New Science Curriculum

4-6 PLC

April 4, 2023

Let’s play a game!

Within the Organizing Ideas for your grade

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• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

Matter

Organizing Idea: Understandings of the physical world are deepened through investigating matter and energy.

LO: Students investigate the management of waste and dangerous materials and describe environmental impacts.

Grade 4

LO: Students investigate the particle model of matter in relation to the physical properties of solids, liquids, and gases.

Grade 5

LO: Students investigate and analyze how materials have the potential to be changed.

Grade 3

• Responsible waste management (RRR)
• Responsible use and disposal of materials

• Particle model
• Movement of particles

• Materials in natural form can be used to create new materials
• Matter changes when cooled or heated
• Properties of solids, liquids and gases
• Substances change state when melting, freezing and boiling
• Water cycle
• Reversible vs permanent change to materials

LO: Students investigate how particles of matter behave when heated or cooled and analyze effects on solids, liquids, and gases.

Grade 6

• Speed and distance of particles
• Tools that measure temperature
• Expansion and contraction of matter

Matter

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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• Common: States of matter- solid, liquid and gas
• Background Knowledge: water cycle and the conservation of matter
• Matter is very similar to Waste in Our World in Grade 4
• Is there a budget for resources?

Grade 4

Matter

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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• Responsible waste management from Gr 4
• Responsible use and disposal of materials from Gr 4
• Classroom Chemistry is a connection for matter from old gr 5
• Some measurement concepts density volume

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Will there be a budget for purchasing new resources?

Will there be time allotted to make units.

Grade 5

Matter

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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• State of matter, properties of air
• Grade 5’s this year studied chemistry, density, properties of solids, liquids and gases
• Chemistry (Grade 5) would connect with new Grade 6- Matter
• Some connections to a few concepts in Air & Aerodynamics unit
• Can we have resources please?
• Will a budget be provided for resources for the new science curriculum?
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Grade 6

Energy

Organizing Idea: Understandings of the physical world are deepened by investigating matter and energy.

LO: Students investigate how forces can act on objects without contact.

Grade 4

LO1: Students investigate and compare how forces affect living things and objects in water and air.

Grade 5

LO: Students investigate and explain how forces affect the movement of objects.

Grade 3

• Non-contact forces
• Magnet interactions

• Humans rely on energy resources to fulfill energy needs

• How forces affect properties and movement of objects
• Simple machines ccn change strength and direction of forces

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LO1: Students analyze forces and relate them to interactions between objects.

Grade 6

LO2: Students investigate energy resources and explain factors that influence their use.

LO2: Students investigate and analyze various energy resources.

• Advantages and disadvantages of energy sources
• Energy sources in daily lives

• Flight of living things and objects is influenced by opposing forces
• Relationships between buoyant forces and gravity

• Forces can change the shape, size or position of objects
• Changes in an object's shape depends on its properties
• Newton's Third Law

Energy

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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Common Themes: force - how force affects objects, learning different kinds of forces

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Background Knowledge Needed: knowing directions (left, right, N, S, W, E, up, down, forward, backward, etc)

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Connections between current and new curriculum: How simple machines help overcome gravity

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Questions: What resources are available from division and how are they repackaged to suit the needs of the new grade levels ? The support in French availability.

Grade 4

Energy

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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Common theme: Force

Background knowledge: directions - horizontal, vertical

Connections: liquids and gases, building according to parameters, properties of water

Renewable and non renewable resources

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Questions: Are there resources available for next year that will be purchased by our school division? Support?

Grade 5

Energy

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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Grade 6

• How forces affect the movement of different objects in our world.
• There will be large gaps in grade 6 understanding coming into this section of the curriculum as most of this information is coming down from grade 7 about how forces affect construction and materials.
• Much of this curriculum is coming down from grade 7 in energy.
• How do we summatively assess outcomes related to more discussion based learning (Potentially more research project based?)

• Understanding of force in different dimension.

Difference between plasticity and elasticity.

• Knowledge of G. 7-8 science

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• Newton’s third law

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Earth Systems

Organizing Idea: Understandings of the living world, Earth, and space are deepened by investigating natural systems and their interactions.

LO: Students investigate the systems of Earth and reflect on how their interconnections sustain life.

Grade 4

LO: Students analyze climate and connect it to weather conditions and agricultural practices.

Grade 5

LO: Students analyze changes in Earth’s surface and explain how its layers hold stories of the past.

