Ontario, Canada · Curriculum spine
Grade 4
27 concepts across 1 subject. Codes follow the ministry's own expectation numbers; where a course is broken into bites (chapter.bite), each bite names the expectations it covers.
Science and Technology
The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8: Science and Technology, 2022 · 27 concepts
Strand A4
STEM Skills and Connections
Investigating like a scientist, designing like an engineer, coding, and connecting science to careers and communities.
- A1.1Coming to StudioAsking questions and testing themPlan a fair test, make observations, record results and explain what they show.
- A1.2Coming to StudioDesigning and buildingFollow the engineering design process: define the problem, plan, build, test and improve.
- A2.1Coming to StudioCoding in scienceWrite and change simple code to model or measure something in a science investigation.
- A3.1Coming to StudioScience in the communityConnect what you learn to real jobs, to Indigenous knowledge, and to problems in your own community.
Strand B6
Life Systems: Habitats and Communities
What living things need, how they depend on each other, and how people change habitats.
- B1.1Coming to StudioOur impact on habitatsLook at how human activities change habitats and communities, and weigh the good and the bad.
- B2.1Coming to StudioHabitats and what lives thereDescribe a habitat as the place that gives a living thing food, water, shelter and space.
- B2.2Coming to StudioFood chains and food websTrace how energy moves from the sun to plants to animals, and draw it as a chain or a web.
- B2.3Coming to StudioProducers, consumers, decomposersSort living things by the job they do: making food, eating others, or breaking things down.
- B2.4Coming to StudioAdaptationsExplain how a plant or animal's body or behaviour helps it survive in its habitat.
- B2.5Coming to StudioCommunities depend on each otherShow how a change to one living thing in a community affects the others.
Strand C7
Matter and Energy: Light and Sound
Where light and sound come from, how they travel and change, and how we use them.
- C1.1Coming to StudioLight and sound technologies around usLook at devices that use light or sound, and judge their effects on people and the environment.
- C2.1Coming to StudioWhere light comes fromTell natural from artificial light sources, and know that we see things because light reaches our eyes.
- C2.2Coming to StudioReflect, refract, absorbShow what happens when light hits a mirror, passes through water or glass, or lands on a dark surface.
- C2.3Coming to StudioSound is vibrationShow that sound is made by something vibrating and travels through air, water and solids.
- C2.4Coming to StudioPitch and loudnessChange how high or low and how loud or soft a sound is, and explain what changed.
- C2.5Coming to StudioHow we see and hearDescribe how the eye takes in light and the ear takes in vibrations, and how to protect both.
- C2.6Coming to StudioUsing light and soundExplain how things like glasses, telescopes, microphones and sonar use what we know about light and sound.
Strand D5
Structures and Mechanisms: Gears and Pulleys
How pulleys and gears change force, speed and direction, and where they are used.
- D1.1Coming to StudioMachines with gears and pulleys in our livesLook at everyday machines that use gears or pulleys and judge how they help and what they cost.
- D2.1Coming to StudioPulleysBuild fixed, movable and combined pulley systems, and see how they change the force needed to lift.
- D2.2Coming to StudioGearsBuild gear trains and see how the number of teeth changes speed and direction.
- D2.3Coming to StudioTrading force for speedExplain the trade-off: a system that makes lifting easier moves more slowly, and the other way round.
- D2.4Coming to StudioSystems that work togetherIdentify the gears and pulleys inside a real machine, like a bicycle or a crane, and how they connect.
Strand E5
Earth and Space Systems: Rocks and Minerals
What rocks and minerals are, how they form and change, how we test them, and how we use them.
- E1.1Coming to StudioMining and the landLook at how taking rocks and minerals out of the ground affects people and the environment, and at ways to do it responsibly.
- E2.1Coming to StudioRocks versus mineralsKnow that minerals are pure substances and rocks are made of minerals, and describe their properties.
- E2.2Coming to StudioThe rock cycleExplain how igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks form and turn into one another over time.
- E2.3Coming to StudioTesting mineralsTest colour, lustre, hardness and streak to tell minerals apart.
- E2.4Coming to StudioHow we use rocks and mineralsFind rocks and minerals in buildings, phones, jewellery and roads, and explain why each was chosen.