Courses

Manitoba · Grade 3

Science, Grade 3

Manitoba’s Grade 3 science course, from Scientific Skills and Inquiry to Soils in the Environment.

Learn thisPractice test
Units
5
Lessons
15
Skills
67
Provincial exam
None
Official curriculum
Manitoba Education

Unit by unit

Every skill in the course, with its official code.

Unit 1 · 5 skills

Scientific Skills and Inquiry

Measuring in Standard Units

Showing Data and Building

The official wording · 5 outcomes
3-0-5b
Use tools to observe, measure, and construct.
3-0-5c
Estimate and measure mass/weight, length, volume, and temperature using standard units.
3-0-5d
Estimate and measure the passage of time using standard units. Include: seconds, minutes, hours.
3-0-6a
Display data using more than one way to represent the same data.
3-0-4b
Construct an object or device to solve a problem or meet a need.

Key ideas

  1. Scientists use tools to observe, measure, and construct.

  2. The same data can be displayed in more than one way.

  3. A ruler and meter stick measure length, a pan balance and bathroom scale measure mass, a thermometer measures temperature, and a magnet finds magnetic materials.

  4. A tally chart, a table, and a bar graph can all show the same information.

  5. We estimate and then measure mass, length, volume, and temperature.

Watch out for

  • Choosing the wrong tool for the job.
  • Thinking data can only be shown one way.
  • Reading a measuring tool carelessly.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

Unit 2 · 18 skills

Growth and Changes in Plants

What Plants Need to Grow

Plant Parts, Adaptations, and Life Cycles

Plants, Animals, and People

The official wording · 18 outcomes
3-1-01
Use appropriate vocabulary related to their investigations of growth and changes in plants. Include: growing medium, nutrient, energy, root, stem, leaf, flowers, pistil, stamen, ovule, pollen, seed, fruit, adaptation, life cycle.
3-1-02
Observe, compare, and contrast the structure and appearance of several types of plants.
3-1-03
Show respect for plants as living things.
3-1-04
Conduct experiments to determine conditions needed for healthy plant growth. Include: light, water, air, space, warmth, growing medium, nutrients.
3-1-05
Recognize that a plant uses the Sun's energy to make its own food.
3-1-06
Use the design process to construct an environment that enhances plant growth.
3-1-07
Identify the basic parts of plants and describe their functions. Include: roots, stems, leaves, flowers, pistil, stamen, ovule, pollen, seeds, fruit.
3-1-08
Explain how different adaptations of plants help them survive in particular environments.
3-1-09
Identify plant adaptations that can be harmful to humans, and describe their effects.
3-1-10
Care for a flowering plant throughout its life cycle, tracking its growth and its changes over time.
3-1-11
Identify characteristics that remain constant and those that change throughout the life cycle of a flowering plant.
3-1-12
Identify needs common to plants and animals, and contrast how they meet those needs.
3-1-13
Describe ways that plants and animals depend on each other.
3-1-14
Describe ways plants are important to the environment.
3-1-15
Identify and describe hobbies and jobs involving plants.
3-1-16
Identify how humans from various cultures use plant parts for food and medicine.
3-1-17
Investigate to determine how humans from various cultures make useful products from plant materials.
3-1-18
Explain how humans replenish the plants they use and the consequences if plants are not replenished.

Key ideas

  1. Plant words name the parts - root, stem, leaf, flower, pollen, seed, and fruit.

  2. Plants have basic parts, each with a function.

  3. Plants and animals share some common needs, like water and air.

  4. An adaptation is a feature that helps a plant survive, and a life cycle is the stages a plant goes through.

  5. Roots take in water, stems carry water up, leaves make food, and flowers with pistil, stamen, ovule, and pollen make seeds and fruit.

