| (a) Introduction.
(1) In Kindergarten through Grade 5 Science, content
is organized into recurring strands. The concepts within each grade
level build on prior knowledge, prepare students for the next grade
level, and establish a foundation for high school courses. In Grade
5, the following concepts will be addressed in each strand.
(A) Scientific and engineering practices. Scientific
inquiry is the planned and deliberate investigation of the natural
world using scientific and engineering practices. Scientific methods
of investigation are descriptive, correlative, comparative, or experimental.
The method chosen should be appropriate to the grade level and question
being asked. Student learning for different types of investigations
includes descriptive investigations, which have no hypothesis that
tentatively answers the research question and involve collecting data
and recording observations without making comparisons; correlative
and comparative investigations, which have a hypothesis that predicts
a relationship and involve collecting data, measuring variables relevant
to the hypothesis that are manipulated, and comparing results; and
experimental investigations, which involve processes similar to comparative
investigations but in which a hypothesis can be tested by comparing
a treatment with a control.
(i) Scientific practices. Students ask questions, plan
and conduct investigations to answer questions, and explain phenomena
using appropriate tools and models.
(ii) Engineering practices. Students identify problems
and design solutions using appropriate tools and models.
(iii) To support instruction in the science content
standards, it is recommended that districts integrate scientific and
engineering practices through classroom and outdoor investigations
for at least 50% of instructional time.
(B) Matter and energy. Students investigate matter
expanding their understanding of properties learned in Grade 4 (mass,
volume, states, temperature, magnetism, and relative density) to include
solubility and the ability to conduct or insulate both thermal and
electrical energy. Students observe the combination of substances
to make mixtures and develop an understanding of conservation of matter.
These concepts lead to the understanding of elements and compounds.
Students will build on this understanding in middle school when they
learn to determine density and to identify evidence of chemical changes.
(C) Force, motion, and energy. Students investigate
equal and unequal forces and the effects these forces have on objects
(motion and direction). Additionally, students investigate energy,
including mechanical, light, thermal, electrical, and sound. They
uncover cycles (e.g., movement of thermal energy), patterns (e.g.,
behavior of light, including reflection and refraction), and systems
through their exploration. Students will build on this understanding
in middle school when they begin to use calculations and measurements
to study force, motion, and energy through the study of Newton's Laws
of Motion.
(D) Earth and space. This strand is focused on identifying
recognizable patterns and processes as students learn about Earth's
rotation and demonstrate the effects this movement has on Earth's
surface, including day and night, shadows, and the rotation of Earth
on its axis. Students continue their learning of patterns and processes
on Earth while exploring weather, climate, the water cycle, the formation
of sedimentary rock and fossil fuels, and the formation of landforms.
Finally, students learn ways to manage natural resources to support
a healthy environment.
(E) Organisms and environments. This strand focuses
on identifying relationships, systems, and cycles within organisms
and environments. Students describe the interactions of biotic and
abiotic factors in an ecosystem. Students build on their understanding
of food webs from Grade 4 by predicting how ecosystem changes affect
the flow of energy. Additionally, they describe how humans impact
the ecosystem. Students also learn how organisms' structures help
them to survive, and they distinguish between instinctual and learned
behaviors in animals. This will set the foundation for Grade 6 where
students compare and contrast variations within organisms and how
they impact survival.
(2) Nature of science. Science, as defined by the National
Academy of Sciences, is the "use of evidence to construct testable
explanations and predictions of natural phenomena, as well as the
knowledge generated through this process." This vast body of changing
and increasing knowledge is described by physical, mathematical, and
conceptual models. Students should know that some questions are outside
the realm of science because they deal with phenomena that are not
currently scientifically testable.
(3) Scientific observations, inferences, hypotheses,
and theories. Students are expected to know that:
(A) observations are active acquisition of either qualitative
or quantitative information from a primary source through the senses;
(B) inferences are conclusions reached on the basis
of observations or reasoning supported by relevant evidence;
(C) hypotheses are tentative and testable statements
that must be capable of being supported or not supported by observational
evidence. Hypotheses of durable explanatory power that have been tested
over a wide variety of conditions are incorporated into theories;
and
(D) scientific theories are based on natural and physical
phenomena and are capable of being tested by multiple independent
researchers. Unlike hypotheses, scientific theories are well established
and highly reliable explanations, but they may be subject to change
as new areas of science and new technologies are developed.
(4) Science and social ethics. Scientific decision
making is a way of answering questions about the natural world involving
its own set of ethical standards about how the process of science
should be carried out. Students distinguish between scientific decision-making
practices and ethical and social decisions that involve science.
(5) Recurring themes and concepts. Science consists
of recurring themes and making connections between overarching concepts.
Recurring themes include structure and function, systems, models,
and patterns. All systems have basic properties that can be described
in space, time, energy, and matter. Change and constancy occur in
systems as patterns and can be observed, measured, and modeled. Models
have limitations but provide a tool for understanding the ideas presented.
Students analyze a system in terms of its components and how these
components relate to each other, to the whole, and to the external
environment.
(6) Statements containing the word "including" reference
content that must be mastered, while those containing the phrase "such
as" are intended as possible illustrative examples.
(b) Knowledge and skills.
(1) Scientific and engineering practices. The student
asks questions, identifies problems, and plans and safely conducts
classroom, laboratory, and field investigations to answer questions,
explain phenomena, or design solutions using appropriate tools and
models. The student is expected to:
(A) ask questions and define problems based on observations
or information from text, phenomena, models, or investigations;
(B) use scientific practices to plan and conduct descriptive
and simple experimental investigations and use engineering practices
to design solutions to problems;
(C) demonstrate safe practices and the use of safety
equipment during classroom and field investigations as outlined in
Texas Education Agency-approved safety standards;
(D) use tools, including calculators, microscopes,
hand lenses, metric rulers, Celsius thermometers, prisms, concave
and convex lenses, laser pointers, mirrors, digital scales, balances,
spring scales, graduated cylinders, beakers, hot plates, meter sticks,
magnets, collecting nets, notebooks, timing devices, materials for
building circuits, materials to support observations of habitats or
organisms such as terrariums and aquariums, and materials to support
digital data collection such as computers, tablets, and cameras to
observe, measure, test, and analyze information;
(E) collect observations and measurements as evidence;
(F) construct appropriate graphic organizers used to
collect data, including tables, bar graphs, line graphs, tree maps,
concept maps, Venn diagrams, flow charts or sequence maps, and input-output
tables that show cause and effect; and
(G) develop and use models to represent phenomena,
objects, and processes or design a prototype for a solution to a problem.
(2) Scientific and engineering practices. The student
analyzes and interprets data to derive meaning, identify features
and patterns, and discover relationships or correlations to develop
evidence-based arguments or evaluate designs. The student is expected
to:
(A) identify advantages and limitations of models such
as their size, scale, properties, and materials;
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