What does a student learn in StateIllinois,GradeGrade 5,SubjectScience?

Students practice turning a curiosity or real-world problem into a question that can actually be tested or built toward. The goal is to figure out whether a question belongs in a lab or a blueprint.

Students build or draw a model (like a diagram or a physical replica) to show how something in nature or a designed object works. The model helps explain a pattern or process that is hard to see directly.

Students plan a test, collect real measurements or observations, and use what they find to check whether an idea holds up.

Students look at data from their own experiments and ask what it shows. They spot patterns in the numbers or results and use those patterns to draw a conclusion.

Students use numbers, measurements, and basic calculations to back up scientific ideas. Instead of just describing what they observe, they show it with data.

Students build written explanations for science observations using real evidence and tested ideas, not guesswork. They also propose solutions to problems and back those solutions up with data or reasoning.

Students look at two different explanations or solutions and use data or observations to argue for which one holds up better. The focus is on the evidence, not just the opinion.

Students read science articles and data, decide what's worth keeping, and explain their findings clearly in writing or conversation.

Students learn what matter is made of at the smallest scale and explore how atoms and molecules interact. That knowledge explains everyday physical changes, like why ice melts or why mixing two substances can change how they look or behave.

Students learn why things speed up, slow down, or stay still. They explore how pushes and pulls affect motion and discover the rules that explain why a rolling ball slows down or a kicked soccer ball curves.

Students test how energy moves and changes form, like heat warming a cup of water or a rolling ball slowing to a stop. Energy shifts from one form to another, but none of it disappears.

Students study how waves carry energy and information from one place to another. They look at examples like sound, light, and signals used in phones or radios.

Students examine how living things are built, from the tiny cells inside them to the organs and systems those cells form. They look at how each part does a job that keeps the organism alive.

Students trace how food, water, and nutrients move through an ecosystem and how living things depend on each other to survive. They also explore what happens when one part of that web changes.

Students examine why offspring look similar to their parents but not identical. They trace which traits, like eye color or leaf shape, get passed down and which ones vary from one generation to the next.

Students look at how living things share basic traits while still differing in striking ways, then examine why those differences build up over time and which ones help a species survive.

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 examine how Earth's land, water, air, and living things connect and affect each other. A volcanic eruption, a rainstorm, or a wildfire shows all four layers working together.

Students explore how things people do (building, farming, burning fuel) change the land, air, and water around them. They also look at how floods, earthquakes, and other natural events shape where and how people live.

Students identify a real problem, sketch or build possible fixes, then test each one and improve it until the design works better. The focus is on the cycle of trying, learning from failure, and adjusting.

Students look at how new tools and inventions change everyday life, and how the needs of society push engineers to build something better.