Grade 4: Unit 3 - Forms of Energy
This lesson bundles student expectations in which students will be investigating various forms of energy: heat/thermal, light, sound, electrical, and mechanical. Students will differentiate among forms of energy and investigate conductors and insulators of heat and sound. This lesson will be the first introduction to conductors and insulators of heat and sound. Students will be expected to differentiate between a conductor and an insulator.
Heat is the one aspect of the energy story in which students of this age can make some headway. It is produced almost everywhere. In their science and technology activities during these years, students should be alerted to look for things and processes that give off heat—lights, radios, television sets, the Sun, sawing wood, polishing surfaces, bending things, running motors, people, animals, etc.—and then, for those that seem not to give off heat. Also, the time is appropriate to explore how heat spreads from one place to another and what can be done to contain it or shield things from it.
In Grade 4, investigations are used to learn about the natural world. Students should understand that certain types of questions can be answered by investigations and methods, models, and conclusions built from these investigations change as new observations are made. Models of objects and events are tools for understanding the natural world and can show how systems work. They have limitations and based on new discoveries are constantly being modified to more closely reflect the natural world. Students will be designing a descriptive investigation to test the effect of force on an object.
Students will be introduced to electrical circuits and electromagnetic fields for the first time. Additionally, students will be looking at electricity as a form of energy. The concept of electrical energy will focus on the significance of closed paths in creating an electrical circuit and exploring an electromagnetic field. This lesson will also be the first introduction to conductors and insulators of electricity. Student knowledge of closed paths will be necessary to demonstrate the flow of electricity in circuits requires a complete path through which an electrical current can pass. Students should be made aware when describing circuits that “closed circuit”, “working circuit”, and “complete circuit” all refer to a circuit through which electricity can flow. In addition, “open circuit”, “broken circuit”, and “incomplete circuit” all refer to a circuit through which electricity cannot flow.
Grade 4: Unit 2 - Mixtures and Solutions
In this lesson, students will be introduced to solutions as a type of mixture. To ensure a true understanding of the differences between mixtures and solutions, students should be provided with experiences that include the concept of dissolving and solubility. It is the first time that students will be exploring solutions.
Grade 4: Unit 1 - Physical Properties of Matter
In Grade 4, students are continuing to develop their ideas about properties of matter. Grade 3 students measured, tested, and recorded physical properties of matter. In Grade 4, students will take those skills and apply them so that they may compare and contrast these physical properties. While students did experience massing an object in Grade 3, Grade 4 will introduce students for the first time to a triple beam balance.
While understanding the states of matter is a review for the students, it is also where one of the largest misconceptions of matter comes into play. Many textbooks, websites, and even the TAKS test images display molecule models of solids, liquids, and gases. The molecules of each state are tight in solids, loose and spread out in liquids, and far apart in gases. For the most part, these are correct, but understand that the misconception comes in the liquid. Liquid molecules are still close together. The molecules still have contact with each other. The density of a solid substance and a liquid state of the same substance is not significantly different. The molecules of a liquid flow while the molecules of a solid vibrate in place. To change from one state to another, heat energy has to be added or removed. This is a concept that will be addressed in the second lesson of this unit.
Another property of matter students will examine is an object’s ability to sink or float. Students in Grade 4 will not be studying density and buoyancy in depth. In Grade 3, students made observations of different objects to determine if they floated in water. In Grade 4, they will be observing the same object and how it behaves in different solutions. This is intended to move students into recognizing that when determining if an object sinks or floats in a liquid, the physical properties of the object and the liquid should both be considered. Grade 5 will look at relative density as a physical property for the first time.
While understanding the states of matter is a review for the students, it is also where one of the largest misconceptions of matter comes into play. Many textbooks, websites, and even the TAKS test images display molecule models of solids, liquids, and gases. The molecules of each state are tight in solids, loose and spread out in liquids, and far apart in gases. For the most part, these are correct, but understand that the misconception comes in the liquid. Liquid molecules are still close together. The molecules still have contact with each other. The density of a solid substance and a liquid state of the same substance is not significantly different. The molecules of a liquid flow while the molecules of a solid vibrate in place. To change from one state to another, heat energy has to be added or removed. This is a concept that will be addressed in the second lesson of this unit.
Another property of matter students will examine is an object’s ability to sink or float. Students in Grade 4 will not be studying density and buoyancy in depth. In Grade 3, students made observations of different objects to determine if they floated in water. In Grade 4, they will be observing the same object and how it behaves in different solutions. This is intended to move students into recognizing that when determining if an object sinks or floats in a liquid, the physical properties of the object and the liquid should both be considered. Grade 5 will look at relative density as a physical property for the first time.