What does a student learn in StatePennsylvania,GradeGrade 4,SubjectScience?

Students ask "Why does this happen?" or "How can I fix this?" about something they observe in the world. Those questions drive their science work and set up problems worth solving.

Students build or draw models to show how something in nature works or how a design solves a problem. A model might be a diagram of the water cycle or a sketch of a bridge they plan to build.

Students plan and run their own science investigations to collect data that backs up an explanation or solves a problem. They decide what to test, gather the results, and use what they find to support their answer.

Students look at collected data (numbers, charts, or observations) to spot patterns and decide what the data shows. They use those findings to back up a claim or figure out how to improve a design.

Students use numbers, measurements, and simple graphs to describe what they observe in a science investigation and look for patterns in the results.

Students take what they observed or measured and use it to explain why something happened or to sketch out a fix for a problem. The answer has to connect back to real evidence, not just a guess.

Students look at two or more explanations for the same science question and decide which one has the strongest evidence backing it up.

Students find scientific information from books, videos, or other sources, check whether it makes sense, and share what they learned through writing, diagrams, or speaking.

Students examine what everyday materials are made of and how those materials behave when they mix, change temperature, or interact with each other. The goal is to explain what they observe, not just describe it.

Students explore how pushes, pulls, and collisions affect the way objects move. They test what happens when forces change direction, speed, or stop a moving object.

Students explore how energy shows up in different forms, like heat, light, and motion, and trace what happens when it moves from one object to another. Energy changes form but doesn't disappear.

Students learn how waves, like sound and light, carry energy from place to place. They explore how people use waves to send information, the way a phone signal or a radio broadcast travels through the air.

Students examine how living things are built and how they work, from the smallest cell up to whole body systems like digestion or circulation.

Students trace how energy from the sun moves through a food chain and how matter like water and nutrients cycles back through an ecosystem. They also examine how animals, plants, and other organisms depend on and affect each other.

Students look at traits like eye color, leaf shape, or fur pattern to figure out which features are passed down from parents and which ones vary from one offspring to the next.

Students look at how living things are alike and different, then explore why those differences help some survive. This sets the stage for understanding how species change over generations.

Students learn why the sun appears to move across the sky each day, how the moon changes shape from night to night, and how scientists read rocks and fossils to piece together Earth's long history.

Students learn how Earth's land, water, air, and living things connect and affect each other. They investigate what happens when one part changes, like how rain shapes rock or how plants hold soil in place.

Students look at how things like farming, building, and burning fuel change land, water, and air. They also explore how earthquakes, floods, and storms disrupt the way people live.

Students learn how farms and food systems keep communities fed while affecting the land, water, and air around them.

Students study how living things depend on each other and on water sources like rivers and streams. They look at real environmental problems in Pennsylvania and consider what causes them and how people respond.

Students look at real examples of farming, energy use, or land management to figure out how people can meet their needs without wearing out the land, water, or air that living things depend on.