What does a student learn in StateDelaware,GradeGrade 4,SubjectScience?

Students come up with questions that can be tested with an experiment or a problem that could be solved by building or designing something.

Students build or draw a model, like a diagram or a physical replica, to show how something works or why something happens. The model is a tool for thinking, not just decoration.

Students plan a test, collect data, and use what they find to check whether their idea holds up. This is the core of how scientists work, and fourth graders practice it hands-on.

Students look at data from an experiment and explain what it means. They spot patterns, like whether a plant grew faster with more sunlight, and use those patterns to answer a question.

Students use numbers, measurements, and simple calculations to back up their science ideas. Instead of just describing what happened in an investigation, they show it with data.

Students take what they observed or measured and use it to explain why something happened. They back up every explanation with real evidence, not just a guess.

Students look at two different explanations or solutions, then use evidence to argue which one holds up better. The focus is on backing a position with data, not just an opinion.

Students read science articles or diagrams, decide what information is accurate and useful, then share what they learned in writing or a presentation.

Students examine what everyday materials are made of and explore how tiny particles interact to explain why things behave the way they do, like why ice melts or sugar dissolves in water.

Students explore how pushes and pulls affect whether objects move, speed up, or stay still. They test real examples to see patterns in how force and motion work together.

Students explore how energy shows up as heat, light, sound, and motion, and how it moves from one object to another. They also learn that energy doesn't disappear when it seems to, it just changes form.

Students explore how waves (like sound and light) carry energy from one place to another. They also look at how waves are used to send information, like in radios or phones.

Students learn how living things are built and how they work, starting with the tiny cells inside them and moving up to whole body systems like digestion or circulation.

Students trace how food, water, and nutrients move through an ecosystem, from plants to animals to decomposers. They also study how living things in a community depend on and affect each other.

Students look at traits like eye color, height, or leaf shape and figure out which ones were passed down from parents and which ones just vary from one individual to the next.

Students compare living things to find patterns in how they are similar and how they differ. They also learn why some traits help animals and plants survive long enough to pass those traits on.

Students study where Earth sits in the solar system and how the sun, moon, and planets move in predictable patterns. They also look at how Earth itself has changed over a very long time.

Students learn how Earth's land, water, air, and living things connect and affect each other. They look at how a rainstorm shapes soil, how plants filter air, and how those systems push and pull on one another.

Students explore how things people do, like building roads or burning fuel, change the land, water, and air around them. They also look at how earthquakes, floods, and storms disrupt daily life.

Students identify a real problem, sketch or build possible fixes, then test each one and improve it until the best solution works.

Students explore how the tools and inventions people build shape everyday life, and how the needs of everyday life push engineers to build new ones.