United States · Common Core State Standards
3rd Grade Science
Third grade students investigate the physical and biological world through evidence based reasoning and hands on inquiry. This curriculum integrates forces and motion, life cycles, and weather patterns to build a foundational understanding of scientific systems.
01Forces, Motion, and Invisible Pushes
Students investigate how balanced and unbalanced forces influence the movement of objects and explore the phenomena of magnetism and static electricity.
Students will observe and describe various forces acting on everyday objects, identifying pushes and pulls.
Students will conduct experiments to demonstrate how balanced and unbalanced forces affect an object's motion.
Students will analyze patterns of motion to predict future movement and understand the concept of inertia.
Students will explore the properties of magnets, identifying materials that are attracted to them and observing magnetic fields.
Students will investigate how objects can exert force on each other without touching through magnetic and electric fields.
Students will conduct simple experiments to observe and explain static electricity and its effects.
Students will apply their understanding of forces to design and build a simple device that demonstrates a specific force interaction.
02Life Cycles and Inherited Traits
A study of the unique and diverse life cycles of organisms and how traits are passed from parents to offspring.
Students will investigate the stages of plant life cycles, from seed to mature plant, including germination, growth, and reproduction.
Students will compare and contrast the life cycles of various animals, focusing on metamorphosis and direct development.
Students will compare the birth, growth, reproduction, and death phases across different species, identifying commonalities and differences.
Students will identify observable traits in plants and animals that are inherited from their parents.
Students will explore why siblings from the same parents can have different traits and how variation is beneficial.
Students will analyze why offspring look like their parents and why siblings have differences.
Students will investigate how environmental factors can affect the expression of inherited traits in organisms.
03Ecosystems and Survival
Students examine how organisms interact with their environment and what happens when those environments change.
Students will explore examples of animals living in groups and how this behavior helps them survive and protect themselves.
Students will investigate how living in groups helps organisms survive and construct evidence-based arguments for the advantages of group behavior.
Students will identify specific adaptations that allow organisms to thrive in particular habitats.
Students will explore why certain organisms thrive in specific habitats and struggle in others.
Students will examine fossils as evidence of organisms that lived long ago and infer about past environments.
Students will evaluate how natural and human-caused environmental changes affect plants and animals.
Students will evaluate the impact of environmental changes on the plants and animals living there and propose solutions.
Students will design and propose solutions to protect local species or restore damaged habitats.
04Weather, Climate, and Hazards
Students collect weather data to find patterns and explore how to reduce the impact of weather related hazards.
Students will learn to use various tools to measure and record local weather conditions like temperature, precipitation, and wind.
Students will record and analyze local weather conditions to identify patterns and predict future trends.
Students will compare different climate zones around the world and identify their unique characteristics.
Students will compare different climate zones around the world and their characteristics.
Students will identify common weather hazards in their local area and understand their potential impacts.
Students will design and evaluate solutions to protect people and property from severe weather.
Students will design and evaluate solutions to reduce the impact of weather-related hazards on people and property.
05Engineering Design and Innovation
A culminating unit where students apply scientific principles to solve practical problems through the engineering design process.
Students will learn to identify real-world problems that can be solved through engineering and define their criteria and constraints.
Students will learn how to identify a problem and set constraints for a successful solution.
Students will generate multiple possible solutions to an engineering problem and select the most promising one based on criteria.
Students will construct prototypes of their chosen designs and conduct controlled tests to gather data on their performance.
Students will create models and run controlled tests to see where a design fails.
Students will analyze test results, identify areas for improvement, and refine their designs through an iterative process.
Students will present their engineering solutions, explaining their design process, results, and improvements.