Ohio Academic Content Standards for Science
Benchmarks and Indicators
3-5 Science Benchmarks
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Earth and Space Sciences |
Life Sciences |
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A. Explain the characteristics,
cycles and patterns involving Earth and its place in the solar system. B. Summarize the processes that
shape Earth's surface and describe evidence of those processes. C. Describe Earth's resources
including rocks, soil, water, air, animals and plants and the ways in which
they can be conserved. D. Analyze weather and changes that
occur over a period of time. |
A. Differentiate between the life
cycles of different plants and animals. B. Analyze plant and animal
structures and functions needed for survival and describe the flow of energy
through a system that all organisms use to survive. C. Compare changes in an organism's
ecosystem/habitat that affect its survival. |
3-5 Science Benchmarks
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Physical Sciences |
Science and Technology |
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A. Compare the characteristics of
simple physical and chemical changes. B. Identify and describe the
physical properties of matter in its various states. C. Describe the forces that directly
affect objects and their motion. D. Summarize the way changes in
temperature can be produced and thermal energy transferred. E. Trace how electrical energy flows
through a simple electrical circuit and describe how the electrical energy
can produce thermal energy, light, sound and magnetic forces. F. Describe the properties of light
and sound energy. |
A. Describe how technology affects human life. B. Describe and illustrate the design process. |
3-5 Science Benchmarks
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Scientific Inquiry |
Scientific Ways of Knowing |
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A. Use appropriate instruments
safely to observe, measure and collect data when conducting a scientific
investigation. B. Organize and evaluate
observations, measurements and other data to formulate inferences and
conclusions. C. Develop, design and safely conduct scientific investigations and communicate the results. |
A. Distinguish between fact and
opinion and explain how ideas and conclusions change as new knowledge is
gained. B. Describe different types of
investigations and use results and data from investigations to provide the
evidence to support explanations and conclusions. C. Explain the importance of keeping
records of observations and investigations that are accurate and
understandable. D. Explain that men and women of
diverse countries and cultures participate in careers in all fields of
science. |
Grade Three
Earth
and Space Sciences
|
Earth
Systems |
1. Compare distinct properties of rocks (e.g., color, layering
and texture). 2. Observe and investigate that rocks are often found in layers. 3. Describe that smaller rocks come
from the breakdown of larger rocks through the actions of plants and weather. 4. Observe and describe the
composition of soil (e.g., small pieces of rock and decomposed pieces of
plants and animals, and products of plants and animals). 5. Investigate the properties of
soil (e.g., color, texture, capacity to retain water, ability to support
plant growth). 6. Investigate that soils are often
found in layers and can be different from place to place. |
Life
Sciences
|
Heredity |
1. Compare the life cycles of
different animals including birth to adulthood, reproduction and death (e.g.,
egg-tadpole-frog, egg-caterpillar-chrysalis-butterfly). |
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Diversity
and Interdependence
of Life |
2. Relate animal structures to their
specific survival functions (e.g., obtaining food, escaping or hiding from
enemies). 3. Classify animals according to
their characteristics (e.g., body coverings and body structure). 4. Use examples to explain that extinct
organisms may resemble organisms that are alive today. 5. Observe and explore how fossils
provide evidence about animals that lived long ago and the nature of the
environment at that time. 6. Describe how changes in an
organism's habitat are sometimes beneficial and sometimes harmful. |
Physical
Sciences
|
Forces
and Motion |
1. Describe an objects position by
locating it relative to another object or the background. |
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2. Describe an objects motion by
tracing and measuring its position over time. 3. Identify contact/noncontact
forces that affect motion of an object (e.g., gravity, magnetism and
collision). 4. Predict the changes when an
object experiences a force (e.g., a push or pull, weight and friction). |
Science
and Technology
|
Understanding Technology |
1. Describe how technology can
extend human abilities (e.g., to move things and to extend senses). 2. Describe ways that using
technology can have helpful and/or harmful results. 3. Investigate ways that the results
of technology may affect the individual, family and community. |
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Abilities
To Do Technological Design |
4. Use a simple design process to
solve a problem (e.g., identify a problem, identify possible solutions and
design a solution). 5. Describe possible solutions to a
design problem (e.g., how to hold down paper in the wind). |
Scientific
Inquiry
|
Doing
Scientific Inquiry |
1. Select the appropriate tools and
use relevant safety procedures to measure and record length and weight in
metric and English units. 2. Discuss observations and measurements made by other people. 3. Read and interpret simple tables and graphs produced by
