The Science Curriculum in Primary and Lower Secondary Grades

The science standards for Grade 4⁷ are grouped into five strands: four content strands including Life Science, Materials, Earth and Space, and Physical Processes and the Scientific Inquiry Skills strand, which addresses the development of scientific practical and intellectual skills across all the content strands. The teaching of the inquiry skills strand should be an integral part of the teaching of the content strands. There are three general assessment objectives for the science curriculum:

Knowledge and understanding
Application of knowledge and understanding, analysis, and evaluation of information
Scientific inquiry skills and procedures

The balance between these three general objectives will vary from grade to grade. As students’ scientific proficiency and experience develop, there should be greater emphasis on the application of knowledge to solving problems in new situations.

Exhibit 3 presents the weighting of the subject content strands at the fourth grade.

Exhibit 3: Weighting of Subject Content Strands at Grade 4

	Life Science	Materials	Earth and Space	Physical Processes
Assessment Weighting	30 – 40 %	25 – 35 %	5 – 15 %	30 – 40 %

Exhibit 4 presents the weighting of the assessment objectives to be applied to each content strand at the fourth grade.

Exhibit 4: Weighting of Assessment Objectives at Grade 4

	Knowledge and Understanding	Application, Analysis, and Evaluation	Scientific Inquiry Skills and Procedures
Assessment Weighting	35 – 45 %	20 – 30 %	30 – 40 %

The science standards at the fourth grade comprise the following:

Scientific inquiry—Students make observations and collect data systematically, plan a fair test by deciding how to control variables, and check and repeat observations to improve accuracy. They recognize when conclusions are justified. They construct and interpret two-way tables, bar charts, and diagrams to communicate their results. They handle more complex equipment correctly, and measure length, temperature, mass, and liquid volume.
Life science—Students recognize the importance of identifying organisms and use simple branching keys to do this. They know that habitats and their inhabitants are diverse and understand why habitats need to be protected. They know that life processes are regulated internally and can be disturbed by injury, illness and inappropriate actions. They recognize the main stages in the life cycles of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals and insects, and describe the main stages in the reproduction of flowering plants, including seed dispersion. They know the general effects of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs on the body. They know that some microorganisms can cause illness, and that good hygiene offers protection against this.
Materials—Students know that there are three states of matter and that each has particular characteristics; they know that ice, water, and steam are different forms of the same substance. They measure evaporation rates, identify examples of changes of state in everyday life, and know that changes of state are reversible. Students recognize that air is a gaseous material and that it fills spaces between solids. They recognize that gases have mass, can flow, and can change their volume. They know that there are many types of gases and that many are important to us. They know that metals are an important class of materials and can list some uses of common ones. They name the properties of metals that make them useful.
Earth and space—Students know that the sun casts shadows and that the length of a shadow depends on the time of day; they use this knowledge to make a shadow clock. They investigate how people used to tell the time using sundials. They know the cause of day and night, and that the spin of Earth on its axis causes shadow length and position to change. They know that the Sun is a source of heat and light.
Physical processes—Students know the difference between heat and temperature, measure temperature accurately, and know that the temperature of an object rises when it is heated. They know what causes an object to warm up or cool down. They know that some substances are better conductors of heat than others and compare the insulating properties of different materials. They know that sound is a vibration and can vary in loudness and in pitch. They know that we hear sounds when they travel through the air to our ears, that having two ears helps us tell where a sound is coming from, and that there are sounds that are too low or too high for us to hear. They know that loud sounds can damage the ears, and that people who work where there is a lot of noise should wear ear protectors. They know that sound travels at a certain speed and can explain the occurrence of echoes. They show that sounds can travel through liquids and solids as well as through gases such as air.

The science standards for Grade 8 are grouped into five strands: four content strands including Life Science, Materials, Earth and Space, and Physical Processes and the Scientific Inquiry Skills strand, which addresses the development of scientific practical and intellectual skills across all the content strands. The teaching of the inquiry skills strand should be an integral part of the teaching of the content strands.

There are three general assessment objectives for the science curriculum:

Knowledge and understanding
Application of knowledge and understanding, analysis and evaluation of information
Scientific enquiry skills and procedures

Exhibit 5 presents the weighting of the subject content strands at the eighth grade.

Exhibit 5: Weighting of Subject Content Strands at Grade 8

	Life Science	Materials	Earth and Space	Physical Processes
Assessment Weighting	30 – 40 %	25 – 35 %	5 – 15 %	30 – 40 %

Exhibit 6 presents the weighting of the assessment objectives to be applied to each content strand at the eighth grade.

