SCIENCE CURRICULUM

Grade 5

-Constructing New Scientific Knowledge 

The learner will be able to:
  • generate reasonable questions about the world based on observation
  • investigate toys/simple appliances and explain how they work, using instructions and appropriate safety precautions
  • design and conduct simple investigations
  • use measurement devices to provide consistency in an investigation
  • use sources of information to help solve problems
  • write and follow procedures in the form of step-by-step instructions, recipes, formulas, flow diagrams, and sketches


-Reflecting on Scientific Knowledge 

The learner will be able to:

  • evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of claims, arguments, or data
  • describe limitations of personal knowledge
  • show how common themes of science, mathematics and technology apply in real-world contexts
  • describe the advantages and risks of new technologies
  • recognize the contributions made to science by cultures and individuals of diverse backgrounds
 

-Cells  

The learner will be able to:

  • describe cells as living systems
 

-Organization of Living Things 

The learner will be able to:

  • compare and classify organisms into major groups on the basis of their structure
  • describe the life cycle of a flowering plant
  • describe evidence that plants make and store food
  • explain how selected systems and processes work together in plants and animals
 

-Ecosystems 

The learner will be able to:

  • describe common patterns of relationships among populations
  • predict the effects of changes in one population in a food web on other populations
  • describe how all organisms in an ecosystem acquire energy directly or indirectly from sunlight
  • describe the likely succession of a given ecosystem over time
  • identify some common materials that cycle through the environment
  • describe ways in which humans alter the environment
  • explain how humans use and benefit from plant and animal materials

 


-Motions of Objects 

The learner will be able to:

  • qualitatively describe and compare motions in three dimensions
  • relate changes in speed or direction to unbalanced forces in two dimensions
  • describe the forces exerted by magnets, electrically charged objects, and gravity
  • design strategies for moving objects by application of forces, including the use of simple machines
 

-Wave and Vibrations 

The learner will be able to:

  • explain how sound travels through different media
  • explain how echoes occur and how they are used
  • explain how light helps us to see
  • explain how objects or media reflect, refract, transmit, or absorb light
  • describe the motion of pendulums or vibrating objects (frequency, amplitude)
  • explain how waves transmit energy

 


-Hydrosphere 

The learner will be able to:

  • describe various forms that water takes on the earth's surface and conditions under which they exist
  • describe how rainwater in Michigan reaches the oceans
  • describe the origins of pollution in the hydrosphere
 

-Atmosphere and Weather 

The learner will be able to:

  • describe the composition and characteristics of the atmosphere
  • describe patterns of changing weather and how they are measured
  • explain the water cycle and its relationship to weather patterns
  • describe health effects of polluted air