Science 4

Students develop scientific reasoning and perform hands-on experiments in Earth, Life, and Physical sciences. They construct an electromagnet, identify minerals according to their properties, use chromatography to separate liquids, and assemble food webs. Students will explore topics such as: 

• The Interdependence of Life—producers, consumers, and decomposers; food webs. 
• Plant and Animal Interactions—populations, competition, predators and prey, symbiosis, and animal behavior. 
• Chemistry—mixtures versus solutions; distillation, evaporation, and chromatography. 
• Forces and Fluids—pressure, forces in flight, density, and buoyancy. 
• Human Body—the nervous system (senses, reflexes, nerves, brain) and the endocrine system (hormones, glands, growth, digestion). 
• Invertebrates—sponges, worms, mollusks, arthropods, and echinoderms. 
• Electricity and Magnetism—charges, magnets, static electricity, currents and circuits, and electromagnetism. 
• Rocks and Minerals—earth’s interior, crystals, minerals, rock cycle, plate tectonics, volcanoes, and earthquakes. 
• Weathering—erosion and deposition. 
• The Fossil Record and the History of Life—types of fossils; the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras.

Standard Curriculum Items

• Bar magnet (pair)
• Safety goggles
• Graduated cylinder, 100 mL
• Lamp bulb receptacles
• Lamp bulbs
• Magnifying glass
• Intermediate Rock and Mineral Kit
• Advanced thermometer
• Invertebrates (Lickle Publishing)
• The History of Life Through Fossils (Lickle Publishing)

Additional Curriculum Items

Some lessons require additional resources, including common household items:

• Clay (four colors)
• Bare copper wire
• Gravel
• Adding machine paper
• Pipe cleaners
• Sand
• Seashell
• White tile
• Plastic aquarium tubing

NOTE: List subject to change.

Total lessons: 72

Lesson time: 60 minutes

You might choose to split the lessons into smaller segments and take breaks as needed. The K12 online lesson tracking system allows you to pick up wherever you left off in any given lesson.