of its path cause the change of seasons, the
length of days, and the amount of energy
available
•
Describe the characteristics of the other planets
•
Explain the role of gravity in the orbit of the planets
•
Understand how weather conditions can be
tracked and predicted
Animals and Plants
•
Identify plants as the primary source of energy
for most food chains
•
Understand the classification system for all
living things
•
Explain the role of decomposers in an
ecosystem
•
Describe the process of decay
•
Understand the cycling of matter and flow of
energy through the living environment
•
Know that organisms can be classified
according to the function they serve in a food
chain (producer, consumer, and/or decomposer
of organic matter) and by the details of their
internal and external features
•
Label and explain the role of various parts of
plant cells
•
Label and explain the role of various
animal cells
•
Understand that similar cells create tissue
and organs
•
Identify the skeletal and muscular system of
the human body
•
Identify the major organs of the human body
•
Explain the process of photosynthesis
•
Know the reproductive cycle of a plant
•
Identify variation among individuals within a
population
Interactions
•
Describe how ecosystems are characterized
•
Know that an organism’s patterns of behavior
are related to the nature of that organism’s
environment and that the nature of the
environment in constantly changing
•
Understand that when changes in the
environment occur, some organisms survive,
some change, and some die or move to a new
environment
•
Give examples of a change in the environment
that may harm one organism but be beneficial to
another
•
Begin to explain the benefits of certain
microorganisms
Matter and Energy
•
Use a variety of measurements to compare and
contrast matter
•
Explain how heating and cooling will affect
matter
•
Know that electricity in circuits can produce
light, heat, sound, and magnetic effects
•
Produce an electric circuit that lights a light or
rings a bell
•
Describe how electricity can produce light or
magnetic effects
•
Know that electrical circuits provide a means of
converting electrical energy into heat, light,
sound, chemical, or other forms of energy
•
Know the kinds of forces that exists between
objects and within atoms
•
Know that electrical circuits require a complete
loop through which the electrical current can
pass
•
Construct a closed loop circuit
•
Describe how electricity flows through a closed
circuit
•
Demonstrate what happens to electricity when
one wire is cut in the circuit
•
Know that electrically charged material pulls on
all other materials and can attract or repel other
charged materials
•
Demonstrate how to make an electromagnet
using wire, nail, and battery
•
Identify kinetic energy
Motion and Force
•
Define velocity
•
Explain how different media affect waves
•
Explain how force, mass, and energy are related
•
Understand how simple machines can work
together to create compound machines
61
Fourth Grade
Science and Technology
•
Understand the nature of scientific inquiry
•
Plan and conduct a simple investigation (e.g.,
systematic observations, simple experiments to
answer questions)
•
Plan and investigate experiments in which
hypotheses are formulated based on cause and
effect relationships; distinctions are made
among observations, conclusions, inferences,
and predictions; a limited number of variables
are controlled; and numerical data that are
contradictory or unusual in experimental
research are recognized
•
Know that scientists develop explanations using
observations (evidence) and what they already
know about the world (scientific knowledge) and
that good explanations are based on evidence
from investigations
•
Know that scientists review and ask questions
about the results of other scientists’ work
•
Understand the scientific enterprise
•
Know that women and men of all ages,
backgrounds, and groups participate in the
various areas of science and technology as they
have for many centuries
•
Research and report on a question currently
being investigated by scientists
•
Understand the nature of technological designs
•
Know that designing a solution to a simple
problem may have constraints, such as cost,
materials, time, space, and safety
•
Implement proposed solutions using suitable
tools, techniques, and quantitative
measurements, where appropriate
•
Understand the interactions of science,
technology, and society
•
Know that scientists and engineers often work
in teams with different individuals doing different
things that contribute to the results
•
Know that tools help scientists make better
observations, measurements, and equipment for
investigations
SOCIAL STUDIES
Past and Present
•
Gather data to analyze geographic, religious,
and economic reasons that brought explorers
and settlers to the state
•
Identify Native American groups in their state
•
Reconstruct timelines
•
Describe ways early settlers adapted to, used,
and changed the environment
•
Research interactions between the Native
Americans and the first explorers and settlers
•
Analyze some of the interactions that occurred
between the Native Americans and the first
explorers and settlers
•
Construct a historical narrative about daily life in
early settlements
•
Analyze the significance of the major events in
the state’s history, their impact on people then
and now, and their relationship to the history of
the nation
•
Examine various written accounts in order to
identify and describe regional or state examples
of major historical events and developments that
involved interaction among various groups
Map/Globe Skills
•
Explain and use the coordinate grid system
of latitude and longitude to determine the
absolute locations of places in their state
•
Distinguish between the North and South Poles;
the equator and the prime meridian; the tropics
and the hemispheres, using coordinates to plot
locations
•
Locate state and its bordering states on maps of
the United States
•
Identify state capital, physical features, and
various state regions
•
Construct physical maps and three-dimensional
models that include the essential map elements
and the geographic regions of their state
Analysis
•
Analyze how the locations of physical features
such as oceans, rivers, valleys, and mountains
affected the growth of towns
62
Nobel Learning Curriculum Reference Guide
