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.