Georgia Performance Standards, Grade Three

Co-Requisite - Characteristics of Science

Habits of Mind

S3CS1. Students will be aware of the importance of curiosity, honesty, openness, and skepticism in science and will exhibit these traits in their own efforts to understand how the world works.

a. Keep records of investigations and observations and do not alter the records later.

Video: What is Science?
Video: Science Fair Panic, Part One
Video: Science Fair Panic, Part Two
Video: Science Fair Panic, Part Three
Video: Science Fair Panic, Part Four
Experiment: How Much Rain?
Experiment: Pinecone Weather

b. Offer reasons for findings and consider reasons suggested by others.

c. Take responsibility for understanding the importance of being safety conscious.

S3CS2. Students will have the computation and estimation skills necessary for analyzing data and following scientific explanations.

a. Add, subtract, multiply, and divide whole numbers mentally, on paper, and with a calculator.

Video: Light As Air
Video: Light Speed Chocolate
Video: Planets And Pennies
Experiment: What's The Password?
Experiment: Fish In A Bucket
Experiment: More Fish In A Bucket
Experiment: How Much Rain?
Video: Relative Motion
Experiment: Nine Folds

b. Use commonly encountered fractions – halves, thirds, and fourths (but not sixths, sevenths, and so on) – in scientific calculations.

c. Judge whether measurements and computations of quantities, such as length, weight, or time, are reasonable answers to scientific problems by comparing them to typical values.

S3CS3. Students will use tools and instruments for observing, measuring, and manipulating objects in scientific activities utilizing safe laboratory procedures.

a. Choose appropriate common materials for making simple mechanical constructions and repairing things.

Video: Bird On A Wire
Video: Simple Circuit
Video: Hanging a Hammer

b. Use computers, cameras and recording devices for capturing information.

Experiment: 3D Photos
Experiment: Make Your Own Sterogram

c. Identify and practice accepted safety procedures in manipulating science materials and equipment.

Video: Dry Ice
Video: Strange Flame, Part One
Video: Heating A Balloon
Video: Laser Projection Microscope

S3CS4. Students will use ideas of system, model, change, and scale in exploring scientific and technological matters
.
a. Observe and describe how parts influence one another in things with many parts.

Video: Food Chain: Producers
Video: Bird On A Wire
Video: Simple Circuit
Experiment: Homemade Barometer

b. Use geometric figures, number sequences, graphs, diagrams, sketches, number lines, maps, and stories to represent corresponding features of objects, events, and processes in the real world.

c. Identify ways in which the representations do not match their original counterparts.

S3CS5. Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly.

a. Write instructions that others can follow in carrying out a scientific procedure.

b. Make sketches to aid in explaining scientific procedures or ideas.

c. Use numerical data in describing and comparing objects and events.

Video: Planets And Pennies
Experiment: How Much Rain?

d. Locate scientific information in reference books, back issues of newspapers and magazines, CD-ROMs, and computer databases.

S3CS6. Students will question scientific claims and arguments effectively.
a. Support statements with facts found in books, articles, and databases, and identify the sources used.

The Nature of Science

S3CS7. Students will be familiar with the character of scientific knowledge and how it is achieved.

Students will recognize that:

a. Similar scientific investigations seldom produce exactly the same results, which may differ due to unexpected differences in whatever is being investigated, unrecognized differences in the methods or circumstances of the investigation, or observational uncertainties.

Video: Floating Cups

b. Some scientific knowledge is very old and yet is still applicable today.
Experiment: Newton's Laws

S3CS8. Students will understand important features of the process of scientific inquiry.

Students will apply the following to inquiry learning practices:

a. Scientific investigations may take many different forms, including observing what things are like or what is happening somewhere, collecting specimens for analysis, and doing experiments.

Video: What is Science?
Video: Science Fair Panic, Part One
Video: Science Fair Panic, Part Two
Video: Science Fair Panic, Part Three
Video: Science Fair Panic, Part Four
Video: Nature Watching
Video: A Walk In The Park
Experiment: Monocots and Dicots
Experiment: Building A Nest

b. Clear and active communication is an essential part of doing science. It enables scientists to inform others about their work, expose their ideas to criticism by other scientists, and stay informed about scientific discoveries around the world.
Video: What is Science?
Video: Science Fair Panic, Part Three
Video: Science Fair Panic, Part Four

c. Scientists use technology to increase their power to observe things and to measure and compare things accurately.
Video: What is Science?

d. Science involves many different kinds of work and engages men and women of all ages and backgrounds.

Earth Science

S3E1. Students will investigate the physical attributes of rocks and soils.

a. Explain the difference between a rock and a mineral.

Video: Rocks
Video: What Is A Mineral?

b. Recognize the physical attributes of rocks and minerals using observation (shape, color, texture), measurement, and simple tests (hardness).

Video: Rocks
Video: Identifying Minerals
Experiment: Sweet Geology

c. Use observation to compare the similarities and differences of texture, particle size, and color in top soils (such as clay, loam or potting soil, and sand).

Experiment: Soil Types

d. Determine how water and wind can change rocks and soil over time using observation and research..

Video: Erosion
Video: Continuous Change
Video: Fast And Slow Change

S3E2. Students will investigate fossils as evidence of organisms that lived long ago.

a. Investigate fossils by observing authentic fossils or models of fossils or view information resources about fossils as evidence of organisms that lived long ago.

b. Describe how a fossil is formed.

Physical Science

S3P1. Students will investigate how heat is produced and the effects of heating and cooling, and will understand a change in temperature indicates a change in heat.

a. Categorize ways to produce heat energy such as burning, rubbing (friction), and mixing one thing with another.

Video: Fire Diamond
Experiment: Smell Of Money

b. Investigate how insulation affects heating and cooling.

c. Investigate the transfer of heat energy from the sun to various materials.

Video: Solar Power
Video: Taking A Marshmallow Apart
Experiment: Thoughts On Trees
Experiment: Why Paper Burns

d. Use thermometers to measure the changes in temperatures of water samples (hot, warm, cold) over time.

Experiment: A Cool Change

S3P2. Students will investigate magnets and how they affect other magnets and common objects.

a. Investigate to find common objects that are attracted to magnets.

Video: The Compass And Magnetic Fields
Experiment: Attractive Cereal
Video: Iron Cereal

b. Investigate how magnets attract and repel each other.

Video: How To Make A Compass
Video: The Compass And Magnetic Fields
Experiment: Which Magnet, Part One
Experiment: Which Magnet, Part Two

Life Science

S3L1. Students will investigate the habitats of different organisms and the dependence of organisms on their habitat.

a. Differentiate between habitats of Georgia (mountains, marsh/swamp, coast, Piedmont, Atlantic Ocean) and the organisms that live there.

b. Identify features of green plants that allow them to live and thrive in different regions of Georgia.

c. Identify features of animals that allow them to live and thrive in different regions of Georgia.

d. Explain what will happen to an organism if the habitat is changed.

S3L2. Students will recognize the effects of pollution and humans on the environment.

a. Explain the effects of pollution (such as littering) to the habitats of plants and animals.

b. Identify ways to protect the environment.

• Conservation of resources

Video: Recycle

• Recycling of materials

Experiment: Saving Water