Watch out for

  • Mixing up the seed and the fruit.
  • Thinking every part does the same job.
  • Thinking plants and animals have no shared needs.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

Unit 3 · 13 skills

Materials and Structures

Strong Materials and Shapes

Balance, Stability, and Strong Shapes

Designing and Testing Structures

The official wording · 13 outcomes
3-2-01
Use appropriate vocabulary related to their investigations of materials and structures. Include: strength, balance, stability, structure, frame structure, natural structure, human-built structure, force.
3-2-02
Conduct experiments to compare the strength of common materials.
3-2-03
Explore to determine ways to strengthen a material used for building. Include: changing shape, bulk, and number of layers.
3-2-04
Explore to determine an appropriate method for joining two materials for a specific use.
3-2-05
Recognize that balance affects the stability of a structure.
3-2-06
Explore to determine ways to improve the strength and stability of a frame structure.
3-2-07
Identify shapes that are part of natural and human-built structures from various cultures and describe how these shapes help to provide strength and stability.
3-2-08
Identify characteristics of materials that need to be considered when choosing materials for building structures.
3-2-09
Use the design process to build a structure that meets given criteria related to strength, stability, and function.
3-2-10
Describe the effects of various forces on different structures.
3-2-11
Evaluate simple structures to determine if they are safe and appropriate to the user.
3-2-12
Investigate to identify hobbies and jobs related to construction, engineering, and architecture.
3-2-13
Identify various materials used in the construction of buildings in their community and in communities around the world.

Key ideas

  1. A structure is something built to hold a load, and it can be natural or human-built.

  2. We can improve the strength and stability of a frame structure.

  3. We use the design process to build a structure.

  4. Words like strength, balance, stability, frame structure, and force describe how structures behave.

  5. Using triangulation or a cross member makes a frame much stronger.

Watch out for

  • Mixing up strength and stability.
  • Thinking a leaning structure is just as stable.
  • Building without checking the criteria.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

Unit 4 · 19 skills

Forces That Attract or Repel

Forces and Gravity

Magnets and Magnetism

Static Electricity and Forces at a Distance

Forces Without Touching

The official wording · 19 outcomes
3-3-01
Use appropriate vocabulary related to their investigations of forces. Include: force, attract, repel, gravity, magnet, magnetize, magnetism, north pole, south pole, magnetic field, compass, electrostatic charge, static electricity, electrostatic force.
3-3-02
Recognize that force is a push or pull and that attraction and repulsion are types of pushes and pulls.
3-3-03
Describe evidence showing that objects and living things on or near Earth are pulled toward it by a force called gravity.
3-3-04
Predict and test to identify materials that are attracted by magnets and those that can be magnetized.
3-3-05
Investigate to determine how to magnetize a given object. Include: contact with another magnet, proximity to a magnet.
3-3-06
Investigate to determine the location of poles on a magnet, and the shape of the magnetic field around a magnet.
3-3-07
Demonstrate that opposite poles attract and like poles repel.
3-3-08
Explain why Earth can be compared to a giant magnet. Include: Earth has a magnetic field with poles adjacent to the geographic poles.
3-3-09
Demonstrate and explain how a compass operates by magnetism.
3-3-10
Describe potentially harmful effects of magnets on magnetized materials.
3-3-11
Describe and demonstrate ways to use everyday materials to produce electrostatic charges.
3-3-12
Investigate to determine how electrostatically charged materials interact with each other and with uncharged materials.
3-3-13
Identify ways in which problems associated with static electricity can be avoided or eliminated.
3-3-14
Investigate to determine the change in magnetic and electrostatic forces at different distances.
3-3-15
Predict and test to determine the effect of placing materials between a magnet and an attracted object and between charged objects.
3-3-16
Recognize that gravitational, magnetic, and electrostatic forces can move certain objects without touching them directly.
3-3-17
Distinguish between motion that is caused without contact and that which is caused by contact.
3-3-18
Identify devices that use gravitational, magnetic, or electrostatic forces.
3-3-19
Use the design process to construct a game, toy, or useful device that uses gravitational, magnetic, or electrostatic forces.

