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

Students spot something curious in the world around them and turn it into a question worth investigating. In science, that question drives the work.

Students draw or build a simple model, like a diagram or a physical replica, to show how something in nature works or how a design solves a problem.

Students design a simple test, collect observations or measurements, and use what they find to explain what happened or show that a solution works.

Students look at collected data (from a chart, table, or observation log) to spot patterns, back up a conclusion, or figure out what to change in a design.

Students use numbers, measurements, and simple patterns to describe what they observe in science. They might count, measure, or organize data to explain why something happens.

Students build explanations and solve problems using evidence from what they observed or tested, not just from what they think sounds right.

Students look at two different explanations for the same science question and use evidence to decide which one holds up. They practice defending a choice and changing their mind when the evidence points another way.

Students read, compare, and share science information using words, pictures, diagrams, and other formats, not just one way of presenting ideas.

Students sort and describe materials by properties like texture, hardness, and whether they sink or float. They use those observations to explain why matter behaves the way it does.

Students test how pushes and pulls move objects, and explore what happens when two objects collide or one object blocks another.

Students explore how energy moves and changes form, like heat traveling from a warm mug to your hand or light from the sun warming the ground. They also learn that energy doesn't disappear; it just shifts from one place or form to another.

Students learn how waves move energy from place to place. They explore how sound, light, and other waves carry information, like how a phone call travels or how a bell rings across a room.

Students look at how living things are built and how they work, from the tiny cells inside a plant or animal all the way up to the full body and its parts.

Students trace how food, water, and air move through a living community and explore how plants, animals, and other organisms depend on each other to survive.

Students look at how traits like eye color or hair type get passed from parents to offspring, and notice that siblings can share some traits but differ in others.

Students look at how living things share similarities and how they differ, then explore why those differences matter for survival. It's the beginning of understanding why species change over generations.

Students learn why the sun appears to move across the sky, how the moon changes shape over the month, and what the patterns of day, night, and seasons tell us about Earth's place in space.

Students learn how land, water, air, and living things work together on Earth. They look at how each one affects the others, like how rain shapes soil or how plants change the air around them.

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 floods, earthquakes, and wildfires affect the way people live.

Students learn where food and fiber come from and how farms affect the land, water, and communities around them.

Students study how living things depend on each other in local habitats, trace where water travels through the landscape, and examine real pollution or land-use problems in Pennsylvania and other regions.

Students look at real examples of how people meet everyday needs, like food, water, and energy, without wearing out the land, water, or air that other living things depend on.