Grade 4 - Science

In addition to HFCS ‘Āina-based Learning Competencies (click to view), the PK-12 Science Kahua is grounded in the belief that the purpose of science is “Science is best defined as a careful, disciplined, logical search for knowledge about any and all aspects of the universe, obtained by examination of the best available evidence and always subject to correction and improvement upon discovery of better evidence. What's left is magic. And it doesn't work.” (year, Randi).

End of school year grade level outcomes were crosswalked with the HFCS Vision of the Graduate (2013), NGSS, Fountas and Pinnell, and were prioritized using the following criteria (Reeves, 2004): 1) Endurance, 2) Leverage, 3) Readiness, 4) Assessment Requirements.

I. Sense of Place: ʻĀina Learning Competencies

Overarching goals for ʻāina-based curriculum designed to connect the learner to their cultural, linguistic and physical community

II. Sense of Belonging: Science and Engineering Practices

Scientific inquiry begins with weaving together ʻāina, ʻohana, and cultural components of moʻokūʻauhau and interacting with ʻāina to then ask questions and define a simple design problem reflecting a need or want of the community ʻāina that shows empathy and knowing one’s place. Generate and compare multiple solutions to a problem based on how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the design problems. Specify and predict phenomena in designing multiple solutions. Plan and conduct investigations collaboratively in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered, and the number of trials considered. Identify aspects of a model or physical working prototype that can be improved.

III. Sense of Belonging: Motion, Stability, and Energy

Through observations, research, and testing, students develop understandings of how energy comes from the Sun, the conservation of energy, and how energy is transferred. By observing and testing forces and interactions, the understanding of the relationship between energy and forces can be developed and connections to the physical world are made.

IV. Sense of Community: From Molecules to Organisms

By understanding the structures and processes, the organization of matter, and energy flow in organisms, one can begin to understand similarities and differences of organisms and their lifestyles, and patterns of heredity, and thereby connect to ancestors. This sense of belonging also develops through understanding of how culture and community can support the birth, growth, and survival of organisms.

V. Sense of Community: Earth’s Systems

Understanding and navigating the natural landscapes includes topics of biogeology and understanding interactions between all things in the natural and world. Making sense of patterns (i.e. weather, natural Earth processes) and understanding systems and system models supports the development of a sense of community.

VI. Sense of Responsibility: Earth and Human Activity

Understanding what our natural resources are on Earth, and which ones are renewable or not will help individuals to feel knowledgeable and empowered to conserve, protect, and sustain these resources for future generations. The understanding that all life and all places within ecosystems are interconnected and interdependent, including across the Earth spheres (air, water, land) will also encourage the systems thinking mindset and build these connections to the natural world.

S.4.1Weave together ʻāina, ʻohana, and cultural components of moʻokūʻauhau (i.e. ʻohana genealogy, waʻa genealogy, Kumulipo, history, moʻolelo wahi pana)
S.4.2Interact with ‘āina by using ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi performance cartographies (i.e. oli, mele, hula, kaulana mahina, hoʻokele) and develop a stronger relationship with ʻāina.
S.4.3Understand the function and relationship between cultural protocols, cultural artifacts, and lawena (i.e piko/pū/reverence, mahalo/lei/gratitude).
S.4.4Know our place in the community ʻāina, its resources (mauna, awawa, wai , kai, one, wao) and the relationship with well-being.
S.4.5Understand the connection between moʻokūʻauhau, knowing deeply about a place, and fulfilling the ʻauamo to care for that place.

S.4.6Understand how ʻāina, cultural, and historical components of moʻokūʻauhau (i.e. moʻolelo wahi pana, waʻa genealogy, history) can be investigated based on patterns such as cause and effect relationships (application of history and prior experiences in the natural world).
S.4.7Develop a stronger relationship with ʻāina through frequent interactions and by using ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi performance cartographies (eg oli, mele, hoʻokele) to more clearly define the problem.
S.4.8Use an analogy or an abstract representation to describe a scientific principle or test interactions concerning the functioning of a natural system.
S.4.9Know one’s place in the community ʻāina with its resources (mauna, awawa, wai , kai, one, wao) and use kilo, nīnauele, research, and/or oral histories to develop and use models to explain phenomena.
S.4.10Produce data to serve as the basis for evidence for an explanation of a phenomenon or test a design solution, weaving together ʻāina, cultural, and historical components of moʻokuʻauhau to move forward with focus and intention.
S.4.11Make sense of phenomena using logical reasoning and a strengthened relationship with ʻāina.
S.4.12Engage in argument with the support of data and models developed through the understanding of the functions and relationships between cultural protocols, cultural artifacts, and lawena.
S.4.13Gather and evaluate information from books, other reliable media, nīnauele (interviews), and/or oral histories to understand the connection between moʻokūʻauhau, knowing deeply about a place.
S.4.14Communicate design solutions that fulfill the ʻauamo to care for that place.

S.4.15The faster a given object is moving, the more energy it possesses and the speed of an object is related to the energy of that object.
S.4.16Energy is present whenever there are moving objects, sound, light, or heat. Energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents. With electric currents, motion, light, sound, or heat can be locally produced.
S.4.17When 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.
S.4.18The expression “produce energy” typically refers to the conversion of stored energy into a desired form for practical use. Electric currents can be produced by transforming the energy of motion into electrical currents.
S.4.19Waves are regular patterns of motion that can be made in water by disturbing the surface. When a wave moves across the surface of deep water the water goes up and down in place changing its amplitude; no net horizontal motion in the direction of the wave except when the water meets a beach or other stationary object, thus altering the spacing between wave peaks (wavelength).
S.4.20An object can be seen when light (electromagnetic radiation) reflected from its surface enters the eyes to then produce an image in the brain.

S.4.21Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction. Macroscopic structures within organisms include thorns, stems, colored petals, heart, stomach, brain, lung, and skin.
S.4.22Animals receive different types of information through sense receptors specialized for particular kinds of information, which may then be processed by the animal’s brain.
S.4.23Animals process the information in their brain and are able to use their perceptions and memories to guide their actions.

S.4.24Local, regional, and global patterns of rock formations and fossils in rock layers reveal changes over time due to Earth forces, such as earthquakes. The presence and location of certain fossil types indicate the order in which rock layers were formed.
S.4.25Rainfall helps to shape the land and affects the types of living things found in a region. Weathering, or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, organisms, and gravity break rocks, soils, and sediments into smaller particles and move them around.
S.4.26The locations of mountain ranges, deep ocean trenches, ocean floor structures, earthquakes, and volcanoes occur in patterns often based upon these tectonic plate boundaries diverging, converging, and reshaping the Earth throughout its geologic history. With plate tectonics, earthquakes and volcanoes occur in bands that are often along the boundaries between continents and ocean. Major mountain chains form inside continents or near their edges along these tectonic plates.
S.4.27Biogeology is the process of living things affecting the physical characteristics of their regions.