Massachusetts Grade 3 science standards

3-LS3-1 Provide evidence, including through the analysis of data, that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exist in a group of similar organisms.

Lessons: Like Parent, Like Baby? Traits and Families (Why don't puppies from the same parents look the same?)

Practice: Like Parent, Like Baby? Traits and Families workbook

3-LS4-2 Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals within the same species may provide advantages to these individuals in their survival and reproduction.

Lessons: Survival Clues: Fossils, Groups and Changing Habitats (Why do some animals in a family survive better?)

Practice: Survival Clues: Fossils, Groups and Changing Habitats workbook

3-LS4-3 Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular environment some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive.

Lessons: Who Lives Here? (Who can live here, and who can't?)

Practice: Who Lives Here? workbook

3-PS2-4 Define a simple design problem that can be solved by using interactions between magnets.

Lessons: Pushes, Pulls and Magnets (How far will a paper clip jump?)

Practice: Pushes, Pulls and Magnets workbook

3.3-5-ETS1-1 Define a simple design problem that reflects a need or a want. Include criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost that a potential solution must meet.

Lessons: Build It, Launch It (Can you drop an egg without breaking it?) · Your Senses: How Does Your Body Know? (How do animals sense what we can't?) · Simple Circuits: Make It Light Up (Can you build a burglar alarm?) · Earth Day Investigations: Make Your School Better (Where would a new tree help most?) (partly) · Monsoon Science: Rain, Sun and the Nón Lá (How does a nón lá keep a rice farmer dry?)

Practice: Build It, Launch It workbook · Your Senses: How Does Your Body Know? workbook · Simple Circuits: Make It Light Up workbook · Earth Day Investigations: Make Your School Better workbook · Monsoon Science: Rain, Sun and the Nón Lá workbook

3.3-5-ETS1-2 Generate several possible solutions to a given design problem. Compare each solution based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the design problem.

Lessons: Simple Circuits: Make It Light Up (Can you build a burglar alarm?) · Living with Water: Salt, Rice and the Mekong (How do salt farmers turn the sea into salt?, How do rice terraces stop a mountain washing away?, How can a house stay dry when the Mekong floods?)

Practice: Simple Circuits: Make It Light Up workbook · Living with Water: Salt, Rice and the Mekong workbook