South Carolina K–6 science standards

Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time.

Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs.

Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants or animals (including humans) and the places they live.

Ask questions to understand the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for and respond to severe weather.

Obtain and communicate information to define problems related to human impact on the local environment.

Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.

Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.

Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.

Make observations to determine the effect of sunlight on Earth’s surface.

Use tools and materials to design and build a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on an area.

Use observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted.

Make observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the time of year.

Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.

Obtain information from multiple sources to determine patterns in parent and offspring behavior that help offspring survive.

Make observations to support an evidence-based claim that most young are like, but not exactly like, their parents.

Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.

Make observations to support an evidence-based claim that objects in darkness can be seen only when illuminated by light sources.

Plan and conduct an investigation to determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.

Use tools and materials to design and build a device that uses light or sound to communicate over a distance.

Use information from several sources to provide evidence that Earth events can occur rapidly or slowly.

Compare multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land.

Develop a model to represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area.

Obtain information to identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid.

Design solutions to address human impacts on natural resources in the local environment.

Plan and conduct an investigation to determine what plants need to grow.

Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.

Make observations of plants and animals to compare patterns of diversity within different habitats.

Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.

Analyze data obtained from tests to determine which materials have the best properties for an intended purpose.

Make observations to construct an evidence-based account of how an object made of a small set of pieces can be disassembled and made into a new object.

Construct an argument with evidence that some changes caused by heating or cooling can be reversed and some cannot.

Represent data in tables and graphical displays of typical weather conditions during a particular season to identify patterns and make predictions.

Obtain and combine information to describe climate patterns in different regions of the world.

Make a claim about the effectiveness of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather related hazard.

Develop and use models to describe how organisms change in predictable patterns during their unique and diverse life cycles.

Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.

Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have inherited traits that vary within a group of similar organisms.

Use evidence to support the explanation that traits can be influenced by the environment.

Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.

Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in traits among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving and producing offspring.

Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can thrive, struggle to survive, or fail to survive.

Make a claim about the effectiveness of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and affects organisms living there.

Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.

Make observations and measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.

Ask questions to determine cause-and-effect relationships of electric interactions and magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other.

Develop possible solutions to a simple design problem by applying scientific ideas about magnets.

Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.

Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.

Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.

Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and how their uses affect the environment.

Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.

Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function together in a system to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways.

Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object.

Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide.

Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.

Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength and that waves can cause objects to move.

Develop a model to describe that light reflecting from objects and entering the eye allows objects to be seen.

Generate and compare multiple solutions that use patterns to transmit information.

Support an argument with evidence that the apparent brightness of the sun compared to other stars is due to their relative distances from Earth.

Represent data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky.

Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.

Describe and graph the amounts of saltwater and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth.

Evaluate potential solutions to problems that individual communities face in protecting the Earth’s resources and environment.

Support an argument with evidence that plants obtain materials they need for growth mainly from air and water.

Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.

Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen.

Measure and graph quantities to provide evidence that regardless of the type of change that occurs when heating, cooling, or mixing substances, the total weight of matter is conserved.

Make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties.

Conduct an investigation to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances.

Support an argument that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed down.

Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.

Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth’s 4.6-billion-year-old history.

Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth’s materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.

Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth’s surface at varying time and spatial scales.

Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.

Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth’s systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.

Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.

Develop and use models to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.

Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to identify patterns, which help forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.

Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells; either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.

Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways the parts of cells contribute to the function.

Use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.

Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.

Develop and use a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.

Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.

Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass, and the change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample.

Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.