Canada · Ontario Curriculum Expectations
Grade 4 Science
This course investigates the interconnected nature of biological systems, energy transformation, and Earth's dynamic processes. Students engage in hands-on inquiry to understand how living things adapt, how energy moves through machines, and how human activity impacts the local environment.
01Biological Blueprints: Internal and External Structures
Students examine how plants and animals possess unique internal and external structures that function together to support survival, growth, and reproduction.
An exploration of how animals use their senses to gather information and how the brain processes this data to influence behavior.
Investigating how roots, stems, leaves, and flowers serve specific functions in the life cycle and health of a plant.
A study of how internal organs and skeletal structures allow animals to thrive in diverse Canadian climates.
Students explore the stages of plant life cycles, from seed to mature plant, including reproduction and dispersal.
Investigating the different life cycles of animals, including metamorphosis and direct development.
Students learn about the flow of energy in ecosystems by constructing food chains and webs.
Exploring different types of ecosystems and the specific habitats they provide for living organisms.
Students distinguish between characteristics inherited from parents and behaviors learned from the environment.
Exploring how individuals within a species can have variations in their traits, and how this variation can be beneficial.
Students investigate how human activities can positively and negatively affect local ecosystems.
02Energy in Motion: Waves and Information
Students investigate the properties of light and sound waves, focusing on how energy is transferred and used for communication.
Students experiment with vibrations to understand how sound travels through different mediums and how volume and pitch are controlled.
An investigation into how light interacts with various objects through reflection, refraction, and absorption.
Students explore how patterns can be used to encode and transmit information over long distances using light or sound.
Students investigate how light bends when passing through different materials, leading to phenomena like rainbows and lenses.
Students explore how pitch and volume are created and manipulated through vibrations and amplitude.
Investigating how white light is composed of different colors and how objects appear to have color.
Students compare how information is transmitted using digital and analog signals, and the advantages of each.
Students learn basic coding principles to create and decode simple messages using patterns of light or sound.
Exploring how the human ear detects sound waves and how different animals have unique hearing abilities.
Investigating how the human eye detects light and how different animals have unique visual adaptations.
03Shaping the Earth: Landscapes and Change
Students explore the geological processes that shape the Earth's surface and the evidence found in rock layers and fossils.
Examining the slow and rapid processes that break down rocks and move sediment across the landscape.
Using fossil evidence to reconstruct past environments and understand how life on Earth has changed over millions of years.
Investigating the impact of earthquakes, floods, and landslides, and how humans design solutions to minimize damage.
Students classify different types of rocks (igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic) and identify common minerals.
Exploring the continuous process by which rocks are formed, broken down, and reformed.
Investigating how soil is formed from weathered rock and organic matter, and its importance for plant life.
Students learn about the causes and effects of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and their impact on Earth's surface.
Exploring the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth.
Students learn to interpret maps and models to understand Earth's surface features and their formation.
Differentiating between geological processes that occur rapidly (e.g., landslides) and those that occur slowly (e.g., mountain building).
04Energy Conversions and Transfer
Students investigate how energy is transferred from place to place and converted from one form to another in everyday objects.
Observing how energy moves between objects when they hit each other and how speed relates to energy.
Building simple circuits to understand the flow of energy and how it can be converted into light, heat, or motion.
Comparing different sources of energy and their environmental impacts on local and global scales.
Students identify and differentiate between various forms of energy, including light, heat, sound, and motion.
Exploring examples of energy conversion in common devices and natural phenomena.
Students experiment with different materials to determine which are good conductors and which are good insulators of electricity and heat.
Investigating how simple machines (levers, pulleys, inclined planes) change the amount of force needed to do work.
Exploring the properties of magnets, magnetic fields, and how they interact with certain materials.
Students investigate the phenomena of static electricity through hands-on experiments.
Discussing the importance of conserving energy and improving energy efficiency in homes and communities.