Grade 3 Science Curriculum
Family-facing version of the grade 3 science curriculum
Goals
The purposes of scientific investigation and discovery are to satisfy humankind’s quest for knowledge and understanding and to preserve and enhance the quality of the human experience. Therefore, as a result of science instruction, students will be able to achieve the following objectives:
- Develop and use an experimental design in scientific inquiry.
- Use the language of science to communicate understanding.
- Investigate phenomena using technology.
- Apply scientific concepts, skills, and processes to everyday experiences.
- Experience the richness and excitement of scientific discovery of the natural world through the collaborative quest for knowledge and understanding.
- Make informed decisions regarding contemporary issues.
- Develop scientific dispositions and habits of mind.
- Develop an understanding of the interrelationship of science with technology, engineering, and mathematics.
- Explore science-related careers and interests.
Quarterly Overview of Grade 3 Science
The objectives and outcomes for each unit are common across FCPS and based on the Virginia Standards of Learning. The pacing by quarter and by week provides an example of how the curriculum can be organized throughout the year. Teacher teams may adjust the pacing or order of units to best meet the needs of students.
Units and Details
Students will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of scientific and engineering practices.
- Investigate and understand that adaptations allow animals to satisfy life needs and respond to the environment.
- Investigate and understand that aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems support a diversity of organisms.
- Investigate and understand basic patterns and cycles occurring in nature.
Students will understand:
- Animals have structures and behaviors that help them survive in their environments
- Every plant and animal depends on other organisms and nonliving factors to survive in an ecosystem.
- Scientists design and build models to explain observations of the natural world.
Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.
- Identify a concept or “Big Idea” that supports interdisciplinary connections e.g. change, systems, patterns, relationships, etc. to analyze real-world problems
- Analyze the relationships between and among systems
- Analyze the interactions of various system components with one another and the input into the system
- Explore the interrelated nature of ecosystems to explain the diversity of organisms we see on Earth
Students will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of scientific and engineering practices.
- Investigate and understand how materials interact with water.
- Investigate and understand that there is a water cycle and water is important to life on Earth.
- Investigate and understand that natural events and humans influence ecosystems.
Students will understand:
- Many substances interact with and in water.
- Water is essential to Earth processes. The water cycle is a model that illustrates how water is conserved within environments.
- Water is a limited natural resource essential to Earth’s processes and should be conserved
Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.
- Determine human dependency on several major sources of energy found on Earth
- Investigate the effects of humans on the environment, the importance of Earth’s natural resources, and sound conservation practices
- Understand and analyze the cyclical patterns of change
- Understand that systems are interdependent of each other
- Understand how natural resources change over time
Students will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of scientific and engineering practices.
- Investigate and understand that soil is important in ecosystems.
- Investigate and understand that natural events and humans influence ecosystems.
Students will understand:
- Soils play an essential role in ecosystems.
- Conservation practices can lessen the effects of human activity and natural disasters upon the environment.
Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.
- Identify a concept or “Big Idea” that supports interdisciplinary connections e.g. change, systems, patterns, relationships, etc. to analyze real-world problems
- Identify different types and layers of soil
- Understand the benefits and drawbacks of each soil type
- Understand how natural resources change over time
- Analyze how soil is created
- Investigate the effects of humans on the environment, the importance of Earth’s natural resources, and sound conservation practices
- Understand conservation and resource renewal and its impact on various systems
Students will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of scientific and engineering practices.
- Investigate and understand that the direction and size of force affects the motion of an object.
Students will understand:
- Forces affect the motion of an object.
- Machines help people accomplish tasks by changing the direction or size of a force.
Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.
- Identify a concept or “Big Idea” that supports interdisciplinary connections e.g. change, systems, patterns, relationships, etc. to analyze real-world problems
- Make predictions, observations, and inferences and draw conclusions
- Draw implications for action based on the available data
- Draw appropriate conclusions after conducting investigations
- Investigate and describe kinetic and potential energy, and the proportionality of force as motion is communicated by mechanically means
Assessments
Student assessments are part of the teaching and learning process.
- Teachers give assessments to students on an ongoing basis to
- Check for understanding
- Gather information about students' knowledge or skills.
- Assessments provide information about a child's development of knowledge and skills that can help families and teachers better plan for the next steps in instruction.
For testing questions or additional information about how schools and teachers use test results to support student success, families can contact their children's schools.
In Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), grade 3 tests focus on measuring content knowledge and skill development.
