Fifth Grade Science

By The End Of EIGHTH GRADE
Overview of Science Standards 5-8 Unifying concepts and processes *
Systems, Order & Organization
Evidence, Models & Explanations
Change, Constancy & Measurement
Patterns of Cumulative Change
Form & Function

SCIENCE AS INQUIRY
· Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
· Designing investigations · Understanding about scientific inquiry

PHYSICAL SCIENCE
· Properties of matter · Changes in properties of matter
· Motions and forces · Transfer of energy

LIFE SCIENCE
· Structure and function in living systems 
· Reproduction and heredity
· Regulation and behavior · Populations and ecosystems
· Diversity and adaptations of organisms

EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE
· Structure of the earth system
· Past and present earth processes 
· Components of the solar system
· Motion and forces which affect earth phenomena

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
· Abilities of technological design 
· Understanding about science and technology

SCIENCE IN PERSONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVES
· Personal health 
· Populations, resources, & environments
· Risks and causes of natural hazards

HISTORY & NATURE OF SCIENCE
· Scientific habits of mind
· Contributions to science throughout history

STANDARD 1: SCIENCE AS INQUIRY
As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students will develop the abilities to do scientific inquiry, be able to demonstrate how scientific inquiry is applied, and develop understandings about scientific inquiry.

Benchmark 1: The students will demonstrate abilities necessary to do the processes of scientific inquiry.
 Indicators: The students will:
1. Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations.

 2. Design and conduct a scientific investigation.

3. Use appropriate tools, mathematics, technology, and techniques to gather, analyze and interpret data.

4. Think critically to identify the relationship between evidence and logical conclusions.

5. Apply mathematical reasoning to scientific inquiry.

6. Communicate scientific procedures and explanations.

Benchmark 2: The students will apply different kinds of investigations to different kinds of questions.
Indicators:
 The students will:

1. Differentiate between a qualitative and a quantitative investigation.

2. Develop questions and adapt the inquiry process to guide an investigation.

Benchmark 3: The students will analyze how science advances through new ideas, scientific investigations, skepticism, and examining evidence of varied explanations.
Indicators:
 The students will:

1. After doing an investigation, generate alternative methods of investigation and/ or further questions for inquiry.

2. Determine evidence which supports or contradicts a scientific breakthrough.

3. Identify faulty reasoning or conclusions that go beyond evidence and/ or are not supported by data.

STANDARD 2: PHYSICAL SCIENCE
As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students will apply process skills to develop an
understanding of physical science including: properties, changes of properties of matter, motion and forces, and transfer of energy.

Benchmark 1: The students will observe, compare, and classify properties of matter.
  Indicators:
 The students will:

1. Identify and communicate properties of matter, including phases of matter, boiling point, solubility, and density.

2. Using the characteristic properties of each original substance, distinguish components of various types of mixtures.

 Benchmark 2: The students will observe, measure, infer, and classify changes in properties of matter.
Indicators:
 The students will:

1. Measure and graph the effects of temperature on matter.

3. Understand the relationship of elements to compounds.

Benchmark 3: The students will investigate motion and forces.
  Indicators:
 The students will:

1. Describe motion of an object (potential, and kinetic energy).

2. Measure motion and represent data in a graph.

3. Understand that a force (e. g., gravity and friction) is a push or a pull.

Benchmark 4: The students will understand and demonstrate the transfer of energy.
  Indicators: 
The students will:

1. Understand that energy can be transferred from one form to another, including mechanical, heat, light, electrical, chemical, and nuclear energy.

2. Understand that heat energy can be transferred from hot to cold by radiation, convection, and conduction.

STANDARD 3: LIFE SCIENCE
As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students will apply process skills to explore and understand structure and function in living systems, reproduction and heredity, regulation and behavior, populations and ecosystems, and diversity and adaptations of organisms.

Benchmark 1: The students will model structures of organisms and relate functions to the structures.
  Indicators:
 The students will:

1. Relate the structure of cells, organs, tissues, organ systems, and whole organisms to their functions.

2. Compare organisms composed of single cells with organisms that are multi-cellular.

Benchmark 2: The students will understand the role of reproduction and heredity for all living things.
  Indicators:
 The students will:

1. Conclude that reproduction is essential to the continuation of a species.

Benchmark 3: The students will describe the effects of a changing external environment on the regulation/ balance of internal conditions and processes of organisms.
  Indicators:
 The students will:

1. Understand the effects of a change in environmental conditions on behavior of an organism by carrying out a full investigation.

2. Identify behaviors of an organism that are responses made to internal or environmental stimuli.

Benchmark 4: The students will identify and relate interactions of populations of organisms within an ecosystem.
Indicators:
 The students will:

1. Recognize that all populations living together and the physical factors with which they interact compose an ecosystem.

2. Classify organisms in a system by the function they serve (producers, consumers, decomposers).

3. Trace the energy flow from the sun (source) to producers (chemical energy) to other organisms in food webs.

Benchmark 5: The students will observe the diversity of living things and relate their adaptations to their survival or extinction.
Indicators:
 The students will:

1. Associate extinction of a species with environmental changes and insufficient adaptive characteristics.

STANDARD 4: EARTH and SPACE SCIENCE
As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students will apply process skills to explore and develop an understanding of the structure of the earth system, earth's history, and earth in the solar system.

Benchmark 1: The students will understand that the structure of the earth system is constantly changing due to the earth's physical and chemical processes.
Indicators:
 The students will:

1. Predict patterns from data collected.

2. Identify properties of the solid earth, the oceans and fresh water, and the atmosphere.

 3. Model earth's cycles.

Benchmark 2: The students will understand that past and present earth processes are similar.
  Indicators: 
The students will:

1. Understand the dynamics of earth's constructive and destructive forces over time.

Benchmark 3: The students will identify and classify planets and other solar system components.
  Indicators: 
The students will:

1. Develop understanding of spatial relationships via models of the earth/ moon/ planets/ sun system to scale.

Benchmark 4: The students will model motions and identify forces that explain earth phenomena.
Indicators:
 The students will:

1. Demonstrate object/ space/ time relationships that explain phenomena such as the day, the month, the year, and the seasons.

2. Understand the effect of the angle of incidence of solar energy striking the earth's surface on the amount of heat energy absorbed at the earth's surface.

STANDARD 5: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students will demonstrate abilities of technological
design and understandings about science and technology.

Benchmark 1: The students will demonstrate abilities of technological design.
  Indicators: 
The students will:

1. Design a solution or product, implement the proposed design, evaluate the product.

Benchmark 2: The students will understand the impact of human activity on resources and environment.
  Indicators:
 The students will:

1. Investigate the effects of human activities on the environment.

Benchmark 3: The students will understand that natural hazards are dynamic examples of earth processes which cause us to evaluate risks.
Indicators:
 The students will:

1. Evaluate risks and define appropriate actions associated with natural hazards.

2. Recognize patterns of internal and external earth processes that may result in natural hazards.

3. Communicate human activities that can cause/ contribute to natural hazards.

STANDARD 7: HISTORY AND NATURE OF SCIENCE
As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students will examine and develop an
understanding of science as a historical human endeavor.

Benchmark 1: The students will develop scientific habits of mind.
Indicators:
 The students will:

1. Practice intellectual honesty.

2. Demonstrate skepticism appropriately.

3. Display open-mindedness to new ideas.

4. Base decisions on evidence.

Benchmark 2: The students will research contributions to science throughout history.
  Indicators:
 The students will:

1. Recognize that new knowledge leads to new questions and new discoveries.

2. Replicate historic experiments to understand principles of science.

3. Relates contributions of men and women to the fields of science.

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