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In Grade 5, learners continue to study science and build science literacy in increasingly sophisticated ways. They use their expanding scientific skills to investigate physical and chemical change, explore simple machines, look at weather and climate, and learn about cells. The knowledge areas of matter, force, Earth science, and life science provide a foundation for study. An active and practical approach to learning and doing science continues in Grade 5. This includes conducting scientific investigations, furthering 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 learning outcomes continue 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.5.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.5.B.1
Develop a sense of agency, identity, and belonging in science by
Science, Technology, Society, and Environment (STSE) Contexts
SCI.5.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: chemical products in everyday life; simple machines and modern and traditional technologies; Indigenous tools; human and environmental consequences of weather phenomena; water pollution; human activities and climate change; conservation and protection of water; Indigenous knowledge and ways of being related to water; healthy life choices
Scientific Measurement
SCI.5.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: thermometer, ruler, pan balance, balance, volumetric vessels, spring scale, anemometer
Attributes: length, mass, volume, time, temperature, speed, force
Units: length (km, m, cm, mm), mass (g, kg), volume (L, mL), time (h, min, s), temperature (°C), speed (km/h, m/s), force (N)
Skills: measure and estimate using standard SI tools and units; select measurement tools; display quantitative data (charts, line graphs, tables, etc.); recognize importance of standard units; convert between SI length, time, and volume units
Action and Practice
SCI.5.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, communicating scientific information, and designing and building.
Examples:
Scientific Instruments
SCI.5.C.4
Demonstrate an understanding of the purpose and functioning of various scientific instruments and materials (considering availability and appropriateness), as well as competence in using them safely.
Examples: glassware, chemical substances, microscope, craft and recycled materials, classroom materials, materials from nature, logbook, diagrams, charts, graphs, spreadsheets, safety procedures
Careers, Hobbies, and Activities
SCI.5.C.5
Demonstrate an understanding of the connections between the scientific ideas studied and a range of careers, hobbies, and activities.
Examples: physicist, engineer, mechanic, machinist, firefighter, climate scientist, teacher, doctor, wildlife expert, pool maintenance, nutritionist, DIY hobbies, maintaining equipment, gardening, historical versus modern seasonal planting and harvesting practices, cooking and baking, maintaining a home, track and field, swimming
Purpose: Science is about finding the cause or causes of phenomena in the natural world.
SCI.5.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.5.D.2
Demonstrate the understanding that developing scientific explanations involves systematically collecting data through observations and measurements or using data from other sources.
SCI.5.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.5.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.5.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.5.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.5.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 of very small particles.
SCI.5.E.1
Demonstrate the understanding that matter takes up space and has mass.
SCI.5.E.2
Demonstrate the understanding that matter changes between solid, liquid, or gas phase depending on its temperature.
Include the following: reversible change, physical change.
SCI.5.E.3
Demonstrate an understanding of the difference between a physical mixture, a physical change, and a chemical reaction.
Examples: separation, filtration, melting, boiling, reversible, new substance, chemical change, non-reversible
SCI.5.E.4
Demonstrate the understanding that no matter is gained or lost during mixing, state change, or reacting.
Force: Changing the movement of an object requires a net force to be acting on it.
SCI.5.E.5
Demonstrate the understanding that forces are pushes, pulls, or twists that act on objects and can cause or change their motion.
SCI.5.E.6
Demonstrate an understanding of the effects of frictional forces on the motion of objects.
SCI.5.E.7
Demonstrate an understanding of how simple machines can increase, decrease, or change the direction of applied force.
Include the following: lever, wheel and axle, screw, pulley, wedge, inclined plane.
SCI.5.E.8
Demonstrate an understanding of how friction can cause machines to be less efficient in performing a task.
Examples: resistance, heat, waste
Earth Science: The composition of Earth and its atmosphere and the processes occurring within them shape Earth’s surface and its climate.
SCI.5.E.9
Demonstrate the understanding that weather conditions change daily and are caused by complex interactions between energy from the Sun and the atmosphere, water systems, and landforms.
Include the following: water vapour, pressure, direction, and speed of air movement (wind).
SCI.5.E.10
Demonstrate an understanding of the mechanics and implications of the water cycle.
Include the following: role of energy, relationship to weather, relationship to living things.
SCI.5.E.11
Demonstrate an understanding of the challenges encountered in longterm weather prediction and of the important factors meteorologists use in making forecasts.
Include the following: recording data, looking for patterns.
SCI.5.E.12
Demonstrate an understanding of climate as the long-term weather patterns in a region.
Include the following: aspects of various climates, natural and human processes affecting climate change.
Life Science: Organisms are organized on a cellular basis and have a finite life span.
SCI.5.E.13
Demonstrate the understanding that cells are the basic unit of life.
Include the following: size of cell, observability only with microscope, discovery of cells.
SCI.5.E.14
Demonstrate an understanding of the basic requirements for living cells.
Include the following: energy (food), water, excretion of waste.
SCI.5.E.15
Demonstrate an understanding of the purpose of cell division.
Include the following: repair, replacement, growth, reproduction.
SCI.5.E.16
Demonstrate the understanding that in multicellular organisms, cells are often specialized.
Include the following: tissue, organ, organ system.
SCI.5.E.17
Demonstrate the understanding that organ systems interact to maintain a healthy body.
Examples: digestive system: obtaining energy; excretory system: removing wastes; circulatory system: transportation to and from cells
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.