Key ideas

  1. A force is a push or pull, and things can attract (pull together) or repel (push apart).

  2. We predict and test which materials are attracted by magnets.

  3. We can produce electrostatic charges using everyday materials.

  4. Some forces can move certain objects without touching them directly.

  5. Gravity, magnetism (with north and south poles and a magnetic field), and static electricity are all forces.

Watch out for

  • Mixing up attract and repel.
  • Thinking all metals are magnetic.
  • Thinking static electricity needs a battery.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

Unit 5 · 12 skills

Soils in the Environment

What Soil Is Made Of

Soil, Water, and Plant Growth

Living Soil and Composting

The official wording · 12 outcomes
3-4-01
Use appropriate vocabulary related to their investigations of soils in the environment. Include: soil, soil component, loam, clay, sand, pebbles, organic matter, humus, rocks, sedimentation, sieving, water-holding capacity.
3-4-02
Identify and describe various components within a sample of soil from the local environment.
3-4-03
Explore to determine ways to separate soil components. Include: sedimentation and sieving techniques.
3-4-04
Describe and compare components of soil samples collected at different locations and depths.
3-4-05
Compare the water-holding capacity of different soils.
3-4-06
Describe the effect of water on different soils.
3-4-07
Conduct experiments to determine how different soils affect the growth of plants.
3-4-08
Explain the importance of understanding the characteristics of different soils.
3-4-09
Identify animals found in soil and explain their importance to soil quality.
3-4-10
Describe ways to return organic matter to the soil.
3-4-11
Use the design process to construct a simple composter that returns organic matter to the soil.
3-4-12
Investigate how humans from various cultures use earth materials to make objects.

Key ideas

  1. Soil is made of components like clay, sand, pebbles, and organic matter (humus).

  2. Different soils have different water-holding capacity.

  3. Many animals are found in soil and are important to its quality.

  4. We separate soil by sedimentation and sieving, and describe its water-holding capacity.

  5. Sandy soil retains far less water than loamy soil.

Watch out for

  • Thinking soil is all the same stuff.
  • Thinking all soils hold water the same.
  • Thinking soil animals are pests with no use.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

The official curriculum

This page follows Manitoba’s own curriculum for Science, Grade 3.

Kindergarten to Grade 4 Science: A Foundation for ImplementationManitoba Education · edu.gov.mb.ca · Read August 1, 2026

Study it in MapleMind

MapleMind teaches Science, Grade 3 one skill at a time. Each skill gets a short lesson, practice as you go and a check worth up to three stars. It remembers where you stopped.

Grade 9 Mathematics (10F) in the MapleMind app on a tablet: its units, Unit 2 open, and the skills done so far with their starsGrade 9 Mathematics (10F) in the MapleMind app on a phone: its units, Unit 2 open, and the skills done so far with their stars
Pictured: Grade 9 Mathematics (10F), another Manitoba course, partway through Unit 2.

Practise it

Course Companion

Your year in one workbook

A fun way to keep Science, Grade 3 organized, get to know your child better and see early when they need a hand. Fill it in on a screen, or print it.

Pages
36
Fillable fields
2,025
Price
$4.99
See the Course Companion

Questions about Science, Grade 3

What is Science, Grade 3?

Manitoba’s Grade 3 science course: 5 units and 67 skills, from Scientific Skills and Inquiry to Soils in the Environment.

What units are in Science, Grade 3?

1. Scientific Skills and Inquiry, 2. Growth and Changes in Plants, 3. Materials and Structures, 4. Forces That Attract or Repel and 5. Soils in the Environment.

Is there a provincial exam for Science, Grade 3?

No. Manitoba gives no provincial exam for Science, Grade 3.

What comes after Science, Grade 3?

Science, Grade 4.

Can MapleMind help with Science, Grade 3?

Yes. MapleMind teaches every skill of Science, Grade 3, step by step, with practice and checks, and its tutor answers questions about any of them. It’s free with daily limits, on iPhone, Android and the web.

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After this course

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