SC.3.N.1.1

Raise questions about the natural world, investigate them individually and in teams through free exploration and systematic investigations, and generate appropriate explanations based on those explorations.
General Information
Subject Area: Science
Grade: 3
Body of Knowledge: Nature of Science
Idea: Level 3: Strategic Thinking & Complex Reasoning
Big Idea: The Practice of Science -

A: Scientific inquiry is a multifaceted activity; The processes of science include the formulation of scientifically investigable questions, construction of investigations into those questions, the collection of appropriate data, the evaluation of the meaning of those data, and the communication of this evaluation.

B: The processes of science frequently do not correspond to the traditional portrayal of "the scientific method."

C: Scientific argumentation is a necessary part of scientific inquiry and plays an important role in the generation and validation of scientific knowledge.

D: Scientific knowledge is based on observation and inference; it is important to recognize that these are very different things. Not only does science require creativity in its methods and processes, but also in its questions and explanations.

Date Adopted or Revised: 02/08
Date of Last Rating: 05/08
Status: State Board Approved
Assessed: Yes

Related Courses

This benchmark is part of these courses.
5020040: Science - Grade Three (Specifically in versions: 2014 - 2015, 2015 - 2022, 2022 and beyond (current))
7720040: Access Science Grade 3 (Specifically in versions: 2014 - 2015, 2015 - 2018, 2018 - 2023, 2023 and beyond (current))
5011030: Library Skills/Information Literacy Grade 3 (Specifically in versions: 2016 - 2022, 2022 - 2023, 2023 and beyond (current))
5020100: STEM Lab Grade 3 (Specifically in versions: 2016 - 2022, 2022 and beyond (current))

Related Access Points

Alternate version of this benchmark for students with significant cognitive disabilities.
SC.3.N.1.In.1: Ask questions, explore, observe, and identify outcomes.
SC.3.N.1.Su.1: Ask literal questions, explore, observe, and share information.
SC.3.N.1.Pa.1: Explore, observe, and recognize common objects in the natural world.

Related Resources

Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this benchmark.

Lesson Plans

Physical Science Unit: Water Beach Vacation Lesson 5 Evaporation Experiment:

Students set up an experiment and gather data to investigate the evaporation of water.

This is a lesson in the Grade 3 Physical Science Unit on Water. This is a themed unit ofSaM-1's adventures while on a Beach Vacation.  To see all the lessons in the unit please visit https://www.cpalms.org/page818.aspx.

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Type: Lesson Plan

Physical Science Unit: Properties Lesson 19 Sand Temperature Lab Investigation: Graphing Data for Evidence:

Students will create line graphs from the collected data on the temperature of shaded and non-shaded sand from the previous lesson. Students will use the data and graphs as evidence to make conclusions on if the shading had an impact on sand temperature. This lesson could also be taught using Math instructional time.

This is a lesson in the Grade 3 Physical Science Unit on Properties. This is a themed unit of SaM-1's adventures at the CPALMS Rehabilitation and Conservation Center.  To see all the lessons in the unit please visit https://www.cpalms.org/page818.aspx .

Type: Lesson Plan

Physical Science Unit: Properties Lesson 18 Sand Temperature Lab Investigation: Data Collection:

Students will set up the lab investigation that they planned in the previous lesson and collect data on the temperature of shaded and non-shaded sand. This lesson could also be taught using Math instructional time. 

This is a lesson in the Grade 3 Physical Science Unit on Properties. This is a themed unit of SaM-1's adventures at the CPALMS Rehabilitation and Conservation Center.  To see all the lessons in the unit please visit https://www.cpalms.org/page818.aspx .

Type: Lesson Plan

Physical Science Unit: Properties Lesson 17 Sea Turtle Expert Interview:

Students will use their listening and writing skills to watch a video to learn about sea turtles, preparing them for an investigation in subsequent lessons. This lesson could also be taught using ELA instructional time. 

