Science · Grade 5

Skills

• Distinguishes an observation from an inference from an opinion.
• Identifies what could have gone wrong in an experiment and how to improve it.
• Knows that scientific ideas change when evidence changes, and gives one example.
• Explains reproduction and the life cycle in humans and other mammals, in age-appropriate terms.
• Knows that offspring resemble their parents but are not identical, and why.
• Explains, in outline, how species change over long periods and how fossils show it.
• Knows what a microbe is, that most are harmless, and how the harmful ones spread.
• Knows everything is made of particles too small to see, and explains solids, liquids and gases that way.
• Recognises that some substances are dangerous and reads a hazard symbol.
• Knows air resistance and water resistance, and how shape changes them.
• Explains how a lever, a pulley or a gear lets a small force do a big job.
• Knows the difference between renewable and non-renewable energy sources, with examples of each.
• Knows electricity is dangerous, why, and the basic rules that follow from it.
• Explains gravity holding planets and moons in orbit.
• Knows the Earth's structure in outline: crust, mantle, core; knows what causes earthquakes and volcanoes.
• Explains, in outline, why the climate is changing and what human activity has to do with it.
• Knows why biodiversity matters and what makes a species go extinct.
• Sorts waste correctly, and explains what recycling, reusing and composting each achieve.