Science and Technology, Grade 4

Unit 1: STEM Skills and Connections

Coding that produces different kinds of output, thinking about how coding and new technology (including skilled trades) change everyday life, spotting science and technology in occupations and skilled trades, and learning about people from many communities who help science grow.

• Coding for different types of output

• How coding and new technology affect life and skilled trades

• Science and technology in occupations and skilled trades

• Learning about contributions from many communities

Unit 2: Habitats and Communities

What a habitat and a community are, food chains and food webs, animal diets, structural adaptations, and why habitats have limits — plus how human activities affect habitats and species.

• How people affect habitats and communities
• When a species disappears
• Protecting species from disappearing

• What a habitat provides
• Communities of interacting species
• Food chains: producers, consumers, decomposers
• Food webs
• Carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores
• Structural adaptations for survival
• Why habitats have limits

Unit 3: Light and Sound

Light sources, how light behaves, sound as a wave, how vibrations make sound, how objects interact with light and sound, light vs. heat sources, and devices that use light and sound — plus how light and sound technologies affect us.

• Devices that use light or sound
• Light and sound energy in the environment

• Natural and artificial light sources
• Emitting light vs. reflecting light
• Properties of light
• Properties of sound
• How vibrations make sound
• How objects interact with light and sound
• Light sources with and without heat
• Sensory organs and devices for light and sound

Unit 4: Machines and Their Mechanisms

Machines in daily life, the parts of mechanisms, how mechanisms transmit and transform motion, and how forces are changed in machines — plus how machines and their mechanisms affect our lives and the environment.

• Machines in daily life
• Comparing machines' environmental impacts

• Machines used in daily life
• The parts of a mechanism
• How mechanisms transmit motion
• How mechanisms transform motion
• How forces change in machines

Unit 5: Rocks and Minerals

The rock cycle, rock properties, classifying rocks and minerals, everyday uses, fossils, and First Nations, Métis, and Inuit geological knowledges — plus how geological processes and human uses affect society and the environment.

• How geological processes affect us
• Using rocks and minerals

• The rock cycle
• Properties of rocks
• Classifying rocks and minerals
• Everyday uses of rocks and minerals
• Fossils and Earth's history
• First Nations, Métis, and Inuit geological knowledges