulate and explain from evidence the properties of soil and soil types.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Similarities and differences in patterns can be used to sort and classify soil types by property.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Water and Landforms
NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
E4.4: Earth materials that occur in nature include rocks, minerals, soils, water, and the gases of the atmosphere.

NAEP Statement::
E8.6: Soil consists of weathered rocks and decomposed organic material from dead plants, animals, and bacteria. Soils are often found in layers with each having a different chemical composition and texture.

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.13- Observe the properties of soils (e.g., color, texture, capacity to retain water, ability to support growth of plants); Identify different types of soil (e.g., silt, clay, sand).
Science (2015)
Grade(s): 4
All Resources: 8
Lesson Plans: 2
Classroom Resources: 6
14 ) Explore information to support the claim that landforms are the result of a combination of constructive forces, including crustal deformation, volcanic eruptions, and sediment deposition as well as a result of destructive forces, including erosion and weathering.

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect
Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth's Systems
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Support the claim that landforms can be the result of a combination of constructive forces, including crustal deformation, volcanic eruptions, and sediment deposition.
  • Support the claim that landforms can be the result of destructive forces, including weathering and erosion.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • landform
  • crustal deformation
  • sediment
  • deposition
  • erosion
  • weathering
  • topography
  • volcanoes
  • earthquakes
  • continental boundaries
  • trenches
  • ocean floor structures
  • constructive forces
  • destructive forces
  • eruption
  • geological processes
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Continents and other landforms are continually being shaped and reshaped by competing constructive and destructive geological processes.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Compare and/or combine information across complex texts and/or other reliable sources to support the claim that landforms are the result of both constructive and destructive forces.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Changes in Earth's surface are caused by both constructive and destructive forces.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Water and Landforms
NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
E4.3: The surface of Earth changes. Some changes are due to slow processes such as erosion and weathering, and some changes are due to rapid processes such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes.

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.14- Identify relationships between landforms and both constructive (volcanic eruptions and sediment deposition) and deconstructive (erosion and weathering) forces
Science (2015)
Grade(s): 4
All Resources: 3
Learning Activities: 1
Lesson Plans: 2
15 ) Analyze and interpret data (e.g., angle of slope in downhill movement of water, volume of water flow, cycles of freezing and thawing of water, cycles of heating and cooling of water, speed of wind, relative rate of soil deposition, amount of vegetation) to determine effects of weathering and rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, and vegetation using one single form of weathering or erosion at a time.

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect
Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth's Systems
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Analyze and interpret data to determine effects of weathering by water, ice, wind, and vegetation.
  • Analyze and interpret data to determine rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, and vegetation.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • sediment
  • weathering
  • erosion
  • vegetation
  • angle of slope
  • transported
  • variables
  • relative steepness
  • analyze
  • interpret
  • data
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Effects of weathering.
  • The rate of erosion of Earth's materials.
  • The kind of weathering or erosion to which the Earth material is exposed.
  • The change in shape of Earth materials as the result of weathering or the rate of erosion by motion of water, ice, wind, or vegetation.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Represent data about weathering and erosion in tables and/or other graphical displays to reveal patterns.
  • Analyze and interpret data to make sense of weathering and erosion.
  • Compare and contrast data collected by different groups.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Events like weathering and erosion have causes that generate observable patterns and can be used to explain changes in Earth's landforms.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Water and Landforms
NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
E4.3: The surface of Earth changes. Some changes are due to slow processes such as erosion and weathering, and some changes are due to rapid processes such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes.

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.15- Identify the effects of weathering by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.
Science (2015)
Grade(s): 4
All Resources: 4
Lesson Plans: 2
Classroom Resources: 2
16 ) Describe patterns of Earth's features on land and in the ocean using data from maps (e.g., topographic maps of Earth's land and ocean floor; maps of locations of mountains, continental boundaries, volcanoes, and earthquakes).

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Crosscutting Concepts: Patterns
Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth's Systems
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Describe patterns of Earth's features on land using data from maps.
  • Describe patterns of Earth's features in the ocean using data from maps.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • patterns
  • data
  • structures
  • features
  • topographical
  • continental boundaries
  • deep ocean trench
  • ocean floor
  • volcanoes
  • mountains
  • earthquakes
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Locations of mountain ranges, deep ocean trenches, ocean floor structures, earthquakes, and volcanoes occur in patterns.
  • Volcanoes and earthquakes occur in bands that are often along the boundaries between continents and oceans.
  • Major mountain chains form inside continents or near their edges.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Organize data using graphical displays from maps of Earth's features.
  • Articulate patterns that can be used as evidence to describe Earth's features on land and in the ocean using maps.
  • Use logical reasoning based on the organized data to make sense of and describe the patterns in Earth's features.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Earth's features occur in patterns.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Water and Landforms
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.16- Use a map key to identify land and water features on a map.
Science (2015)
Grade(s): 4
All Resources: 1
Lesson Plans: 1
17 ) Formulate and evaluate solutions to limit the effects of natural Earth processes on humans (e.g., designing earthquake, tornado, or hurricane-resistant buildings; improving monitoring of volcanic activity).*

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect
Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth's Systems
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Formulate solutions to limit the effects of natural Earth processes on humans.
  • Evaluate solutions to limit the effects of natural Earth processes on humans.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • Natural Earth Process
    • tornado
    • hurricane
    • tsunamis
    • volcanic eruption
    • earthquakes
  • Criteria
  • Constraint
  • Modify
  • Formulate
  • Evaluate
  • Effects
  • Hazards
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Negative effects of a natural Earth process.
  • Solutions that can reduce the effect of natural Earth processes on humans.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Use scientific knowledge to formulate design solutions to reduce the effects of Earth process.
  • Investigate and test how well design solutions perform under a range of likely conditions.
  • Evaluate and modify multiple solutions to reduce the effects of the Earth processes.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • A variety of hazards result from natural processes.
  • Humans cannot eliminate the hazards but can take steps to reduce their impacts.
  • Engineers improve existing technologies or develop new ones to increase their benefits or decrease risks, and to meet societal demands.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Water and Landforms
NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
E4.11: Humans depend on their natural and constructed environment. Humans change environments in ways that can either be beneficial or detrimental for themselves and other organisms.

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.17- Predict the best option for human safety in a given weather situation.