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

Students identify something they want to understand or fix, then shape it into a question that can actually be tested or a problem that can be solved by building or designing something.

Students build or draw models (a diagram, a chart, a physical model) to show how something in nature works or how a designed object is put together. The model stands in for the real thing so patterns and problems are easier to see.

Students design simple tests, collect data, and use what they find to check whether an idea holds up. The focus is on planning the steps before starting, not just running an experiment and recording results.

Students look at collected data, spot patterns in the numbers or results, and explain what those patterns mean. This is how scientists figure out what their evidence is actually telling them.

Students use numbers, measurements, and simple calculations to back up what they observe and figure out in science. A graph, a count, or a measurement can make an explanation more convincing than words alone.

Students take what they observed or measured and write an explanation that connects the evidence to a scientific idea. The explanation has to hold up, not just sound right.

Students look at two or more explanations or solutions, weigh the evidence behind each one, and argue for the one that holds up best.

Students read science articles or diagrams, decide which information is reliable, and explain what they found in writing or discussion.

Students investigate what matter is made of by testing and observing how materials behave. They use those observations to explain why physical things happen, like why substances mix, change state, or react the way they do.

Students test how pushes, pulls, and collisions move or stop objects, then use patterns from those tests to predict what will happen next time.

Students explore how energy changes form and moves from one object to another, and why the total amount of energy in a system stays the same even when it shifts around.

Students explore how waves move energy and carry information from one place to another. They look at real examples like sound, light, and signals to understand how waves work in everyday life.

Students examine how living things are built, from the tiny cells that make up tissues 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 a living community, from plants to animals to decomposers and back into the soil. They also study how organisms compete, cooperate, and depend on each other to survive.

Students compare traits in parents and offspring to figure out which features get passed down and which ones vary. Think eye color, plant height, or leaf shape across generations.

Students look at how living things share basic traits while also being wildly different from one another, then explore why those differences build up over time and how species change across generations.

Students study where Earth sits in the solar system and how the planets move in predictable patterns. They also look at evidence that explains how Earth itself formed and changed over billions of years.

Students study how Earth's land, water, air, and living things connect and affect each other. They look at real examples, like how rain shapes soil or how plants change the air.

Students look at how things like farming, building, and pollution change land, water, and air. They also study how earthquakes, floods, and storms affect where and how people live.

Students identify a real problem, come up with possible fixes, then test and improve their best idea until it works better.

New tools and systems change how people live and work, and society's needs push engineers to build new solutions. Students explore how these forces shape each other over time.