self/others. 4. Identify and apply science safety procedures. 5. Record and organize observations (e.g., journals, charts and
tables). 6. Communicate scientific findings
to others through a variety of methods (e.g., pictures, written, oral and
recorded observations). |
Scientific
Ways of Knowing
|
Nature
of Science |
1. Describe different kinds of
investigations that scientists use depending on the questions they are trying
to answer. |
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Ethical
Practices |
2. Keep records of investigations
and observations and do not change the records that are different from
someone else's work. |
|
Science
and Society |
3. Explore through stories how men
and women have contributed to the development of science. 4. Identify various careers in science. 5. Discuss how both men and women
find science rewarding as a career and in their everyday lives. |
I C
Grade Four
Earth
and Space Sciences
|
Earth
Systems |
1. Explain that air surrounds us,
takes up space, moves around us as wind, and may be measured using barometric
pressure. 2. Identify how water exists in the
air in different forms (e.g., in clouds, fog, rain, snow and hail). 3. Investigate how water changes
from one state to another (e.g., freezing, melting, condensation and
evaporation). 4. Describe weather by measurable
quantities such as temperature, wind direction, wind speed, precipitation and
barometric pressure. 5. Record local weather information
on a calendar or map and describe changes over a period of time (e.g.,
barometric pressure, temperature, precipitation symbols and cloud
conditions). 6. Trace how weather patterns
generally move from west to east in the United States. 7. Describe the weather which
accompanies cumulus, cumulonimbus, cirrus and stratus clouds. |
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Processes
That Shape
Earth |
8. Describe how wind, water and ice
shape and reshape Earth's land surface by eroding rock and soil in some areas
and depositing them in other areas producing characteristic landforms (e.g.,
dunes, deltas and glacial moraines). 9. Identify and describe how
freezing, thawing and plant growth reshape the land surface by causing the
weathering of rock. 10. Describe evidence of changes on
Earth's surface in terms of slow processes (e.g., erosion, weathering,
mountain building and deposition) and rapid processes (e.g. volcanic
eruptions, earthquakes and landslides). |
Life
Sciences
|
Heredity |
1. Compare the life cycles of
different plants including germination, maturity, reproduction and death. |
|
Diversity
and Interdependence
of Life |
2. Relate plant structures to their
specific functions (e.g., growth, survival and reproduction). |
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3. Classify common plants according
to their characteristics (e.g., tree leaves, flowers, seeds, roots and
stems). 4. Observe and explore that fossils
provide evidence about plants that lived long ago and the nature of the
environment at that time. 5. Describe how organisms interact
with one another in various ways (e.g., many plants depend on animals for
carrying pollen or dispersing seeds). |
Physical
Sciences
|
Nature
of Matter |
1. Identify characteristics of a
simple physical change (e.g., heating or cooling can change water from one
state to another and the change is reversible). 2. Identify characteristics of a
simple chemical change. When a new material is made by combining two or more
materials, it has chemical properties that are different from the original
materials (e.g., burning paper, vinegar and baking soda). 3. Describe objects by the
properties of the materials from which they are made and that these
properties can be used to separate or sort a group of objects (e.g., paper,
glass, plastic and metal). 4. Explain that matter has different
states (e.g., solid, liquid and gas) and that each state has distinct
physical properties. |
|
Nature
of Energy |
5. Compare ways the temperature of
an object can be changed (e.g., rubbing, heating and bending of metal). |
Science
and Technology
|
Understanding Technology |
1. Explain how technology from
different areas (e.g., transportation, communication, nutrition, healthcare,
agriculture, entertainment and manufacturing) has improved human lives. 2. Investigate how technology and
inventions change to meet peoples' needs and wants. |
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Abilities
To Do Technological Design |
3. Describe, illustrate and evaluate
the design process used to solve a problem. |
Scientific
Inquiry
|
Doing
Scientific Inquiry |
1. Select the appropriate tools and
use relevant safety procedures to measure and record length, weight, volume,
temperature and area in metric and English units. |
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2. Analyze a series of events and/or
simple daily or seasonal cycles, describe the patterns and infer the next
likely occurrence. 3. Develop, design and conduct safe,
simple investigations or experiments to answer questions. 4. Explain the importance of keeping conditions the same in an
experiment. 5. Describe how comparisons may not
be fair when some conditions are not kept the same between experiments. 6. Formulate instructions and
communicate data in a manner that allows others to understand and repeat an
investigation or experiment. |
Scientific
Ways of Knowing
|
Nature
of Science |
1. Differentiate fact from opinion
and explain that scientists do not rely on claims or conclusions unless they
are backed by observations that can be confirmed. 2. Record the results and data from
an investigation and make a reasonable explanation. 3. Explain discrepancies in an
investigation using evidence to support findings. |
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Ethical
