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In Grade 3, learners continue to explore science and build science literacy. They use their senses to investigate structures, force, life cycles, and scientific classification. The knowledge areas of matter, fields, forces, life science, and evolution provide a foundation for study. An active and practical approach to learning and doing science continues in Grade 3. This includes conducting scientific investigations, improving tool and measurement skills, exploring science in everyday life, and examining how science interacts with society and the environment. Learners develop their agency and sense of belonging in science, and explore Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing, including through interacting with the local community and learning in nature. The Grades 3 to 6 Nature of Science band learning outcomes are introduced and include the purpose, methods, applications, and implications of science.
Inquiry questions to help guide learning and planning for the year may include the following:
Please see documents in the curriculum implementation resources section for more information on how to use this curriculum.
The Guiding Principles for the Design of Learning Experiences and Assessment Practices provide guidance to all Manitoba educators as they design learning experiences and classroom assessments to strengthen, extend, and expand student learning.
Please note, this website continues to evolve, so please visit regularly to keep current with what’s new in the Learning Experiences and Assessment Practices section.
The Guiding Principles for the Evaluation and Communication of Student Learning build shared understandings of what is needed to ensure equity, reliability, validity, and transparency in judgment and communication of student learning.
Please note, this website continues to evolve, so please visit regularly to keep current with what’s new in the Evaluation and Communication of Student Learning section.
Science learning outcomes are organized into five strands. These strands and learning outcomes are intended to be woven together throughout all learning experiences while supporting the development of global competencies. All strands equally and cohesively build scientific literacy, skills, and attitudes, inclusive of Indigenous ways and knowledge. Teachers can tailor curriculum implementation to the learners’ specific interests and needs.
Legend
Include the following = compulsory content
Examples/e.g.,= suggestions for learning
Learning Outcome Key
[SCI] Subject
[K] Grade level
[A] Strand
[1] Learning Outcome
SCI.3.A.1
Demonstrate an understanding of different First Nations, Métis, and Inuit ways of knowing, being, and doing in relationship with the land and the natural world by exploring Indigenous methods of observing and interpreting the world, applying scientific principles, and creating technologies within local traditional and contemporary cultural contexts (e.g., wholistic, reciprocal, interconnected, and sustainable ways; land-based learning; outdoor learning; intersections with Western science).
SCI.3.B.1
Develop a sense of agency, identity, and belonging in science by
Science, Technology, Society, and Environment (STSE) Contexts
SCI.3.C.1
Demonstrate an awareness of the dynamic interplay between science, technology, society, and the environment (STSE), thereby being empowered to critically evaluate the impacts of scientific and technological advancements on individuals, communities, and ecosystems, and to make informed decisions for a sustainable future.
Examples: local and global structures and building materials; engineering and properties of traditional Indigenous structures; recycling materials; magnets and magnetic force in everyday life; evidence and effects of static electricity; gravity and safety (falls); various modes of local and global transportation; motion and force in sports; monarch butterfly life cycle; plant life cycles (pollination, seed dispersal, etc.); uses of animals in Indigenous communities; ethnobotany and the meaning of plant names in Indigenous languages; habitats and animal adaptations; endangered species; environmental stewardship; wildlife-human interactions and coexistence; associated technologies
Scientific Measurement
SCI.3.C.2
Demonstrate an understanding of units, measuring tools, and the nature of measurement in science. (Bold indicates items introduced for the first time at this grade level.)
Include the following:
Tools: calendar, clock, thermometer, ruler, pan balance, balance, volumetric vessels, stopwatch
Attributes: length, mass, volume, time, temperature
Units: length (km, m, cm, mm), mass (kg, g), volume (L, mL), time (h, min, s), temperature (°C)
Skills: measure and estimate using standard SI tools and units
Action and Practice
SCI.3.C.3
Demonstrate practical scientific skills through safely and actively participating in a variety of scientific practices such as inquiry-based learning experiences, experimentation, scientific observation, data analysis, measurement, debate and scientific argumentation, communicating scientific information, and designing and building.