This is a lesson in the Grade 3 Physical Science Unit on Properties. This is a themed unit of SaM-1's adventures at the CPALMS Rehabilitation and Conservation Center.  To see all the lessons in the unit please visit https://www.cpalms.org/page818.aspx .

Type: Lesson Plan

Physical Science Unit: Properties Lesson 15 Observing Sea Turtles:

Students will use their listening and writing skills to watch a video to learn about sea turtles, preparing them for subsequent lessons in the unit. This lesson could also be taught using ELA instructional time. 

This is a lesson in the Grade 3 Physical Science Unit on Properties. This is a themed unit of SaM-1's adventures at the CPALMS Rehabilitation and Conservation Center.  To see all the lessons in the unit please visit https://www.cpalms.org/page818.aspx .

Type: Lesson Plan

Gr. 3 Lesson 3-Hurry for a Habitat!:

Students will use a relay race activity to reinforce knowledge gained in Lesson One. They will demonstrate understanding of the different habitats of the Everglades and the flora and fauna found in each one.

Type: Lesson Plan

Gr. 3 Lesson 1-Classifying Everglades Animals and Their Habitats:

Students will learn about and become familiar with the different habitats of the Everglades and the flora and fauna found in each one.

Type: Lesson Plan

"This is InTENTS!":

This STEM challenge will engage the students in the ways to create different rectangles that have the same area, but different perimeters. They will also explore how to use the scientific method to test their designs with hypothesis, records, data, and a conclusion. This STEM challenge combines architectural engineering with life science and measurement skills for math.

Type: Lesson Plan

Response to the Cues:

This is a design challenge that requires students to cooperatively create a plant terrarium through the process of asking questions, imagining what the design would look like, planning the design, creating the design, testing the design, improving the design, and finally testing their redesign.

Type: Lesson Plan

Rampin' It Up:

Students will use their knowledge of properties of materials and measurement of length to determine how the properties of different surfaces affect the distance traveled by a toy car.

Type: Lesson Plan

Mass and Volume, They Matter!:

In this lesson students will investigate what mass and volume are and how they are measured. Students will practice measuring the masses of solids and volumes of liquids. Students will have a chance to work cooperatively with their peers and apply their knowledge to a real-world problem.

Type: Lesson Plan

Plant Cycles: Photosynthesis and Transpiration:

Students examine the effects of light and air on green plants, learning the processes of photosynthesis and transpiration.

Type: Lesson Plan

A-maze-ing Plants:

This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of flowering plants, plant structures, and plant responses to stimuli as they build mazes to demonstrate a plant"s response to light. It is not intended as an initial introduction to this benchmark.

Type: Lesson Plan

Is It Hot In The Light?:

In this activity, students will make observations that things in direct sunlight are warmer than things that are not in as much sunlight. Also, they may notice that there may be more heat near asphalt, brick, or cement because heat can be stored and radiated from these materials.

Type: Lesson Plan

How the Seasons Affect Plants:

In this long-term lesson, students will put observation spots in a designated area at the school to observe how it changes throughout the school year.

Type: Lesson Plan

Exploring Gravity:

In this lesson, students engage in the engineering design process and explore gravity by designing and creating a parachute.

Type: Lesson Plan

Exploring Cause and Effect Using Expository Texts About Natural Disasters:

This lesson helps students explore the nature and structure of expository texts that focus on cause and effect. Students begin by activating prior knowledge about cause and effect; the teacher then models discovering these relationships in a text and recording findings in a graphic organizer. Students work in small groups to apply what they learned using related books and then write paragraphs outlining the cause-and-effect relationships they have found.

Type: Lesson Plan

Discovering Dinosaurs:

Students will examine evidence of dinosaurs, from which students will write a theory. Their theory must be supported by evidence. Students will then present their theory for a class discussion.

