Kindergarten

Unit 1: Energy (Sunlight)

• K-PS3-1: Make observations to determine the effect of sunlight on Earth’s surface.
• K-PS3-2: Use tools and materials to design and build a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on an area.
• K-2-ETS1-1: Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
• K-2-ETS1-2: Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given.

Unit 2: Weather Forecasting

• K-ESS2-1: Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time.
• K-ESS3-2: Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs.

Unit 3: Forces and Motion

• K-PS2-1: Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.
• K-PS2-2: Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.
• K-2-ETS1-1: Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
• K-2-ETS1-2: Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given.
• K-2-ETS1-3: Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

Unit 4: Ecosystems

• K-LS1-1: Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.
• K-ESS2-2: Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs.
• K-ESS3-1: Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals (including humans) and the places they live.
• K-ESS3-3: Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air, and/or other living things in the local environment.

First Grade

Unit 1: Waves (Light)

• 1-PS4-2: Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that objects in darkness can be seen only when illuminated.
• 1-PS4-3: Plan and conduct investigations to determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.

Unit 2: Waves (Sound)

• 1-PS4-1: Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.
• 1-PS4-4: Use tools and materials to design and build a device that uses light or sound to solve the problem of communicating over a distance.
• K-2-ETS1-1: Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
• K-2-ETS1-2: Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given.
• K-2-ETS1-2: Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

Unit 3: Space

• 1-ESS1-1: Use observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted.
• 1-ESS1-2: Make observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the time of year.

Unit 4: Traits

• 1-LS1-1: Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.
• 1-LS1-2: Read texts and use media to determine patterns in behavior of parents and offspring that help offspring survive.
• 1-LS3-1: Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents.
• K-2-ETS1-1: Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
• K-2-ETS1-2: Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

Second Grade

Unit 1: Earth (Land Erosion)

• 2-ESS1-1: Use information from several sources to provide evidence that Earth events can occur quickly or slowly.
• 2-ESS2-1: Compare multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land.
• 2-ESS2-2: Develop a model to represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area.
• K-2-ETS1-1: Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
• K-2-ETS1-2: Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

• K-2-ETS1-3: Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

Unit 2: Matter

• 2-PS1-1: Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.
• 2-PS1-2: Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.
• 2-PS1-3: Make observations to construct an evidence-based account of how an object made of a small set of pieces can be disassembled and made into a new object.
• 2-PS1-4: Construct an argument with evidence that some changes caused by heating or cooling can be reversed and some cannot.
• K-2-ETS1-1: Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
• K-2-ETS1-2: Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.
• K-2-ETS1-3: Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

Unit 3: Habitat

• 2-LS4-1: Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.
• 2-ESS2-3: Obtain information to identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid.

Unit 4: Plants

• 2-LS2-1: Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
• 2-LS2-2: Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.

Third Grade

Unit 1: Forces and Interactions

• 3-PS2-1: Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.
• 3-PS2-2: Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.
• 3-PS2-3: Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other.
• 3-PS2-4: Define a simple design problem that can be solved by applying scientific ideas about magnets.
• 3-5-ETS1-1: Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
• 3-5-ETS1-3: Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

Unit 2: Weather and Hazards

• 3-ESS2-1: Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.
• 3-ESS2-2: Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.
• 3-ESS3-1: Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard.
• 3-5-ETS1-2: Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Unit 3: Variation of Traits

• 3-LS1-1: Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
• 3-LS3-1: Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms.
• 3-LS3-2: Use evidence to support the explanation that traits can be influenced by the environment.
• 3-LS4-1: Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.
• 3-LS4-2: Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing.

Unit 4: Ecosystems, Change and Survival

• 3-LS2-1: Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.
• 3-LS4-3: Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
• 3-LS4-4: Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.
• 3-5-ETS1-2: Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Fourth Grade

Unit 1: Energy Transfer (Collisions)

• 4-PS3-1: Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object.
• 4-PS3-3: Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide.

Unit 2: Energy Transfer (Electricity)

• 4-PS3-2: Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
• 4-PS3-4: Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.
• 4-PS4-3: Generate and compare multiple solutions that use patterns to transfer information.
• 4-ESS3-1: Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment.
• 3-ESS3-1: Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard.
• 3-5-ETS1-2: Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Unit 3: Earth Processes

• 4-PS4-1: Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength and that waves can cause objects to move.
• 4-ESS1-1: Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.
• 4-ESS2-1: Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.
• 4-ESS2-2: Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.
• 4-ESS3-2: Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.
• 3-5-ETS1-3: Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

Unit 4: Structure and Function

• 4-LS1-1: Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
• 4-LS1-2: Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways.
• 4-PS4-2: Develop a model to describe that light reflecting from objects and entering the eye allows objects to be seen.

Fifth Grade

Unit 1: Ecosystems and Matter Cycling

• 5-PS1-1: Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen.
• 5-PS3-1: Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, and motion and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.
• 5-LS1-1: Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.
• 5-LS2-1: Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.

Unit 2: Properties of Matter

• 5-PS1-2: Measure and graph quantities to provide evidence that regardless of the type of change that occurs when heating, cooling, or mixing substances, the total weight of matter is conserved.
• 5-PS1-3: Make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties.
• 5-PS1-4: Conduct an investigation to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances.
• 3-5-ETS2-1: Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
• 3-5-ETS-3: Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

Unit 3: Earth Systems

• 5-ESS2-1: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
• 5-ESS2-2: Describe and graph the amounts of salt water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth.
• 5-ESS3-1: Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
• 3-5-ETS1-2: Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Unit 4: Earth in the Universe

• 5-ESS1-1: Support an argument that differences in the apparent brightness of the sun compared to other stars is due to their relative distances from the Earth.
• 5-ESS1-2: Represent data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky.
• 5-PS2-1: Support an argument that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed down.

Making Science Multilingual: Supporting Equity Through Design Principles

This Focus Bulletin emphasizes how multilingual learners' everyday language can be an asset to science teachers in their efforts to promote classroom engagement. It provides educators with real-world examples and guiding questions to help create learning spaces where sensemaking, co-construction, language development and equity can flourish simultaneously.

Why Do We Need to Teach Science in Elementary School?

Our future depends on a public that can use science for personal decision-making and to participate in civic, political, and cultural discussions related to science. Though we have national goals for science education, science is often pushed to the side—particularly at the elementary school level.

Overview: How can we promote equity in science education?

All students can and should learn complex science. However, achieving equity and social justice in science education is an ongoing challenge. Students from non-dominant communities often face "opportunity gaps" in their educational experience. Inclusive approaches to science instruction can reposition youth as meaningful participants in science learning and recognize their science-related assets and those of their communities.

How can I foster curiosity and learning in my classroom? Through talk!

Specific instructional approaches—or ‘talk activities’—can be used to support students’ three-dimensional science learning. The Talk Activities Flowchart is a tool that highlights this tool highlights those talk formats and explains when, how, and why to use each talk format in support of student investigations.

Evaluating Curriculum Materials for Alignment with the New Vision for K-12 Science Education

Whether adapting existing materials or adopting new ones, it is important to evaluate all curriculum materials for deep alignment to multiple dimensions of the new vision. This tool highlights how the Educators Evaluating the Quality of Instructional Products (EQuIP) Rubric and support videos can be used to guide that process.