Exhibit 6: Weighting of Assessment Objectives at Grade 8

	Knowledge and Understanding	Application, Analysis, and Evaluation	Scientific Inquiry Skills and Procedures
Assessment Weighting	45 – 55 %	25 – 35 %	20 – 25 %

The science standards at the eighth grade comprise the following:

Scientific inquiry—Students plan, collect data, and make observations in a systematic way, identify patterns, consider the validity of evidence, the extent to which it supports a prediction, and draw conclusions. They make working models to illustrate scientific ideas and solve scientific problems. They consider how to take representative samples during large investigations and carry out a preliminary investigation to assess practicability. They know that scientific work often is done collaboratively, sometimes with colleagues in other countries, and they assess the contributions of specific scientists. They express qualitative and quantitative information through a range of techniques, including graphs and scale diagrams, and use word equations to represent chemical reactions. They process electronically logged data in appropriate ways, and select and use optical equipment safely and accurately.
Life science—Students can construct and interpret a pyramid of numbers and biomass. They understand why toxins increase in concentration along a food chain. They know the structure of the digestive system and understand the functioning of enzymes. They distinguish between digestion and absorption of food. They know the basic anatomy of the lungs and describe the role of the lungs in breathing. They know that inhaled air has more oxygen and less carbon dioxide than exhaled air, and that these gases are carried to and from the body’s cells in blood vessels. They know how smoking affects health. They know the difference between red and white blood cells. They know the basic structure and function of the human heart and the names and locations of the major blood vessels. They can relate the structure of arteries, veins, and capillaries to their functions. They know about diabetes and obesity. They describe the structure and function of plant cells involved in photosynthesis. They know that green plants make their own food by photosynthesis, which requires light and the chlorophyll in chloroplasts, together with water and carbon dioxide, and that oxygen is produced. They can give examples of the use of microorganisms in food production.
Materials—Students know that the smallest particle of an element is an atom, and that atoms of one element are different from atoms of every other element. They know that compounds are formed from elements, and that a molecule is the smallest particle of a compound. They represent elements by symbols and compounds by formulas. They classify elements according to whether they are solids, liquids, or gases, and whether they are metals or non-metals. They know where the metallic and the non-metallic elements occur in the periodic table, and can identify reactivity trends for metals in the table. They arrange metals in order of reactivity based on their reactions with air, oxygen, water, and dilute acids, and know the products of these reactions. They know that reactive metals can displace less reactive ones from their compounds. They test for hydrogen. They know that we use a variety of methods to prevent iron from rusting, according to the use we make of the metal. They know that the ease of extraction of a metal from its ore depends on its position in the reactivity series. They know that metals are malleable, ductile, and good conductors of heat and electricity, and they link the uses we make of well-known metals to their particular chemical and physical properties. They contrast the physical properties of metallic and nonmetallic elements. They know the reactions of acids with metals, carbonates, and metal oxides. They can name a number of common salts and state their uses.
Earth and space—Students can explain night and day, eclipses, seasons and phases of the Moon in terms of the Sun-Earth-Moon system. They describe the relative positions of the planets and their conditions compared with conditions on Earth, and identify some planets in the night sky. They know that the Sun is a star and that it radiates light and heat, but that we can see the Moon and the planets because they reflect light from the Sun. They can recount a number of uses for artificial satellites. They assess evidence for our modern understanding of the Solar System, and show how this understanding has evolved over time.
Physical processes—Students classify common energy forms as kinetic or potential and measure it in joules. They know that energy can be transformed from one form to another, and that the total energy remains constant during a transformation. They know heat is always produced during energy transformations, and that getting rid of it often is an engineering problem. They distinguish between temperature and heat. They know that heat is transferred by conduction, convection, and radiation, and that radiation can occur in a vacuum. They know that the heat conductivity of different materials varies. They know the cause of convection currents and how these affect the weather. They know how the nature of a surface affects how well it absorbs and radiates heat. They know how shadows form, and represent a ray of light by a line. They know how light is reflected and refracted, and describe applications and examples of reflection and refraction. They show how white light can be split into colored light by refraction and give everyday examples of dispersion. They know that white light results from the superimposition of red, green, and blue light and apply this to television and to color vision. Students can name factors affecting the strength of an electromagnet and describe some applications of electromagnets in everyday life. They know how a current carrying wire moves in a magnetic field, and can apply this to make an electric motor.

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The Science Curriculum in Primary and Lower Secondary Grades