Type: Lesson Plan

Follow the Water Lesson 1: Filtration Station:

Water is essential for human health, but it can sometimes be contaminated. Water filtration can filter out contaminants and impurities making water much safer to consume. But what is the best way to filter water? Students will participate in a water filtration engineering challenge to try out different combinations of materials to find which works best. This lesson was developed by the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science with support from the Weo Foundation.

Type: Lesson Plan

Follow the Water Lesson 2: Mission: Lunar Water:

The search is on to locate water on the Moon! Modeled after NASA’s PRIME-1 mission to drill for water ice on the moon, students will create a simulated lunar crust that they will take cores from to search for water ice below the surface. They will then create a map to show others where their discoveries lie. This lesson was developed by the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science with support from the Weo Foundation.

Type: Lesson Plan

Wild Wind:

Students will learn the difference between global, prevailing and local winds. In this activity, students will make a wind vane out of paper, a straw and a soda bottle and use it to measure wind direction over time. Finally, they will analyze their data to draw conclusions about the prevailing winds in their area.

Type: Lesson Plan

Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) STEM Lessons

Physical Science Unit: Properties Lesson 23 Model Eliciting Activity: Researching Sea Turtle Nesting Temperatures:

In this MEA, students will have the opportunity to apply their knowledge of investigating the natural world, sources of energy, measuring, keeping records, graphing, and communicating information. Students will develop a hypothesis, design an experiment, and support their reasoning to determine how to best study different methods for cooling sea turtle nesting areas. In the optional part 2, students will carry out the experiment that they designed in part 1 and collect data to determine if their hypotheses are supported. 

This is a lesson in the Grade 3 Physical Science Unit on Properties. This is a themed unit of SaM-1's adventures at the CPALMS Rehabilitation and Conservation Center.  To see all the lessons in the unit please visit https://www.cpalms.org/page818.aspx .

Type: Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) STEM Lesson

Physical Science Unit: Properties Lesson 20 Model Eliciting Activity: Animal Habitats:

In this MEA, students will have the opportunity to apply what they learned about physical properties to a realistic problem. Students will be asked to design a habitat for an elephant or gorilla that will be housed at the CPALMS Rehabilitation and Conservation Center. Students will need to describe the physical properties (color, shape, texture, hardness) of the features they selected for the habitat while explaining the rationale behind their design choices. In the optional twist, students will need to modify their design to accommodate a senior elephant or gorilla. 

This is a lesson in the Grade 3 Physical Science Unit on Properties. This is a themed unit of SaM-1's adventures at the CPALMS Rehabilitation and Conservation Center.  To see all the lessons in the unit please visit https://www.cpalms.org/page818.aspx .

Type: Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) STEM Lesson

Original Student Tutorials

Lesson 23 Video: MEA Researching Sea Turtle Nesting Temperatures :

In this video Sam-1 introduces a Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) challenge. Students will take their prior experiences from the properties unit and apply their knowledge of investigating sea turtle nesting temperatures.  

Students will develop a hypothesis, design an experiment, and support their reasoning to determine how to best study different methods for cooling sea turtle nesting areas.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Lesson 20 Video MEA Animal Habitats Part 2:

In this video, SaM-1 introduces a part 2 twist to the Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) challenge.  In the first video, students were asked to design a habitat for an elephant or gorilla that will be housed at the CPALMS Rehabilitation and Conservation Center. In this twist, students will need to modify their design to accommodate a senior elephant or gorilla. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Lesson 20 Video: MEA Animal Habitats:

In this video, SaM-1 introduces a Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) challenge for the students. This video provides habitat information to help the students use the knowledge they gained throughout the unit. Students are asked to design a habitat for an elephant or gorilla that will be housed at the CPALMS Rehabilitation and Conservation Center. Students will need to describe the physical properties (color, shape, texture, hardness) of the features they selected for the habitat while explaining the rationale behind their design choices.

In the optional twist, students will need to modify their design to accommodate a senior elephant or gorilla. The optional twist also has a SaM-1 video to introduce the twist challenge.

