Colorado Academic Standards Online
Use the options below to create customized views of the Colorado Academic Standards. For all standards resources, see the Office of Standards and Instructional Support.
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clear Content Area: Science - 2019 // Grade Level: Fourth Grade // Standard Category: 1. Physical Science
Science - 2019
Fourth Grade, Standard 1. Physical Science
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Prepared Graduates:
- 3. Students can use the full range of science and engineering practices to make sense of natural phenomena and solve problems that require understanding how energy is transferred and conserved.
Grade Level Expectation:
1. The faster an object moves the more energy it has.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object. (4-PS3-1) (Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence relating speed and energy could include change of shape on impact or other results of collisions.) (Boundary Statement: Does not include quantitative measures of changes in speed of an object or on any precise or quantitative definition of energy.)
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Science and Engineering Practices:
- Use evidence (e.g., measurements, observations, patterns) to construct an explanation (Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions) (Entrepreneurial: Inquiry/Analysis)
Elaboration on the GLE:
- Students can answer the questions: What is energy?
- PS3:A Definitions of Energy: The faster a given object is moving, the more energy it possesses. Energy can be moved from place to place by moving objects or through sound, light or electric currents.
Cross Cutting Concepts:
- Energy and Matter: Energy can be transferred in various ways and between objects.
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Prepared Graduates:
- 3. Students can use the full range of science and engineering practices to make sense of natural phenomena and solve problems that require understanding how energy is transferred and conserved.
Grade Level Expectation:
2. Energy can be moved from place to place.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat and electric currents. (4-PS3-2) (Boundary Statement: Does not include quantitative measurement of energy.)
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Science and Engineering Practices:
- Ask questions that can be investigated and predict reasonable outcomes based on patterns such as cause - and - effect relationships. (Asking Questions and Defining Problems) (Entrepreneurial: Inquiry/Analysis).
- Make observations to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence for an explanation of a phenomenon or test a design solution. (Planning and Carrying Out Investigations) (Personal: Personal responsibility).
Elaboration on the GLE:
- Students can answer the questions: What is meant by conservation of energy? How is energy transferred between objects or systems?
- PS3:B Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer: Energy is present whenever there are moving objects, sound, light or heat. When objects collide, energy can be transferred from one object to another, thereby changing their motion. In such collisions, some energy is typically also transferred to the surrounding air; as a result, the air gets heated and sound is produced. Light also transfers energy from place to place. Energy can also be transferred from place to place by electric currents, which can then be used locally to produce motion, sound, heat or light. The currents may have been produced to begin with by transforming the energy of motion into electrical energy.
Cross Cutting Concepts:
- Energy and Matter: Energy can be transferred in various ways and between objects
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Prepared Graduates:
- 3. Students can use the full range of science and engineering practices to make sense of natural phenomena and solve problems that require understanding how energy is transferred and conserved.
Grade Level Expectation:
3. When objects collide contact forces transfer so as to change objects' motion.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide. (4-PS3-3) (Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the change in the energy due to the change in speed, not on the forces, as objects interact.) (Boundary Statement: Does not include quantitative measures of energy.)
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Science and Engineering Practices:
- Ask questions that can be investigated and predict reasonable outcomes based on patterns such as cause - and - effect relationships (Asking Questions and Defining Problems) (Personal: Personal responsibility).
Elaboration on the GLE:
- Students can answer the question: How are forces related to energy?
- PS3:C Relationships Between Energy and Forces: When objects collide, the contact forces transfer energy so as to change the objects' motions.
Cross Cutting Concepts:
- Energy and Matter: Energy can be transferred in various ways and between objects.
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Prepared Graduates:
- 3. Students can use the full range of science and engineering practices to make sense of natural phenomena and solve problems that require understanding how energy is transferred and conserved.
Grade Level Expectation:
4. Energy can be produced, used or released by converting stored energy.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Apply scientific ideas to design, test and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another. (4-PS3-4) (Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence relating speed and energy could include change of shape on impact or other results of collisions.) (Boundary Statement: Does not include quantitative measures of changes in speed of an object or on any precise or quantitative definition of energy.)
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Science and Engineering Practices:
- Apply scientific ideas to solve design problems. (Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions) (Entrepreneurial: Inquiry/Analysis).
