Science 3

The disciplinary core ideas in Science 3 include 1) organizing and using data to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season and making a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impact of weather-related hazards, 2) understanding  the similarities and differences of organisms’ life cycles; understanding that organisms have different inherited traits, and that the environment can also affect the traits that an organism develops, 3) using evidence to explain how the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing, 3) understanding types of organisms that lived long ago and the nature of their environments; understanding that when the environment changes some organisms survive and reproduce, some move to new locations, some move into the transformed environment, and some die, and 4) determining the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object and the cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other; defining a simple design problem that can be solved with magnets. The crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause and effect; scale, proportion, and quantity; systems and system models; interdependence of science, engineering, and technology; and influence of engineering, technology, and science on society and the natural world are organizing concepts for these disciplinary core ideas. In the third grade performance expectations, students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in asking questions and defining problems; developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, constructing explanations and designing solutions, engaging in argument from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information. Students are expected to use these practices to demonstrate understanding of the core ideas.