Grade 3

• How Earth systems interact with one another
• Earth’s surface is warmed by the Sun.
• Caring for water sources
• Earth’s systems are interconnected
• Earth’s systems include natural resources
• What are traditional methods of conservation

• Study of climates to identify historical patterns to make predictions
• Measuring weather conditions
• How climate affects humans and animals
• How climate and weather influence agriculture practices
• Looking at past experiences (observations) shared across generations to distinguish patterns

• Earth’s surface changes over time
• FNMI relationship to the land
• Water and wind shape Earth’s surface
• Plants, humans and other animal activities can cause changes to Earth’s surface
• Earth surface layers
• Soil is a continually changing upper layer of Earth's surface

LO: Students investigate climate, changes in climate, and the impact of climate change on Earth.

Grade 6

• Complex interactions between the humans and the Earth can impact climate and climate change.
• Climate changes over time
• Using observations and measurements to identify changes in climate
• Collaborating to understand effects of weather.

Earth Systems

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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Common Themes: connections and interactions with the earth, interconnection between humans and animals and the environment, conservation (how to treat the earth better), reflecting on the past (time), resources

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Background knowledge: What earth systems are, temperature, the impact plants, animals on humans have on the earth, FNMI relationship to the land

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Connections between current and new: Conservation, natural resources (current social curriculum), caring for water sources, natural waste cycle, sun (light and shadow),

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Questions:

Grade 4

Earth Systems

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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Time is a common concept (learning over time, past, thinking of future)

Connections with the land

Interactions between humans and animals and land

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They will need to know about climate vs weather, what are agricultural practices, instruments to measure weather, there is a lot of agriculture information!

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The weather tools are similar to old curriculum material

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What kinds of hands on activities can teachers use to make this more engaging?

Building and measuring weather tools is there…

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Grade 5

Earth Systems

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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Earth changes over time

Reflecting on the past - how to improve

Interactions between humans, animals and land

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Climate and weather

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What can we do for hands on?

Grade 6

Living Systems

Organizing Idea: Understandings of the living world, Earth, and space are deepened by investigating natural systems and their interactions.

LO: Students analyze organisms and relate external structures to functions.

Grade 4

LO: Students investigate the internal systems of organisms and explain how they support vital biological processes.

Grade 5

LO: Students analyze and describe how plants and animals interact with each other and within environments.

Grade 3

• External structures that support organisms on Earth
• Organisms sense and respond to their environments

• Humans are complex organisms
• Plants are complex organisms

• Plant and animal food chains
• Classifications of animals
• Plants and animals sense and respond to stimuli in order to survive
• Protection of plants and animals

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LO: Students investigate the characteristics and components of and interactions within ecosystems.

Grade 6

• Components and characteristics of an ecosystem,
• Photosynthesis
• Relationships between plants and animals within ecosystems

Living Systems

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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• Concepts on organisms are going from general to more specific.
• Students would need to know about the characteristics of different environments.
• Knowledge of plants is found in both curriculum.
• Are we supposed to focus on specific organisms?
• What does “local environment” mean? Province? Town? Community?

Grade 4

Living Systems

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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Grade 5

• Possible connection between wetlands life cycle of plants and animals??
• Grade 4 - living organism classification and interactions with environment, grade 5 is more internal study of organisms, grade 6 is how living things interact with abiotic and ecosystems
• Grade 4 - study of how plants respond to environment 7 stimuli, grade 5 study of plants parts grade 6 how plants interact with the environment
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Questions: - How in depth are the study of each of the human body systems?

Resources for assessments?

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Living Systems

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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1. Common focus….life / relationships btw. organisms on Earth

2. Photosynthesis / Awareness of plants

3. An awareness of what an ecosystem is all about

4. Very few direct connections …we currently have ‘Trees/Forests’....

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Grade 6

Space

Organizing Idea: Understandings of the living world, Earth, and space are deepened by investigating natural systems and their interactions.

LO: Students investigate and describe objects in space in connection to daily life.

Grade 4

LO: Students investigate and interpret astronomical phenomena.

Grade 5

LO: Students analyze and represent celestial bodies of the solar system.

Grade 6

• Observing objects in space to connect Earth to its place in the universe.
• Using stars and constellations for navigation and tracking the passage of time
• How cultures use observations of space, time and place in various ways.

• Observations and interpretations of astronomical phenomena

• Exploring the solar system to gain information about the Earth.
• Space exploration helps to understand solar systems

Gr. 4 Science - Curriculum

Space

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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Common themes

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All three grades use technology to explore space

We all discuss the moon and the sun

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Starts in Grade 4 - no prior or connections to current curriculum is possible.

