The NGSS in Alabama

Energy

• Speed and Energy

  • 1 Use evidence to explain the relationship between the speed of an object and its energy.

    • How are speed and energy related? (4-G.4)

• Transference of Energy

  • 2 Plan and carry out investigations to answer questions regarding changes in energy when objects collide, and predict reasonable outcomes based on observed patterns.

  • 3 Plan and carry out investigations to provide evidence that energy is transferred by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

    • Electric circuits (4-J.2)

    • 3.a Construct an explanation using evidence to support the claim that heat can be produced in many ways.

    • 3.b Construct an explanation with evidence supporting the claim that different objects can absorb, reflect, and/or conduct energy.

      • Electric circuits (4-J.2)
      • Conductors and insulators (4-J.3)
      • How does light travel and interact with matter? (4-K.2)

  • 4 Design, construct, and test a device that changes energy from one form to another.

    • Energy transformation (4-I.1)

Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

• Wave Properties

  • 5 Develop and use models to describe amplitude and wavelength patterns and how waves can cause objects to move.

    • Compare amplitudes and wavelengths of waves (4-G.5)

• Information Transfer

  • 6 Construct an explanation of how light, sound, and digitized information are transferred by waves.

• Wave Properties

  • 7 Develop a model to demonstrate that light reflecting from objects and entering the eyes allow objects to be seen.

    • How do we see objects? (4-K.1)

From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

• Internal and External Structures

  • 8 Make a claim, using evidence, that the functions of both internal and external structures of plants and animals (including humans) support growth, survival, and behavior.

    • Identify mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians (4-L.2)
    • Identify vertebrates and invertebrates (4-L.3)
    • Use evidence to classify mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians (4-L.4)
    • Use evidence to classify animals (4-L.5)
    • Compare animal life cycles (4-N.2)
    • Human organs and their functions (4-N.3)
    • Body systems: circulation and respiration (4-N.4)
    • Body systems: digestion (4-N.5)
    • Body systems: removing waste (4-N.6)
    • Body systems: perception and motion (4-N.7)
    • Classify fruits and vegetables as plant parts (4-O.1)
    • Identify plant parts and their functions (4-O.2)
    • Identify flower parts and their functions (4-O.4)
    • Describe and construct flowering plant life cycles (4-O.5)
    • Describe and construct conifer life cycles (4-O.6)
    • Introduction to adaptations (4-P.1)
    • Animal adaptations: beaks, mouths, and necks (4-P.2)
    • Animal adaptations: feet and limbs (4-P.3)
    • Animal adaptations: skins and body coverings (4-P.4)

• Information Processing

  • 9 Carry out investigations to support a claim that different animals receive information through their senses, process that information, and respond in various ways.

    • Body systems: perception and motion (4-N.7)

Earth's Systems

• Water

  • 10 Develop and use a model to describe how water moves through Earth's systems by the processes of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.

    • Label parts of water cycle diagrams (4-W.9)

• Changes Over Time

  • 11 Construct explanations of Earth's changes over time through slow and rapid processes, citing evidence found in rock formations and fossils in rock layers.

    • Interpret evidence from fossils in rock layers (4-V.5)

  • 12 Plan and carry out investigations to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, and vegetation, investigating a single form of weathering or erosion at a time.

    • Changes to Earth's surface: erosion (4-U.1)

• Physical Features

  • 13 Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth's features on land and in the ocean.

    • Read a topographic map (4-X.4)
    • Select parts of a topographic map (4-X.5)

Earth and Human Activity

• Natural Resources

  • 14 Gather information to describe how the use of energy derived from renewable and nonrenewable resources affects the environment.

    • Evaluate natural energy sources (4-T.2)

• Natural Hazard Solutions

  • 15 Design, test, and evaluate a solution that will protect humans from the effects of natural Earth processes.

    • Evaluate multiple design solutions to prevent flooding (4-AA.1)
    • Identify the best design solution to prevent hurricane damage (4-AA.2)