Course Description
Explore science hands on with guided STEM experiments! This course offers an in depth advanced science program exploring concepts of qualitative and quantitative observations, the scientific method, the design process for engineering, physical science, life science, and earth science.
Course Topic Overview
STEM Science for Upper Elementary Course Overview
This course will guide students into utilizing scientific practices common to all areas of science and engineering which are:
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- Asking questions
- Developing and using models
- Planning and carrying out investigations
- Analyzing and interpreting data
- Using mathematics and computational thinking
- Constructing explanations
- Engaging in scientific argument from evidence
- Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
- Constructing devices or designing solutions
- Science Safety
Students will utilize scientific skill of asking questions that will be answered through investigations or are used to refine models, explanations, or designs. Students will learn to identify variables in an investigation.
Additional resources are available for you to work with your budding scientist to explore further with Physical Science, Earth Science, and Life Science.
Course Includes
This course includes:
- 55 lesson videos with guided science experiments (Over 600 minutes - 10 hours - of instruction!)
- more than 16 hands on STEM experiments for students
- 55 additional work page review videos
- 6 printable assessments (quizzes and tests)
- Virtual Quizzes to check understanding before progressing with the course
- Parent Answer Keys and Explanation of Answers Packets
- Certificate of Completion of Course
- List of Science Academic Standards Addressed in this Course
- Additional Resources for Going Further with Science
- And more!
Core Science Standards Taught:
Scientific Inquiry –
5-1 – The student will demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry, including the foundations of technological design and the processes, skills, and mathematical thinking necessary to conduct a controlled scientific investigation.
o Identify questions suitable for generating a hypothesis.
o Identify independent (manipulated), dependent (responding), and controlled variables in an experiment.
o Plan and conduct controlled scientific investigations, manipulating one variable at a time.
o Use appropriate tools and instruments (including a timing device and a 10x magnifier) safely and accurately when conducting a controlled scientific investigation.
o Construct a line graph from recorded data with correct placement of independent (manipulated) and dependent (responding) variables.
o Evaluate results of an investigation to formulate a valid conclusion based on evidence and communicate the findings of the evaluation in oral or written form.
o Use a simple technological design process to develop a solution or a product, communicating the design by using descriptions, models, and drawings.
o Use appropriate safety procedures when conducting investigations.
Life Science
5-2 – Students will demonstrate an understanding of relationships among biotic and abiotic factors within terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
o Recall the cell as the smallest unit of life and identify its major structures (including cell membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus, and vacuole).
o Summarize the composition of an ecosystem, considering both biotic factors (including populations, to the level of microorganisms, and communities) and abiotic factors.
o Compare the characteristics of different ecosystems (including estuaries/salt marshes, oceans, lakes and ponds, forests, and grasslands).
o Identify the roles of organisms as they interact and depend on one another through food chains and food webs in an ecosystem, considering producers and consumers (herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores), decomposers (microorganisms, termites, worms, and fungi), predators and prey, and parasites and hosts.
o Explain how limiting factors (including food, water, space, and shelter) affect populations in ecosystems.
Earth Science:
5-3 – The student will demonstrate an understanding of features, processes, and changes in Earth’s land and oceans.
o Explain how natural processes (including weathering, erosion, deposition, landslides, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and floods) affect Earth’s oceans and land in constructive and destructive ways.
o Illustrate the geologic landforms of the ocean floor (including the continental shelf and slope, the mid-ocean ridge, rift zone, trench, and the ocean basin).
o Compare continental and oceanic landforms.
o Explain how waves, currents, tides, and storms affect the geologic features of the ocean shore zone (including beaches, barrier islands, estuaries, and inlets).
o Compare the movement of water by waves, currents, and tides.
o Explain how human activity (including conservation efforts and pollution) has affected the land and the oceans of Earth.
Physical Science:
5-4 – The student will demonstrate an understanding of properties of matter.
o Recall that matter is made up of particles too small to be seen.
o Compare the physical properties of the states of matter (including volume, shape, and the movement and spacing of particles).
o Summarize the characteristics of a mixture, recognizing a solution as a kind of mixture.
o Use the processes of filtration, sifting, magnetic attraction, evaporation, chromatography, and floatation to separate mixtures.
o Explain how the solute and the solvent in a solution determine the concentration.
o Explain how temperature change, particle size, and stirring affect the rate of dissolving.
o Illustrate the fact that when some substances are mixed together, they chemically combine to form a new substance that cannot be easily separated.
o Explain how the mixing and dissolving of foreign substances is related to the pollution of the water, air, and soil.
5-5 – The student will demonstrate an understanding of the nature of force and motion.
o Illustrate the effects of force (including magnetism, gravity, and friction) on motion.
o Summarize the motion of an object in terms of position, direction, and speed.
o Explain how unbalanced forces affect the rate and direction of motion in objects.
o Explain ways to change the effect that friction has on the motion of objects (including changing the texture of the surface, changing the amount of surface area involved, and adding lubrication).
o Use a graph to illustrate the motion of an object.
o Explain how a change of force or a change in mass affects the motion of an object.
Target Audience
This course is designed for upper elementary students who already possess a basic understanding of the scientific method of conducting a scientific investigation. It is intended for advanced students in science (grades 5th and 6th). The ages of the students will vary at the descretion of parents enrolling their children in the course and the aptitude of individual students.
Course Requirements
It is recommended that students have already completed basic science courses that introduce the scientific method, science tools, and basic observation skills. Students should have a thorough scientific understanding on at least a fourth grade level before enrolling in this course.
