Fourth Grade: Structure and Function
Talking Science Through Texts > Fourth Grade > Structure and Function
Driving Question: How do internal and external structures support the survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction of plants and animals?
Fourth Grade Crosscutting Concepts
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Systems and System Models
A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions.
Cause and Effect
Events have causes that generate observable patterns.
Structure and Function
Systems in the natural and designed world have parts that work together.
Talking Science: Crosscutting Concepts to Support Comprehension
Crosscutting concepts have application across all domains of science. As such, they are a way of linking the different domains of science. They include patterns; cause and effect; scale, proportion, and quantity; systems and system models; energy and matter; structure and function; and stability and change. The Framework emphasizes that these concepts need to be made explicit for students because they provide an organizational schema for interrelating knowledge from various science fields into a coherent and scientifically based view of the world.
Suggested Read Aloud Texts
Choose a text to view its read aloud guide.
What If You Had Animal Ears?
Next Time You See a Pillbug
How to Talk Tiger
Seashells: More Than a Home
Talking Science: Formative Assessment Probes
Extend the discussion of these books using the suggested prompts from the Uncovering Student Ideas in Science Series from Page Keeley and NSTA.
- 4-PS4-2
- #1 Can It Reflect Light? USI Volume 1, 2nd Edition, p. 20
- #2 Apple in the Dark USI Volume 1, 2nd Edition, p. 27
- #3 Birthday Candles USI Volume 1, 2nd Edition, p. 33
- 4-LS1-1
- #16 Is it an Animal? USI Volume 1, 2nd Edition, p. 127
- #17 Is it Living USI Volume 1, 2nd Edition, p. 135
- #18 Is it Made of Cells? USI Volume 1, 2nd Edition, p. 145
- 4-LS1-2
- #20 Functions of Living Things USI Volume 1, 2nd Edition, p. 159
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