 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Lesson 17 Video: Sea Turtle Expert Interview :

In this SaM-1 video, students will use their listening and writing skills to watch a video to learn about the affects temperature has on sea turtles' nests, preparing them for an investigation in subsequent lessons within the unit.  

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Lesson 15 Video: Observing Sea Turtles:

In this SaM-1 video, students will use their listening and writing skills to learn about sea turtles, preparing them for subsequent lessons in the unit.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Resource Collection

Variables-FOSS Module:

Some of the most important scientific concepts students learn are the result of their ability to see relationships between objects and events. Relationships always involve interactions, dependencies, and cause and effect. The Variables Module has four investigations that help students discover relationships through controlled experimentation. Students will fling, float, fly, and flip objects as they discover relationships in each investigation.

Type: Resource Collection

Teaching Ideas

Earth, Wind and Fire:

This teaching idea describes a project completed after an investigation on natural disasters. Each student researched and wrote a descriptive summary on a natural event. Students used colored pencils and oil pastels to create drawings of each disaster, and the summaries and artwork were made into trading cards using the Comic Life computer program.

Type: Teaching Idea

The Occurrence of Water In Living Things:

Students will have the opportunity to practice some of the steps of the scientific method while learning how much water is found in natural plant items.

Type: Teaching Idea

A Shrimpy Home-SeaWorld Classroom Activity:

In this activity, students will demonstrate how changes in an environment can affect the survival of an animal.

Type: Teaching Idea

A Slick Operation: Oil Spill Lab-SeaWorld Classroom Activity:

In this activity, given selected materials, the students will be able to demonstrate and discuss the effects of oil on a bird's feathers and discuss a variety of ways humans might be able to remove it.

Type: Teaching Idea

Here Comes The Sun:

This activity will have students predict, measure and record temperatures and provide evidence showing that the sun is the source of heat and light for Earth.

Type: Teaching Idea

Big as a Baby Whale-SeaWorld Classroom Activity:

In this activity, students will create life size chalk drawings of J.J. the gray whale to discover the size and growth rate of juvenile gray whales.

Type: Teaching Idea

How Degrading-SeaWorld Classroom Activity:

In this activity, given examples of trash generated by a family over a 24-hour period, the student will be able to demonstrate how some materials degrade in salt water better than others. They will be able to generate ideas for ways to reduce plastic pollution.

Type: Teaching Idea

Invertebrate "Heads Up 7 Up"-SeaWorld Classroom Activity:

In this activity, the student will identify biographical information about various tidepool animals.

Type: Teaching Idea

Investigating Matter: Identifying Properties and States of Matter:

This activity is a classroom lab in which students investigate and observe three types of balloons to help identify the states of matter and their properties. Students investigate the three states of matter by participating in a small group lab. Students will observe, question, and investigate the properties of solids, liquids, and gasses.

Type: Teaching Idea

Seal Scientists-SeaWorld Classroom Activity:

In this activity, students will review their knowledge of time and clocks during imaginary seal watching.

Type: Teaching Idea

Webcams: Animal Inquiry and Observation:

Observe animal habits and habitats using one of the many webcams broadcasting from zoos and aquariums around the United States and the world in this inquiry-based activity that focuses on observation logs, class discussion, questioning, and research.

Type: Teaching Idea

Text Resource

Understanding Mass and Matter:

This is an idea of how to teach mass and matter with good examples that children can understand.

Type: Text Resource

Unit/Lesson Sequences

Light Energy:

In this unit, students first explore the different forms of energy using their senses. In the next two lessons, emphasis is placed on light energy and how light interacts with other objects.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

States of Matter | Inquiry in Action:

In the first activity of this unit, students consider how heating and cooling affect molecular motion. The subsequent activities extend this idea to explore the relationship between temperature and the state changes of water. After considering their own experiences with evaporation and condensation, students discover that adding heat to water increases the rate of evaporation and cooling water vapor increases the rate of condensation. Students then investigate what causes moisture to form on the outside of a cold cup. As an extension, students see that at even lower temperatures water vapor can condense on the outside of a container and then freeze to form ice.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

