The Science Curriculum in Primary and Lower Secondary Grades
The goals and objectives for science instruction are defined by Florida’s Next Generation Sunshine State Standards for Science, which consist of grade-specific benchmarks for Kindergarten to Grade 8, as well as grade span benchmarks for Grades 9 to 12. Florida’s course descriptions were developed from these standards, as were various resources to support teaching and learning. The science course descriptions for Kindergarten to Grade 8 are organized by grade level. The standards for Grades 9 to 12 are organized differently from those for Kindergarten to Grade 8, and are written for particular courses under the following discipline headings: Nature of Science, Life Science, Physical Science, and Earth and Space Science.
Middle school (Grades 6 to 8) courses also have an advanced track for students pursuing high school credit for science while in middle school.
Exhibit 3 presents the science topics and skills generally taught by the end of the fourth grade in Florida.
Exhibit 3: Science Curriculum Topics Taught Through Grade 4
| Area of Science |
Topics Covered by the End of Fourth Grade |
| Life Science |
- Life cycles and reproduction in plants and animals
- Relationships in a given community (e.g., simple food chains and predator-prey relationships)
- Changes in the environment (e.g., effects of human activity and pollution and its prevention)
|
| Physical Science |
- Classification of objects and materials based on physical properties (e.g., weight, mass, volume, and magnetic attraction)
- Familiar changes in materials (e.g., decaying, burning, rusting, and cooking)
- Common energy sources and forms and their practical uses; light (e.g., sources and behavior)
- Electrical circuits and properties of magnets
|
| Earth Science |
- Water on Earth (location, types, and movement)
- Air (composition, proof of its existence, and uses)
- Weather conditions from day to day and over the seasons
- Earth’s solar system (the planets, the Sun, and the Moon)
- Day, night, and shadows due to Earth’s rotation and its relationship to the Sun
|
Exhibit 4: Science Curriculum Topics Taught Through Grade 8
| Area of Science |
Topics Covered by the End of Eighth Grade |
| Biology |
- Major organs and organ systems in humans and other organisms (structure and function, and life processes that maintain stable bodily conditions)
- Cells and their functions, including respiration and photosynthesis as cellular processes
- Reproduction (sexual and asexual) and heredity (passing on of traits, and inherited versus acquired or learned characteristics)
- Role of variation and adaptation in survival and extinction of species in a changing environment
- Interdependence of populations of organisms in an ecosystem (e.g., energy flow, food webs, competition, and predation) and the impact of changes in the physical environment on populations (e.g., climate and water supply)
|
| Chemistry |
- Classification, composition, and particulate structure of matter (elements, compounds, mixtures, molecules, atoms, protons, neutrons, and electrons)
- Chemical change (transformation of reactants, evidence of chemical change, conservation of matter, and common oxidation reactions including combustion, rusting, and tarnishing)
- Solutions (solvent, solute, concentration, and dilution, and the effect of temperature on solubility)
- Properties and uses of common acids and bases
|
| Physics |
- Density of various materials (mass, volume)
- Periodic table (atoms, grouping by properties)
- Properties of compounds (acids, bases, salts)
- Law of conservation of mass
- Physical and chemical characteristics and changes
|
| Earth Science |
- Earth’s structure and physical features (Earth’s crust, mantle, and core)
- Composition and relative distribution of water and composition of air
- Earth’s processes, cycles, and history (rock cycle, water cycle, weather patterns, major geological events, and formation of fossils and fossil fuels)
- Earth’s resources, their use, and conservation (renewable versus nonrenewable resources, human use of land and soil, and water resources)
- Earth in the solar system and the universe (day and night, tides, phases of the moon, eclipses, seasons on Earth, physical features of Earth compared to other bodies, and the Sun as a star)
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