In Grade 3, the study of science includes planning and implementing simple
classroom and field investigations to develop the skills of collecting
information using tools such as a microscope, making inferences,
communicating conclusions, and making informed decisions.
Students also use computers and information technology tools to support
scientific investigations.
As students learn science skills, they identify the importance of components
of the natural world including rocks, soils, water, and atmospheric gases.
They observe the direction and position of objects as they are pushed and
pulled, and movement of the Earth's surface as examples of change caused by a
force.
Students investigate magnetism and gravity. In addition, students
explore organisms' needs, habitats, and competition with other organisms
within their ecosystem. Science is a way of learning about the natural world.
Students should know how science has built a vast body of changing and
increasing knowledge described by physical, mathematical, and conceptual
models, and also should know that science may not answer all
questions.
A system is a collection of cycles, structures, and processes that interact.
Students should understand a whole in terms of its components and how these
components relate to each other and to the whole. All systems have basic
properties that can be described in terms of space, time, energy, and matter.
Change and constancy occur in systems and can be observed and measured as
patterns. These patterns help to predict what will happen next and can change
over time.
Investigations are used to learn about the natural world.
Students should
understand that certain types of questions can be answered by investigations,
and that methods, models, and conclusions built from these investigations
change as new observations are made. Models of objects and events are tools
for understanding the natural world and can show how systems work. They have
limitations and based on new discoveries are constantly being modified to
more closely reflect the natural world.