Practices |
4. Explain why keeping records of
observations and investigations is important. |
Grade Five
Earth
and Space Sciences
|
The
Universe |
1. Describe how night and day are caused by Earth's rotation. 2. Explain that Earth is one of
several planets to orbit the sun, and that the moon orbits Earth. 3. Describe the characteristics of
Earth and its orbit about the sun (e.g., three-fourths of Earth's surface is
covered by a layer of water [some of it frozen], the entire planet surrounded
by a thin blanket of air, elliptical orbit, tilted axis and spherical
planet). 4. Explain that stars are like the
sun, some being smaller and some larger, but so far away that they look like
points of light. |
|
Earth
Systems |
5. Explain how the supply of many
non-renewable resources is limited and can be extended through reducing,
reusing and recycling but cannot be extended indefinitely. 6. Investigate ways Earth's
renewable resources (e.g., fresh water, air, wildlife and trees) can be
maintained. |
Life
Sciences
|
Diversity
and Interdependence
of Life |
1. Describe the role of producers in
the transfer of energy entering ecosystems as sunlight to chemical energy
through photosynthesis. 2. Explain how almost all kinds of
animals' food can be traced back to plants. 3. Trace the organization of simple
food chains and food webs (e.g., producers, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores
and decomposers). 4. Summarize that organisms can
survive only in ecosystems in which their needs can be met (e.g., food,
water, shelter, air, carrying capacity and waste disposal). The world has
different ecosystems and distinct ecosystems support the lives of different
types of organisms. 5. Support how an organism's
patterns of behavior are related to the nature of that organism's ecosystem,
including the kinds and numbers of other organisms present, the availability
of food and resources, and the changing physical characteristics of the
ecosystem. |
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6. Analyze how all organisms,
including humans, cause changes in their ecosystems and how these changes can
be beneficial, neutral or detrimental (e.g., beaver ponds, earthworm burrows,
grasshoppers eating plants, people planting and cutting trees and people
introducing a new species). |
Physical
Sciences
|
Nature
of Energy |
1. Define temperature as the measure
of thermal energy and describe the way it is measured. 2. Trace how thermal energy can
transfer from one object to another by conduction. 3. Describe that electrical current
in a circuit can produce thermal energy, light, sound and/or magnetic forces. 4. Trace how electrical current
travels by creating a simple electric circuit that will light a bulb. 5. Explore and summarize
observations of the transmission, bending (refraction) and reflection of
light. 6. Describe and summarize
observations of the transmission, reflection, and absorption of sound. 7. Describe that changing the rate
of vibration can vary the pitch of a sound. |
Science
and Technology
|
Understanding Technology |
1. Investigate positive and negative
impacts of human activity and technology on the environment. |
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Abilities
To Do Technological Design |
2. Revise an existing design used to solve a problem based on
peer review. 3. Explain how the solution to one problem may create other
problems. |
Scientific
Inquiry
|
Doing
Scientific Inquiry |
1. Select and safely use the
appropriate tools to collect data when conducting investigations and
communicating findings to others (e.g., thermometers, timers, balances,
spring scales, magnifiers, microscopes and other appropriate tools). 2. Evaluate observations and
measurements made by other people and identify reasons for any discrepancies. |
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3. Use evidence and observations to
explain and communicate the results of investigations. 4. Identify one or two variables in a simple experiment. 5. Identify potential hazards and/or
precautions involved in an investigation. 6. Explain why results of an
experiment are sometimes different (e.g., because of unexpected differences
in what is being investigated, unrealized differences in the methods used or
in the circumstances in which the investigation was carried out, and because
of errors in observations). |
Scientific
Ways of Knowing
|
Nature
of Science |
1. Summarize how conclusions and
ideas change as new knowledge is gained. 2. Develop descriptions,
explanations and models using evidence to defend/support findings. 3. Explain why an experiment must be
repeated by different people or at different times or places and yield
consistent results before the results are accepted. 4. Identify how scientists use
different kinds of ongoing investigations depending on the questions they are
trying to answer (e.g., observations of things or events in nature, data
collection and controlled experiments). |
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Ethical
Practices |
5. Keep records of investigations
and observations that are understandable weeks or months later. |
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Science
and Society |
6. Identify a variety of scientific
and technological work that people of all ages, backgrounds and groups
perform. |
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10. Recognize that social issues and
challenges can affect progress in science and technology. (e.g., Funding
priorities for specific health problems serve as examples of ways that social
issues influence science and technology.) 11. Research how advances in
scientific knowledge have impacted society on a local, national or global
level. |