Unit 1
• The process of scientific inquiry includes observing of natural phenomena,
conducting investigations to answer questions, analyzing results of investigations,
developing explanations and hypotheses, and sharing the findings with others.
• Scientists develop explanations of natural phenomena using evidence from their
investigations and what scientists already known about the world.
• Scientists investigate questions and proposed explanations using a controlled
experiment or ‘fair test’, an experiment in which all the variables are kept the
same, except the variable that is being investigated.
• Scientists use tools such as thermometers, rulers, graduated cylinders and balances
to measure quantities, such as length, mass, volume, and temperature. These
simple scientific instruments provide more information than scientists can obtain
by using only their senses.
Unit 2
• Using water, air, and energy from sunlight, plants make the food they need for
their life processes; they are producers.
• Animals cannot make their own food and get their food they need for their life
processes from the environment by eating plants, animals, or both; they are
consumers.
• In a food chain, energy from the sun is transferred from plants to the animals that
eat the plants for food, and then to the animals that eat other animals.
• The complex relationships between plants and animals are depicted in food webs,
and in food pyramids, showing the flow of energy within an ecosystem.
• The digestive system consists of several organs that work together to break food
down into molecules that can be absorbed by the cells.
Unit 3
• Mechanical energy can be transferred from one object to another and cause a
change in motion, through the use of simple machines.
• Simple machines have a moving part and can do work. They include pulleys,
levers and inclined planes.
• Machines cannot change the amount of work for a task, but they can make the
work ‘easier’ by changing the direction or amount of force, or the distance or
speed of force required to do the work.
• Machines can be made more efficient by reducing friction between moving parts.
• A lever makes work easier by reducing the amount of force needed, with the force
being applied over a greater distance; it takes less force to move an object up an
inclined plane, but the smaller force must be applied over a greater distance; a
simple pulley changes the direction of an applied force; a compound pulley
increases force, but at the expense of distance.
Unit 4
• The properties of rocks are determined by the way they were formed and the
minerals in them. The recurring series of events that rocks undergo, over time,
that transforms them from one type to another is called the rock cycle.
• Rocks can be sorted and classified as igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic
based on their properties. The properties of rocks include color, mineral
composition, and texture.
• The earth’s outer shell is composed of tectonic plates which move relative to each
other and interact at plate boundaries. Plate movement and faults are a cause of
earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain formation.
• Catastrophic events, such as volcanoes and earthquakes, provide information
about the earth’s interior. Patterns in earthquake locations reveal plate boundaries.
• The wearing away and moving of soil and rock is erosion; the settling of eroded
materials is deposition. Chemical weathering is one cause of the wearing away of
rock. The flow of water over the land also affects erosion and deposition.
• The process of scientific inquiry includes observing of natural phenomena,
conducting investigations to answer questions, analyzing results of investigations,
developing explanations and hypotheses, and sharing the findings with others.
• Scientists develop explanations of natural phenomena using evidence from their
investigations and what scientists already known about the world.
• Scientists investigate questions and proposed explanations using a controlled
experiment or ‘fair test’, an experiment in which all the variables are kept the
same, except the variable that is being investigated.
• Scientists use tools such as thermometers, rulers, graduated cylinders and balances
to measure quantities, such as length, mass, volume, and temperature. These
simple scientific instruments provide more information than scientists can obtain
by using only their senses.
Unit 2
• Using water, air, and energy from sunlight, plants make the food they need for
their life processes; they are producers.
• Animals cannot make their own food and get their food they need for their life
processes from the environment by eating plants, animals, or both; they are
consumers.
• In a food chain, energy from the sun is transferred from plants to the animals that
eat the plants for food, and then to the animals that eat other animals.
• The complex relationships between plants and animals are depicted in food webs,
and in food pyramids, showing the flow of energy within an ecosystem.
• The digestive system consists of several organs that work together to break food
down into molecules that can be absorbed by the cells.
Unit 3
• Mechanical energy can be transferred from one object to another and cause a
change in motion, through the use of simple machines.
• Simple machines have a moving part and can do work. They include pulleys,
levers and inclined planes.
• Machines cannot change the amount of work for a task, but they can make the
work ‘easier’ by changing the direction or amount of force, or the distance or
speed of force required to do the work.
• Machines can be made more efficient by reducing friction between moving parts.
• A lever makes work easier by reducing the amount of force needed, with the force
being applied over a greater distance; it takes less force to move an object up an
inclined plane, but the smaller force must be applied over a greater distance; a
simple pulley changes the direction of an applied force; a compound pulley
increases force, but at the expense of distance.
Unit 4
• The properties of rocks are determined by the way they were formed and the
minerals in them. The recurring series of events that rocks undergo, over time,
that transforms them from one type to another is called the rock cycle.
• Rocks can be sorted and classified as igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic
based on their properties. The properties of rocks include color, mineral
composition, and texture.
• The earth’s outer shell is composed of tectonic plates which move relative to each
other and interact at plate boundaries. Plate movement and faults are a cause of
earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain formation.
• Catastrophic events, such as volcanoes and earthquakes, provide information
about the earth’s interior. Patterns in earthquake locations reveal plate boundaries.
• The wearing away and moving of soil and rock is erosion; the settling of eroded
materials is deposition. Chemical weathering is one cause of the wearing away of
rock. The flow of water over the land also affects erosion and deposition.