The goal of the fourth grade is to experience how scientific explanations are made from inference. A study of space and the universe is a great way to illustrate this. Much of what we know about space is from careful observation, measurement and inference. The students will discover this throughout the lessons on the systems of the universe. In the fourth grade, students should also learn how to follow the written instructions found in experiments, as well as data collection and building graphs from the data. Model building and scale sizing are skills that will come from fourth-grade science projects on the universe systems.
Earth science encompasses the planet earth and the universe that the planet resides in. The proper names for all the structures on the earth, moon, stars, planets and the sun are all a part of the fourth-grade lesson. Students should become familiar with vocabulary that is more specific than that learned in third grade. For example, in third grade, students learn of the stars and their place in the universe. In fourth grade, for example, the Georgia State Department of Education expects students to learn the names of prominent star types, patterns and their makeup. Students also learn the earth's place in the solar system and also the positions of the other planets. Their order, size, color and composition are also goals of the lessons. A discussion on galaxies is in the curriculum as well.
Fourth-grade teachers have many fun options available for teaching lessons on the universe and its systems. Models are the most popular lesson approaches. Use models of the systems to give the students a tangible representation of space. Field trips to planetariums or a computer-lab lesson on the local planetarium's website is another way to make learning the lesson a fun endeavor. Look to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's StarChild website (see Resource) for students, for example. The site allows the students to explore using real images taken from NASA explorations. Introduce new vocabulary with every lesson, and incorporate the previous lesson's words to ensure that students learn the terms.
Introduce the students to the planets, their order in the solar system and a few of their individual characteristics. Vocabulary words can the planet names. Assign each student or a group of students a planet. Give them instructions to conduct further research on the planet, writer a short research paper on the planet and construct a model of the planet from their research. This lesson will ensure that students can identify the planets. It also builds the skills needed to collect data and use it to create a model. Writing and research skills are also flexed in this lesson.