Your Fourth-Grader and Science
In Your Child's Classroom
Learning science thinking skills
Science is not just a body of knowledge but also a way of acquiring it. In elementary school science, children investigate the world around them. When children learn scientific concepts and vocabulary, they also develop thinking skills. They learn to ask a scientific question, plan experiments to try to answer the question and develop reasonable explanations based on their observations.
The topics children investigate at a particular grade level differ widely across the country, but the science thinking skills are universal. Students will generally study sound, electricity, plants, animals, and solids, liquids and gases during their elementary years, but each state has its own sequence of topics for each grade level. The National Science Education Standards - the jumping-off point that states use to develop their standards - lists important topics and thinking skills for grades K-4 without determining which topic aligns with a particular grade.
The lists of topics below are examples from typical states, and you should not be alarmed if your child's grade does not include all of them. It's more important that topics progress logically from grade to grade and are used to develop science thinking skills. To find out topics your state does include at each grade level, look for your state's science education standards.
What science topics will my fourth-grader learn?
In fourth grade your child will explore life science, earth science and physical science. Your child will do hands-on science investigations to inspire curiosity, learn what scientists do, and better understand the concepts. The class may visit a watershed, an observatory or a farm to extend learning outside the classroom.
Life science
Life science is the study of the structure and behavior of living organisms. Your child learns to classify plants and animals by their characteristics. She may compare animals that have backbones (vertebrates) with animals that do not have backbones (invertebrates). She also classifies characteristics as inherited or learned. She'll learn that the color of her eyes is inherited, for example, and riding a bike is a skill people learn. She explores animal and plant life cycles. She may observe the life cycle of a plant in the classroom and then make a life-cycle wheel or flip-book of the different stages. She learns about different environments - deserts, rain forests and wetlands - the different organisms that live in each one and how they adapt to their environment.
Earth science
Fourth-graders study the planet earth. Your child learns why the sun produces light and that the moon reflects light from the sun. He observes the moon and its phases, and the constellations at night. He describes the position of the earth and the planets. He names the planets in the solar system and the characteristics of each. He may make a model of the earth that shows the earth's rotation on its axis. He learns about the different types of clouds and how they are formed. He observes and records weather patterns, using tools such as a thermometer and a weather vane.
