What does a student learn in StateIllinois,GradeGrade 3,SubjectScience?

Students practice turning everyday curiosity into testable questions. They learn to spot the difference between a question science can investigate and a problem an engineer might solve.

Students draw, build, or act out models to show how something in nature works or how a design solves a problem. The model helps them explain what they observe and test their thinking.

Students plan a simple test, collect information from it, and use what they find to check whether their idea holds up.

Students look at collected data, such as temperature readings or plant growth measurements, and find patterns that help explain what happened in an experiment.

Students use counting, measuring, or simple math to help explain what they observed in a science investigation. Numbers make patterns and results easier to see and compare.

Students take what they observed or measured and write an explanation for why it happened, using that evidence to back up their thinking.

Students look at two different explanations for the same thing, then use what they observed or tested to argue which one holds up better.

Students read about science topics and share what they learned, using drawings, words, or charts. They also check whether information they find is accurate before passing it on.

Students examine what everyday materials are made of and how those materials behave, change, or interact with each other. This builds toward explaining why ice melts, why some things dissolve in water, and how matter behaves in the physical world.

Students test how pushes and pulls make objects speed up, slow down, or change direction. They learn that a harder push moves something farther, and that balanced forces keep an object still.

Students explore how energy moves and changes form, like heat traveling from a hot pan to a cold room or light turning into warmth from the sun. They learn that energy shifts from place to place but is never lost.

Students explore how waves carry energy and information from one place to another. They look at examples like sound, light, and water ripples to understand how waves move and how people use them to send signals.

Students learn how living things are built and how they work, from the tiny cells inside them to the larger systems those cells form. They look at real examples to see how structure and function connect.

Students trace how energy from the sun moves through a food chain and how nutrients cycle back into the soil. They also look at how plants, animals, and other organisms depend on each other to survive.

Students look at family traits like eye color, hair texture, or plant leaf shape to figure out which ones get passed down from parents to offspring and which ones vary from one generation to the next.

Students look at how living things are alike and how they differ, then explore why those differences matter for survival over time.

Students learn where Earth sits in the solar system and how it moves around the sun. They also look at patterns in how planets and moons travel and explore evidence about Earth's long history.

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

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 storms, floods, and other natural events affect where and how people live.

Students identify a real problem, sketch or build a solution, then test it and improve it based on what they learn. The goal is a design that works better each time they try.

Students explore how inventions change daily life and how the needs of everyday life push engineers to build new things. A new tool can reshape a community, and a community's problems can spark the next invention.