Curriculum expectations
Grades 2-4
From the Common Framework of Science Learning Outcomes K-12, Pan-Canadian Protocol for Collaboration on School Curriculum, Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), 1997.
Plant growth and changes
- Observe and describe changes that occur through the life cycle of a flowing plant.
- Identify and investigate life needs of plants and describe how plants are affected by the conditions in which they grow.
- Identify and describe parts of plants and their general function.
- Describe ways in which plants are important to living things and the environment.
- Respond to the ideas and actions of others and acknowledge their ideas and contributions.
- Identify common objects and events, using terminology and language that others understand.
- Follow given safety procedures and rules and explain why they are needed.
- Estimate measurements.
- Make and record relevant observations and measurements, using written language, pictures, and charts.
- Identify and suggest explanations for patterns and discrepancies in observed objects and events.
- Construct and label concrete-object graphs, pictographs, or bar graphs.
- Make predictions, based on an observed pattern.
- Ask questions that lead to exploration and investigation.
Exploring soils
- Investigate and describe soil components.
- Ccommunicate procedures and results, using drawings, demonstrations, and written and oral descriptions.
- Communicate questions, ideas, and intentions while conducting their explorations.
- Make and record relevant observations and measurements, using written language, pictures, and charts.
- Use appropriate tools for manipulating and observing materials and in building simple models.
- Propose an answer to an initial question or problem and draw simple conclusions based on observations or research.
- Make predictions, based on an observed pattern.
- Ask questions that lead to exploration and investigation.
Habitats and Communities
- Classify organisms according to their role in a food chain.
- Compare the structural features of plants that enable them to thrive in different kinds of places.
- communicate procedures and results, using lists, notes in point form, sentences, charts, graphs, drawings, and oral language.
- Make observations and collect information that is relevant to a given question or problem.
- Carry out procedures to explore a given problem and to ensure a fair test of a proposed idea, controlling major variables.
- Identify new questions or problems that arise from what was learned.
- Identify and suggest explanations for patterns and discrepancies in data.
- Compile and display data, by hand or by computer, in a variety of formats including frequency tallies, tables, and bar graphs.
- State a prediction and a hypothesis based on an observed pattern of events.
- Demonstrate that specific terminology is used in science and technology contexts.
- Compare the results of their investigations to those of others and recognize that results may vary.
- Demonstrate processes for investigating scientific questions and solving technological problems.
- Identify examples of scientific questions and technological problems that are currently being studied.