What does a student learn in StateRhode Island,GradeGrade 3,SubjectScience?

Students learn to tell the difference between a question science can test and a problem engineering can fix. They practice turning curiosity into something they can actually investigate or build a solution for.

Students build or draw a model (a diagram, a sketch, or a physical object) to show how something in nature works or how a design solves a problem. The model helps explain what they observe or predict what might happen.

Students plan simple tests and collect information to find out if an idea holds up. They decide what to observe, gather results, and use what they find to draw a conclusion.

Students look at collected data, like a chart of temperatures or a tally of observations, and describe what patterns they notice. This is how scientists figure out what the numbers are actually telling them.

Students use counting, measuring, and simple math to back up what they notice in science. Instead of just describing what happened, they use numbers to show it.

Students build a written explanation for something they observed, then back it up with evidence from their investigation. The explanation has to connect to what they actually found, not just what they guessed.

Students look at two possible answers to a science question, then use evidence from observations or data to explain which one holds up better.

Students read and discuss science information from books, videos, or experiments, then share what they found with others. They also check whether a source makes sense before using it.

Students sort and describe everyday materials by properties like color, hardness, and flexibility. They begin to notice how the tiny building blocks of matter determine what something looks, feels, and does.

Students test how pushes and pulls change the speed and direction of objects. They learn why some things stay still and others move, and what it takes to start, stop, or change a moving object.

Students explore how energy shows up in different forms, like heat, light, and sound, and learn that energy moves from one place to another but doesn't disappear.

Students explore how waves, like sound and light, carry energy and information from one place to another. They investigate real examples, such as how a phone call travels or how music moves through the air.

Students examine how living things are built and how they work, from the tiny cells inside them to the organs and systems those cells form.

Students trace how energy from the sun moves through a food chain and how matter (like water and nutrients) cycles back through living things. They also look at how plants, animals, and other organisms depend on and affect each other.

Students look at traits like eye color, fur patterns, or leaf shape and figure out which ones passed down from parents and which ones vary across generations.

Students look at how different living things share common traits and how they differ. They explore why some features help an animal or plant survive, and how those helpful traits get passed on over time.

Students explore where Earth sits in the solar system and how the Sun, Moon, and planets move in predictable patterns. They also look at clues in rocks and landscapes that reveal Earth's long history.

Students learn how Earth's major systems (land, water, air, and living things) work and affect each other. They run simple investigations to see, for example, how rain shapes soil or how plants change the ground beneath them.

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

Students spot a problem, sketch out ways to fix it, then test their ideas and improve them until the design works better. This is the core loop of engineering.

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