South Dakota Science 4-PS3-2

Science4th GradePhysical Science

The Standard

Make observations to provide evidence for how energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents. (SEP: 3; DCI: PS3.A, PS3.B; CCC: Energy/Matter)

South Dakota Science Standards (2024) · Energy

Teacher's field guide

What This Standard Means

What Students Need to Do: Students observe changes that show energy moving from one place to another. They use those changes as evidence for transfer by sound, light, heat, or electric current.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can explain that sound from a drum reaches their ears and light from a flashlight reaches a wall. They can point to a spoon warming in water or a bulb lighting in a closed circuit as evidence of energy transfer.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think air travels from a drum to their ears, rather than carrying sound through vibrations. They may think cold moves into warm water from a spoon, or that a bulb will light with only one wire connected.
How to Assess It: Show sketches of a drum being heard across a room, a flashlight lighting a wall, a spoon warming in water, and a battery lighting a bulb. Ask students to name what carried energy in each sketch and the observation that shows it.

Lesson moves

Ways to Teach It

Give pairs an AA battery, two wires, and a 1.5-volt bulb; have them close the circuit and record when it lights.
Tap a drum across the room and ask, 'How did energy reach your ears when the drum never touched you?'
Give teams cards showing warm water, a cool spoon, a flashlight, and a lit wall; have them pair sources with receivers.
Compare sunlit and shaded pavement with a thermometer; ask where the extra warmth came from.

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