State Curriculum - Science

 
Grade 3
Standard 5.0 Physics: Students will use scientific skills and processes to explain the interactions of matter and energy and the energy transformations that occur
A. Mechanics
1. Cite evidence from observations to describe the motion of an object using position and speed.
a. Describe the position of an object by locating it relative to another object or to its background.
b. Using information from multiple trials, compare the speeds (faster or slower) of objects that travel the same distance in different amounts of time.
c. Using information from multiple trials, compare the distances that objects moving at different speeds travel in the same amount of time.
2. Explain that changes in the ways objects move are caused by forces.
a. Observe and describe the way an object's motion changes in a variety of situations (rolling a ball, bouncing a ball, dropping a yo-yo, winding up a toy, etc.) and identify what may have caused the change.
b. Describe changes in the motion of objects as they move across different textured surfaces and suggest possible causes for the change.
c. Observe and describe that objects fall to the ground unless something holds them up (gravity).
B. Thermodynamics
1. Recognize and describe that heat is transferred between objects that are at different temperatures.
a. Recognize and describe that the temperature of an object increases when heat is added and decreases when heat is removed.
b. Recognize and describe that heat will flow between object at different temperatures until they reach the same temperature.
C. Electricity and Magnetism
D. Wave Interactions
2. Identify and describe the relationship between a sound and the vibrations that produce it.
a. Based on observations of objects that produce sound, relate vibration to the back and forth motion of parts of the object.
b. Pose questions concerning the relationship between loudness or pitch and the vibration of an object.
 

Note: Highlighting identifies assessment limits. All highlighted Indicators will be tested on the Grades 5 and 8 MSA. The highlighted Objectives under each highlighted Indicator identify the limit to which MSA items can be written. Although all content standards are tested on MSA, not all Indicators and Objectives are tested. Objectives that are not highlighted will not be tested on MSA, however are an integral part of Instruction.

 

MSDE has developed a toolkit for these standards which can be found online at: http://mdk12.org/instruction/curriculum/science/vsc_toolkit.html.

 

January 2008