Examples:
Scientific Instruments
SCI.3.C.4
Demonstrate an understanding of the purpose and function of various scientific instruments and materials (considering availability and appropriateness), as well as competence in using them safely.
Examples: magnifying glass, craft and recycled materials, classroom materials, nature materials, charts, safety procedures
Careers, Hobbies, and Activities
SCI.3.C.5
Demonstrate an understanding of the connections between the scientific ideas studied and a range of careers, hobbies, and activities.
Examples: physiotherapist, medical professional, electrician, teacher, entomologist, model building, amateur astronomy, electronics hobbies, planting and gardening, Indigenous teachings related to water and life, wildlife photography, gymnastics, archery, track and field events
Purpose: Science is about finding the cause or causes of phenomena in the natural world.
SCI.3.D.1
Demonstrate the understanding that science attempts to develop explanations for phenomena in nature.
Method: Scientific explanations, theories, and models are those that best fit the evidence available at a particular time.
SCI.3.D.2
Demonstrate the understanding that developing scientific explanations involves systematically collecting data through observations and measurements or using data from other sources.
SCI.3.D.3
Demonstrate the understanding that a hypothesis is a prediction about what is happening, or what might happen, based upon theory, research, past experience, observations, or other evidence.
SCI.3.D.4
Demonstrate the understanding that the data that scientists look for is guided by a theory or a hypothesis, and the evidence they find supports or refutes their predictions.
Application: The knowledge produced by science is used in engineering and technologies to create products and processes.
SCI.3.D.5
Demonstrate the understanding that engineering is the application of scientific principles and approaches to solving problems, often resulting in new technology that furthers scientific discovery.
SCI.3.D.6
Demonstrate the understanding that when solving problems, there may be many possible solutions, each with associated implications, requiring both critical and creative thinking in choosing the best solution.
Examples: functionality, sustainability, economic considerations, ethics, impacts on all living things and all parts of the ecosystems
Implication: Applications of science often have ethical, environmental, social, economic, and political implications.
SCI.3.D.7
Demonstrate the understanding that technologies may have both beneficial and detrimental social and environmental consequences.
Matter: All matter in the universe is made up of very small particles.
SCI.3.E.1
Demonstrate the understanding that there are many considerations that go into choosing materials for building structures.
Examples: strength, flexibility, mass, environment, ease of use, costs, aesthetics
SCI.3.E.2
Demonstrate the understanding that building materials can be joined in various ways to maximize certain properties of structures.
Examples: shape, strength, stability, height, flexibility, comfort, efficiency, cost
SCI.3.E.3
Demonstrate an understanding of similarities in shapes found in nature and human-made structures to provide strength and stability.
Examples: honeycomb (hexagon), tunnels (cylinder), shells (arches), bridges (triangles)
Fields: Objects can affect other objects at a distance.
SCI.3.E.4
Demonstrate the understanding that there are contact and non-contact forces.
SCI.3.E.5
Demonstrate the understanding that objects can exert forces on other objects at a distance.
Include the following: gravity, magnetism, static electrical force.
Force: Changing the movement of an object requires a net force to be acting on it.
SCI.3.E.6
Demonstrate the understanding that a force is a push, pull, or twist acting on an object.
SCI.3.E.7
Demonstrate the understanding that forces act on an object in a particular direction, which can be opposed by forces acting in the opposite direction.
Include the following: balanced forces, unbalanced forces.
SCI.3.E.8
Demonstrate the understanding that an unbalanced force can make an object change its motion or deform its shape.
Examples: applied force, friction, wind resistance, gravitational force, magnetic force
SCI.3.E.9
Demonstrate the understanding that the speed of an object is the distance it travels in a certain time span.
Include the following: position, start, stop, speed up, slow down, constant speed, m/s, km/h.
SCI.3.E.10
Demonstrate an understanding of the principle of inertia.
Include the following: matter.
Curriculum implementation resources will include supplementary documents to support implementation. This section and the support documents will continue to be updated, so you are encouraged to visit the site regularly.
