Back to Curriculum Matrix

Our new science curriculum is based on a multi-year review and analysis of the Curriculum Topic Study materials by our K-12 science curriculum team. The Benchmarks for Science Literacy form the basis for the benchmarks that are set for each grade level.  The bold-faced standards are the MDIRSS essential standards and the standards in regular font are supporting standards. Click on the green bold-faced MDIRSS essential standards to see the unpacked version, list of resources, and corresponding performance rubric for that standard.

• Ask questions (for science) and define problems (for engineering)
• Develop and use models
• Plan and carry out investigations
• Analyze and interpret data
• Use mathematics and computational thinking
• Construct explanations (for science) and design solutions (for engineering)
• Engage in argument from evidence
• Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information

Crosscutting Concepts

5.SCI.1A.E2. Understand that science is a process of trying to figure out how the world works by making careful observations and trying to make sense of those observations.

5.SCI.11.C.E5. Demonstrate that the number of objects in a group can stay the same even as some enter or leave as long as each one that leaves is replaced by another one that is entering.

5.SCI.12A/E1. Keep clear and accurate records of investigations and observations.

5.SCI.12A/E2. Offer reasons for claims and consider reasons suggested by others.

5.SCI.12A/E3. Records of observations are helpful when trying to recall those observations later.

5.SCI.12E/E1.  Buttress their statements with facts found in books, articles, and databases, and identify the sources used and expect others to do the same.

5.SCI.12E/E2. Recognize when comparisons might not be fair because some conditions are not kept the same. 

5.SCI.12E/E3. Seek reasons for believing something rather than just claiming "Everybody knows that…" or "I just know" and discount such claims when made by others.        

Scientific Inquiry

5.SCI.1B. When people give different descriptions of the same thing, it is usually a good idea to make some fresh observations instead of just arguing about who is right.

5.SCI.1B.E3a. Scientists' explanations about what happens in the world come partly from what they observe, partly from what they think.

5.SCI.1B.E4. Scientists do not pay much attention to claims about how something they know about works unless the claims are backed up with evidence that can be confirmed, along with a logical argument.

5.SCI.1B.E2a. Because we expect science investigations that are done the same way to produce the same results, when they do not, it is important to try to figure out why.

Physical Sciences

5.SCI.4B.3. Explain that when liquid water disappears, it turns into a gas (vapor) in the air and can reappear as a liquid when cooled, or a solid if cooled below the freezing point of water.

5.SCI.4D.1.Explain how heating and cooling cause changes in the properties of materials.

5.SCI.4D.E1b. Understand that many kinds of changes occur faster under hotter conditions.

5.SCI.4D.E4b. Understand that a lot of different materials can be made from a small number of basic kinds of materials.

5.SCI.4D.E5. Understand that substances may move from place to place, but they never appear out of nowhere and never just disappear.

5.SCI.4D.E6. Understand that all materials have certain physical properties, such as strength, hardness, flexibility, durability, resistance to water and fire, and ease of conducting heat.         

5.SCI.4E.E1. Understand that when two objects are rubbed against each other, they both get warmer. In addition, many mechanical and electrical devices get warmer when they are used.

5.SCI.4E.E2a. Understand that when warmer things are put with cooler ones, the warmer things get cooler and the cooler things get warmer until they all are the same temperature.

5.SCI.4E.2b.Understand that when warmer things are put with cooler ones, heat is transferred from the warmer ones to the cooler ones.

5.SCI.4E.E2c. Understand that a warmer object can warm a cooler one by contact or at a distance.

5.SCI.4F.E3. Understand that light travels and tends to maintain its direction of motion until it interacts with an object or material. Light can be absorbed, redirected, bounced back, or allowed to pass through.

Life Sciences

5.SCI.5C.E1.Recognize that some living things consist of a single cell. Like familiar organisms, they need food, water, and air; a way to dispose of waste; and an environment they can live in.

5.SCI.5B.E1. Understand that some likenesses between children and parents are inherited. Other likenesses are learned.

5.SCI.5B.E2. Understand that for offspring to resemble their parents, there must be a reliable way to transfer information from one generation to the next.

5.SCI.5C.E2a. Understand that microscopes make it possible to see that living things are made mostly of cells.

5.SCI.5C.E2bc. Understand that some organisms are made of a collection of similar cells that benefit from cooperating. Some organisms' cells vary greatly in appearance and perform very different roles in the organism.

5.SCI.6A.E1.Understand that unlike in human beings, behavior in insects and many other species is determined almost entirely by biological inheritance.

5.SCI.6A.E2. Understand that human beings have made tools and machines to sense and do things that they could not otherwise sense or do at all, as quickly, or as well.

Earth & Space Sciences

5.SCI.4A.E3. Understand planets change their positions against the background of stars.

5.SCI.4B.4.Understand that air is a substance that surrounds us and takes up space.

5.SCI.4B.1. Understand that things on or near the Earth are pulled towards it by Earth’s gravity.

5.SCI.4G.E1.Understand that the Earth’s gravity pulls any object on or near the Earth towards it without touching it.