Elaboration on the GLE:
- Students can answer the questions: How do food and fuel provide energy? If energy is conserved, why do people say it is produced or used?
- PS3:D Energy in Chemical Processes and Everyday Life: The expression "produce energy" typically refers to the conversion of stored energy into a desired form for practical use.
Cross Cutting Concepts:
- Energy and Matter: Energy can be transferred in various ways and between objects.
- Influence of Engineering, Technology and Science on Society and the Natural World: Engineers improve existing technologies or develop new ones.
- Science is a Human Endeavor: Most scientists and engineers work in teams. Science affects everyday life.
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Prepared Graduates:
- 4. Students can use the full range of science and engineering practices to make sense of natural phenomena and solve problems that require understanding how waves are used to transfer energy and information.
Grade Level Expectation:
5. Waves are regular patterns of motion.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength and that waves can cause objects to move. (4-PS4-1) (Clarification Statement: Examples of models could include diagrams, analogies and physical models using wire to illustrate wavelength and amplitude of waves.) (Boundary Statement: Does not include interference effects, electromagnetic waves, non-periodic waves or quantitative models of amplitude and wavelength.)
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Science and Engineering Practices:
- Develop a model using an analogy, example or abstract representation to describe a scientific principle. (Developing and Using Models) ((Personal: Initiative/Self-direction).
Elaboration on the GLE:
- Students can answer the question: What are the characteristic properties and behaviors of waves?
- PS4:A Wave Properties: Waves, which are regular patterns of motion, can be made in water by disturbing the surface. When waves move across the surface of deep water, the water goes up and down in place; there is no net motion in the direction of the wave except when the water meets the beach. Waves of the same type can differ in amplitude (height of waves) and wavelength (spacing between wave peaks).
Cross Cutting Concepts:
- Patterns: Similarities and differences in patterns can be used to sort, classify, and analyze simple rates of change for natural phenomena.
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Prepared Graduates:
- 4. Students can use the full range of science and engineering practices to make sense of natural phenomena and solve problems that require understanding how waves are used to transfer energy and information.
Grade Level Expectation:
6. An object can be seen when light reflected from its surface enters the eyes.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Develop a model to describe that light reflecting from objects and entering the eye allows objects to be seen. (4-PS4-2) (Boundary Statement: Does not include knowledge of specific colors reflected and seen, the cellular mechanisms of vision or how the retina works.)
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Science and Engineering Practices:
- Develop a model to describe phenomena. (Developing and Using Models) (Personal: Initiative/Self-direction).
Elaboration on the GLE:
- Students can answer the questions: What is light? How can one explain the varied effects that involve light? What other forms of electromagnetic radiation are there?
- PS4:B Electromagnetic Radiation: An object can be seen when light reflected from its surface enters the eyes.
Cross Cutting Concepts:
- Cause and Effect: Cause - and - effect relationships are routinely identified.
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Prepared Graduates:
- 4. Students can use the full range of science and engineering practices to make sense of natural phenomena and solve problems that require understanding how waves are used to transfer energy and information.
Grade Level Expectation:
7. Patterns can encode, send, receive and decode information.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Generate and compare multiple solutions that use patterns to transfer information. (4-PS4-3) (Clarification Statement: Examples of solutions could include drums sending coded information through sound waves, using a grid of 1s and 0s representing black and white to send information about a picture and using Morse code to send text.)
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Science and Engineering Practices:
- Generate and compare multiple solutions to a problem based on how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the design solution. (Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions) (Entrepreneurial: Inquiry/Analysis).
Elaboration on the GLE:
- Students can answer the question: How are instruments that transmit and detect waves used to extend human senses?
- PS4:C Information Technologies and Instrumentation: Digitized information can be transmitted over long distances without significant degradation. High-tech devices, such as computers or cell phones, can receive and decode information -- convert it from digitized form to voice -- and vice versa.
Cross Cutting Concepts:
- Patterns: Similarities and Differences in patterns can be used to sort and classify designed products.
- Interdependence of Science and Engineering, and Technology: Knowledge of relevant scientific concepts and research findings is important in engineering.
Need Help? Submit questions or requests for assistance to bruno_j@cde.state.co.us