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Grade 4

Space

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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Common Themes/Concepts: all three grades use technology to observe/explore space concepts, FNMI connections in grade 4 and 5, all three grades talk about the moon/sun in some capacity, connection regarding calendar and space in ⅘,

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Background Knowledge: We may need to build knowledge on basic astrological concepts found within our solar system (sun, moon, stars, planets and rotation patterns), vocabulary, tools for observation, and lunar calendars.

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Connections to old Curriculum: grade 6 curriculum has been spread across grades 4-6 for space, grade 5 used to have the weather unit, FNMI connections from social curriculum

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Questions:

Grade 5

Space

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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Technologies to explore space; the sun (common theme/concept)

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Very similar to present Sky Science unit

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Background Knowledge: The new grade 6 outcomes are mostly stand alone concepts.

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Questions:

Grade 6

Computer Science

Organizing Idea: Problem solving and scientific inquiry are developed through the knowledgeable application of creativity, design, and computational thinking.

LO: Students examine and apply design processes to meet needs.

Grade 4

LO: Students apply design processes when creating artifacts that can be used by a human or machine to address a need.

Grade 5

LO: Students investigate creativity and its relationship to computational thinking.

Grade 3

• Designing artifacts that meet needs

• Designs to meet humans and machine needs

• Computational Thinking = problem solving process + creativity
• Divergent thinking is creativity

LO: Students examine abstraction in relation to design and coding, and describe impacts of technologies.

Grade 6

• Abstraction
• Positive and negative impacts of computers, coding and technology

Computer Science

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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• Connection to the Matter unit: creating a plan to reduce waste.
• Create/develop a new way to get rid of waste.
• Then peers give feedback on possible problems with this plan. Students must troubleshoot these problems.
• Connection to the Earth Systems unit: build a model - layers of the atmosphere and start with the four spheres
• Connection to the Space unit: build a model
• Connection to Living Systems: Research an animal. Create an animal adaptation.
• Connection to the Energy unit: magnetic experiments
• Attach scientific inquiry to all experiments and activities in the units
• Looking at the grade below you would have to teach what an artifact is

Grade 4

Computer Science

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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• Connection to the Earth Systems Unit: Coding with Minecraft. Students would create a climate zone in the game and use coding. (Minecraft Education).
• Google Slideshow to demonstrate understanding of concepts
• Connection to Earth Systems Unit: Creating instruments to measure weather.

Grade 5

Computer Science

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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Grade 6

• Connection to the Space unit: build a model, using technologies to explore the solar system,
• Connection to the Energy unit: tension, compression, applies forces, etc.
• Pre-knowledge of basic coding skills from grade 5
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Scientific Method

Organizing Idea: Investigation of the physical world is enhanced through the use of scientific methods that attempt to remove human biases and increase objectivity.

LO: Students investigate evidence and reflect on its role in science.

Grade 4

LO: Students investigate how evidence is gathered and explain the importance of ethics in science.

Grade 5

LO: Students relate investigation to building knowledge.

Grade 3

• Collecting evidence to expand and adjust previous knowledge
• Making conclusions using reliable and valid evidence

• Investigation to understand phenomena
• Validity and reliability of evidence
• Evidence to make connections about the relationship between cause and effect
• Clearly communicated evidence
• Producing , handling and sharing evidence

• Using previous knowledge in investigations to support or contradict knowledge

LO: Students investigate and describe the role of explanation in science.

Grade 6

• How explanations are used to answer questions
• Constructing scientific explanations
• Explanations communicated in various ways
• New evidence can change understanding and explanations

Scientific Method

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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Grade 4

Scientific Method

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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Grade 5

Scientific Method

• What common themes or concepts can you identify?
• Looking at the grade below and knowing your science curriculum this year, what background knowledge might you need to teach before starting this unit?
• Do you see connections that can be made between the current curriculum and the new curriculum?
• What are some questions you might have?

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Development of a hypothesis, analyzing a change in variables (types of variables) is a common theme.

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Questions - related to FNMI explanations/content? Explanations communicated in various ways, what does that look like for assessment?

Grade 6

Curiosity Cycle

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What new insights or knowledge did you gain from today's session?

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Did anything stand out to you today?

Reflections

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What specific topics would you like to explore further to deepen your understanding?

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What are some questions you may have?

Wonderings

Resources / PD

RDPSD website

Gr. 4-6 coming soon!

TOC document ENG

TOC document FR

New Learn Alberta

Boards

Now includes True Flix!

Making a Favourites list in New Learn Alberta

Professional Development with ARPDC

Professional Development

with CARC

Review, Takeaways, and To Do’s

• Share any insights you have gained from our deeper dive into the curriculum.
• Feel free to complete the Trivia Game with your staff.
• Share the additional resources available on the New Learn Alberta site.