Physical properties and physical change in liquids | Inquiry in Action:

In this investigation, students compare the way four known liquids behave, and then apply these observations to identify an unknown liquid. Students then compare how each liquid combines with water and use this property to identify unknown liquids. The activities throughout the investigation emphasize the characteristic properties of liquids, identifying and controlling variables, making observations, and analyzing results to answer a question.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

Physical Properties & Physical Change in Solids | Curious Crystals | Inquiry in Action:

In this investigation, students will carefully look at four known household crystals. After observing and describing the crystals, students will be given an unknown crystal, which is chemically the same as one of the four known crystals but looks different. When students realize that they cannot identify this crystal by its appearance alone, they will suggest other tests and ways to compare the crystals to eventually identify the unknown crystal. The other activities in this investigation are examples of tests students can conduct on the crystals. After a series of these tests, students will gather enough evidence to identify the unknown crystal.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

Look-alike Liquids | Inquiry in Action:

In this introductory activity, students will compare the way water and isopropyl alcohol appear on different surfaces. After seeing that these liquids behave differently, students will be given two other clear colorless liquids - salt water and detergent solution. Students will then test all four liquids on a brown paper towel to discover the differences between them. Through the activities in this investigation, students will see that liquids have characteristic properties that can be used to identify an unknown.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

WebQuest

Are Chickens the Only Ones?:

Did you know that there are many kinds of animals that lay eggs? You can find out about different kinds of egg laying animals on this WebQuest.

Type: WebQuest

Worksheet

Yes-No-Because Framework:

This resource provides students with a framework to take and support their position on an open-ended or yes/no question. Its simplicity is especially useful for students with little to no experience forming an academic or scientific argument.

Type: Worksheet

Student Resources

Vetted resources students can use to learn the concepts and skills in this benchmark.

Original Student Tutorials

Lesson 23 Video: MEA Researching Sea Turtle Nesting Temperatures :

In this video Sam-1 introduces a Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) challenge. Students will take their prior experiences from the properties unit and apply their knowledge of investigating sea turtle nesting temperatures.  

Students will develop a hypothesis, design an experiment, and support their reasoning to determine how to best study different methods for cooling sea turtle nesting areas.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Lesson 20 Video MEA Animal Habitats Part 2:

In this video, SaM-1 introduces a part 2 twist to the Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) challenge.  In the first video, students were asked to design a habitat for an elephant or gorilla that will be housed at the CPALMS Rehabilitation and Conservation Center. In this twist, students will need to modify their design to accommodate a senior elephant or gorilla. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Lesson 20 Video: MEA Animal Habitats:

In this video, SaM-1 introduces a Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) challenge for the students. This video provides habitat information to help the students use the knowledge they gained throughout the unit. Students are asked to design a habitat for an elephant or gorilla that will be housed at the CPALMS Rehabilitation and Conservation Center. Students will need to describe the physical properties (color, shape, texture, hardness) of the features they selected for the habitat while explaining the rationale behind their design choices.

In the optional twist, students will need to modify their design to accommodate a senior elephant or gorilla. The optional twist also has a SaM-1 video to introduce the twist challenge.

 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Lesson 17 Video: Sea Turtle Expert Interview :

In this SaM-1 video, students will use their listening and writing skills to watch a video to learn about the affects temperature has on sea turtles' nests, preparing them for an investigation in subsequent lessons within the unit.  

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Lesson 15 Video: Observing Sea Turtles:

In this SaM-1 video, students will use their listening and writing skills to learn about sea turtles, preparing them for subsequent lessons in the unit.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

WebQuest

Are Chickens the Only Ones?:

Did you know that there are many kinds of animals that lay eggs? You can find out about different kinds of egg laying animals on this WebQuest.

Type: WebQuest

Parent Resources

Vetted resources caregivers can use to help students learn the concepts and skills in this benchmark.