What does a student learn in StateNew Jersey,GradeGrade 5,SubjectScience?

Students come up with questions that can be tested with an experiment, or describe a problem clearly enough that an engineer could work on solving it.

Students build diagrams, drawings, or physical models to show how something in nature works or how a designed object is put together. The model helps explain an idea that's hard to see or describe with words alone.

Students design a test, collect data from it, and use what they find to check whether an idea holds up.

Students look at collected data, spot patterns, and explain what those patterns mean. This is how scientists figure out if their results actually show something real.

Students use numbers, measurements, and basic math to back up their science ideas. A graph, a calculation, or a pattern in data can show whether an explanation holds up.

Students take what they observed or measured and use it to explain why something happened. The explanation has to be backed by evidence, not just a guess.

Students look at two or more scientific explanations or design ideas, weigh the evidence behind each, and argue for the one the data best supports.

Students read science sources, judge whether the information holds up, and share what they found in writing, diagrams, or presentations.

Students study what everyday materials are made of at the smallest level and explore how atoms and molecules interact. That work helps them explain physical changes they can observe, like ice melting or salt dissolving in water.

Students test how pushes and pulls change the speed or direction of moving objects. They learn why things stay still, slow down, or keep moving, and what happens when forces like gravity or friction are involved.

Students explore how energy moves from one object to another and changes form, such as heat turning into motion or light. Nothing is lost in the process; the total amount of energy stays the same.

Students explore how waves, like sound and light, move energy from one place to another. They also look at how waves carry information, the way a radio signal or phone call travels through the air.

Students examine how living things are built, from the tiny cells that make up every organism to the organs and systems those cells form. They look at how each part does a specific job to keep 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 look at what happens when one part of that system changes.

Students examine why offspring look similar to their parents but not identical. They trace how traits like eye color or leaf shape get passed down and why small differences show up from one generation to the next.

Students compare living things to find patterns in how they are built and how they behave, then explore why those similarities and differences exist across species over long periods of time.

Students study where Earth sits in the solar system and how the sun, moon, and planets move in predictable patterns. They also look at evidence that tells the story of how Earth itself formed and changed over time.

Students study how Earth's land, water, air, and living things connect and affect each other. They look at what happens when one part changes, like how a drought affects plants, soil, and the animals that depend on them.

Students look at how things like farming, building, and pollution change the land, water, and air around us. They also study how earthquakes, floods, and wildfires affect the people living nearby.

Students identify a real problem, brainstorm ways to fix it, then build and test a solution. They use what they learn from each test to improve the design.

Engineers build tools and systems that change how people live, and those changes push engineers to solve new problems. Students explore how inventions shape society and how society's needs drive new inventions.