3.5.ETS1.2: Generate and compare multiple solutions to a problem based on how…
Generate and compare multiple solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
The South Dakota Science Standards (2024) outcome 3.5.ETS1.2 (Engineering, Technology and Applications of Science) for Grades 3–5 says: “Generate and compare multiple solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.” These 2 Fieldbook units teach it hands-on, with everyday materials and a printable teacher guide and student sheet for every lesson. Official wording: South Dakota Science Standards (2024).
Simple Circuits: Make It Light Up Grade 4
Light a bulb with one wire, hunt for materials that let electricity through, find out why string lights all go dark at once, and build a burglar alarm. Four hands-on lessons on closed loops, safe and cheap.
- Can you build a burglar alarm? 60–75 min
Teams design and build a homemade switch from a clothes peg or foil and cardboard that closes a circuit when a door or box lid opens, sounding a buzzer or lighting an LED. They test it, improve it and use evidence to argue their alarm is the most reliable.
Living with Water: Salt, Rice and the Mekong Grades 4–5
Science and English together, for English learners (CEFR A2–B1). Three investigations from Vietnam: how salt farmers turn the sea into salt, how rice terraces stop a mountain washing away, and how a house in the Mekong Delta stays dry in the flood season.
- How do salt farmers turn the sea into salt? 60 min, plus a 10-minute check the next day
Science and English together, for English learners at CEFR A2–B1. Teams paint salt water on dark paper to find the salt hiding in sea water, then set out wide and narrow dishes in sun and shade to see what makes water leave fastest. They use the evidence to advise a salt farm in Khánh Hòa.
- How do rice terraces stop a mountain washing away? 60 min, or two 35-minute periods
Science and English together, for English learners at CEFR A2–B1. Teams make model hillsides from soil in trays: a bare slope, a terraced slope and a slope with plant cover. They pour the same storm of rain on each, measure the muddy water that runs off, and use the evidence to advise a mountain village in northern Vietnam.
- How can a house stay dry when the Mekong floods? 60 min, or two 35-minute periods
Science and English together, for English learners at CEFR A2–B1. Teams design and build a model house on stilts or on a floating base, then test it as the teacher raises the water in a tub and makes waves. They use their results to advise a village in the Mekong Delta.
Printable practice for 3.5.ETS1.2
- Simple Circuits: Make It Light Up workbook included with the unit
1 English-support page, 1 practice page, 1 reading, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.
- Living with Water: Salt, Rice and the Mekong workbook included with the unit
1 practice page, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.
Need just this outcome? Build a custom pack from these pages, with its answer key, in about a minute. Custom packs come with All-access and school licences.
Compared with NGSS: 3-5-ETS1-2.
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