Framework for Learning

 
 
 
 
 
 

Framework for LEARNING

English Program

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Grade 5 Science

Course Overview

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:

  • How do chemical and physical systems work?
  • How do weather and climate systems work?
  • How do life systems work?

Please see documents in the curriculum implementation resources section for more information on how to use this curriculum.

Guiding Principles for the Design of Learning Experiences and Assessment Practices

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.

Guiding Principles for the Evaluation and Communication of Student Learning

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.

Learning Outcomes

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 by exploring Indigenous methods of observing and interpreting the world, applying scientific principles, and creating technologies within local traditional and contemporary 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

    • cultivating natural curiosity about the world
    • acquiring scientific skills and fostering scientific attitudes
    • building a personal connection to nature
    • establishing links between science concepts and personal experience
    • recognizing that everyone can contribute to science

Science, Technology, Society, and Environment (STSE) Contexts

  • SCI.5.C.1

    Take class, group or personal action on a local, provincial, Canadian or global STSE (Science, technology, society and the environment) issue.

    Examples:

    • Investigate how compost mixtures affect decomposition and identify strategies to improve the effectiveness of school composting.
    • Assess air quality in or around the school or community and recommend actions to improve it.
    • Explore and take action on issues related to healthy lifestyle habits and their impacts on the health of cells and body systems (e.g., food, drinks, activities).
    • Propose ways to reduce climate-related emissions.
    • Examine how simple machines are used to make work easier and propose improvements for a task in the classroom or school.
    • Study Manitoba severe weather events and develop plans to improve safety and reduce harm to people, other organisms, habitats, or community infrastructure.

Scientific Measurement

  • SCI.5.C.2

    Measure using the appropriate techniques, tools, and units. (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 and understanding of scientific measurement: 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

    Apply a range of scientific, technological or engineering practices (e.g., asking questions, identifying problems, observing, experimenting, measuring, classifying, collecting and analyzing data, engaging in scientific debate and argumentation, communicating results, designing and building) in a manner that demonstrates respect and ensures personal safety and the safety of others.

    Examples:

    • Participate in learning experiences that include an Indigenous community member (e.g., Elder, Knowledge Holder, Knowledge Keeper) to share knowledge, experience, or teachings related to the curriculum.
    • Observe examples of changes in substances, classify them as physical or chemical changes, and justify the designation (e.g., physical: bending a nail, chopping wood, chewing food; chemical: rusting of a nail, burning wood, cooking food).
    • Use the design process to construct a prototype containing a system of two or more different simple machines that move in a controlled way to perform a specific function.
    • Research effects of short- and long-term changes in weather on the lives and livelihoods of people locally, nationally, and globally.
    • Design and carry out procedures, including identifying and controlling variables, to investigate the structure and/or function of one or more body systems (e.g., the influence of exercise on heart rate, the role of stimulating saliva in starting the digestion process, factors that influence a person’s response time).
    • Use tools and materials in a manner that ensures personal safety and the safety of others (e.g., keeping an uncluttered workspace; putting equipment away after its use; handling glassware with care).

Scientific Instruments

  • SCI.5.C.4

    Use various materials and scientific equipment appropriately, competently, and safely while carrying out various scientific practices.

    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

    Make connections between scientific ideas and a range of careers, hobbies and activities.

    Examples: physicist, engineer, mechanic, machinist, firefighter, climate scientist, teacher, livestock veterinarian, doctor, wildlife expert, pool maintenance, dietician, DIY hobbies, maintaining equipment, gardening, farmer, 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 organisms 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.

These outcomes are organized according to the big ideas of science. They are not grouped to form prescriptive clusters or units. Teachers are encouraged to regroup, reorganize and reorder the learning outcomes in this strand according to themes or units that meet the needs of their classes and their teaching.

Outcomes relating to the big ideas of 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.


Outcomes relating to the big ideas of 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


Outcomes relating to the big ideas of 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, groundwater, relationship to organisims.

  • SCI.5.E.11

    Demonstrate an understanding of the challenges encountered in long-term 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.


Outcomes relating to the the big ideas of 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


Curriculum Implementation Resources
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.