K to 12 Curriculum Guide Science (Grade 3 to Grade 10) Notes

Conceptual Framework

  • Science Education Goal: Develop scientific literacy for informed and participative citizens.
  • Emphasis: Making judgments/decisions on scientific knowledge applications with social, health, and environmental impacts.
  • Integration: Science and technology in social, economic, personal, and ethical aspects.
  • Link: Science and technology, including indigenous technology, to preserve cultural heritage.
  • Aim: Equip learners with competencies for the world of work and knowledge-based society.
  • Vision: Develop scientifically, technologically, and environmentally literate, productive citizens.
  • Qualities: Critical problem solvers, responsible stewards of nature, innovative/creative, informed decision-makers, effective communicators.
  • Curriculum Domains:
    • Understanding and applying scientific knowledge (local and global contexts).
    • Performing scientific processes and skills.
    • Developing and demonstrating scientific attitudes and values.
  • Approaches:
    • Multi/Interdisciplinary
    • Science-Technology-Society
    • Contextual Learning
    • Problem/Issue-Based Learning
    • Inquiry-Based Approach
  • Pedagogy: Constructivism, social cognition learning model, learning style theory, and brain-based learning.
  • Intertwined: Science content and processes are integrated.
  • Motivation: Curriculum uses challenging situations/problems to arouse curiosity and make science relevant.
  • Activities: Varied hands-on, minds-on, and hearts-on activities for active learning.
  • Emphasis: Learner-centered and inquiry-based, using evidence for explanations.
  • Progression: Concepts/skills in Life Sciences, Physics, Chemistry, and Earth Sciences presented with increasing complexity in spiral progression.
  • Integration: Across science topics and other disciplines for meaningful understanding and real-life application.

Core Learning Area Standard (Science for the Entire K to 12)

  • Focus: Understanding basic science concepts and application of science-inquiry skills.
  • Goals:
    • Exhibit scientific attitudes and values.
    • Solve problems critically.
    • Innovate beneficial products.
    • Protect the environment and conserve resources.
    • Enhance integrity and wellness.
    • Make informed decisions.
    • Engage in discussions of relevant issues.

Key Stage Standards

K–3

  • Goal: Acquire healthful habits and develop curiosity about self and environment.
  • Skills: Use basic process skills (observing, communicating, comparing, classifying, measuring, inferring, predicting).
  • Value: Science as an important tool for exploration.
  • Focus: Developing scientific knowledge or concepts.

4–6

  • Goal: Develop essential skills of scientific inquiry.
  • Skills: Designing simple investigations, gathering evidence, observing patterns, drawing conclusions, communicating ideas.
  • Application: Maintain good health, protect/improve the environment, practice safety measures.

7–10

  • Goal: Develop scientific, technological, and environmental literacy.
  • Skills: Making rational choices on issues, understanding investigations, measuring variable effects, and communicating with others using technology.

11-12

  • Goal: Apply science inquiry skills in addressing real-world problems
  • Skills: Gaining skills in obtaining scientific and technological information from varied sources about global issues that have impact on the country. Innovate and/or create products useful to the community or country.
  • Application: Process information to get relevant data for a problem at hand. Learners should have made plans related to their interests and expertise, with consideration forthe needs of their community and the country.

Grade/Level Standards

Kindergarten

  • Focus: Emerging understanding of their body parts/functions; plants, animals, and materials' characteristics; weather conditions.
  • Approach: Exploration, questioning, and careful observation to infer patterns and make conclusions.

Grade 1

  • Focus: Using senses to locate/describe body parts; identifying animal/plant parts; describing object properties; differentiating sounds; illustrating movement; describing weather; using vocabulary; practicing healthy/safety habits.

Grade 2

*Focus: Exploring senses and their functions, comparing/sorting objects, describing weather/events, simple measurements and conservation, decision-making about safety.

Grade 3

  • Focus: Describing body parts and surroundings (rocks, soil, plants, animals, Sun, Moon, stars).
  • Skills: Classifying things as solid, liquid, or gas; describing object movement; identifying light, heat, sound, and electricity sources.
  • Goal: Curiosity, appreciation of nature, and health/safety practice.

Grade 4

  • Skills: Investigate changes in some observable properties of materials when mixed with other materials or when force is applied on them. Identify materials that do not decay and use this knowledge to help minimize waste. Learners can describe the functions of the different internal parts of the body in order to practice ways to maintain good health.
  • Classify: plants and animals according to where they live and observe interactions among living things and their environment.
  • Focus: Effects of push/pull on objects; soil types; water importance; weather components; importance of Sun.

Grade 5

  • Skills: Learners can decide whether materials are safe and useful by investigating about some of their properties. They can infer that new materials may form when there are changes in properties due to certain conditions.Aware of the importance of estuaries and intertidal zones and help in their preservation. Can describe the movement of objects in terms of distance and time travelled.
  • Focus: Material properties; healthful practices related to puberty; plant/animal reproduction; estuaries, object movement; heat/light/sound reactions.

Grade 6

  • Skills: Learners recognize that when mixed together, materials may not form new ones thus these materials may be recovered using different separation techniques. Learners understand how the different organ systems of the human body work together.
    They can design and conduct an investigation on plant propagation. They can describe larger ecosystems such as rainforests, coral reefs, and mangrove swamps.
  • Focus: Material mixtures; organ systems; plant/animal classification; friction/gravity effects; forms of energy; earthquakes/volcanoes; Solar System study.

Grade 7

  • Skills: Learners can distinguish mixtures from substances through semi-guided investigations. They realize the importance of air testing when conducting investigations. Living things are organized into different levels: Cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, and organisms. These organisms comprise populations and communities, which interact with non-living things in ecosystems.
  • Focus: Mixtures vs. substances; living things organization; motion description; energy forms; Philippine resources; atmospheric phenomena; seasons/eclipses.

Grade 8

  • Skills: Learners can describe the factors that affect the motion of an object based on the Laws of Motion. Explain how active faults generate earthquakes and how tropical cyclones originate from warm ocean waters. Explain the behaviour of matter in terms of the particles it is made of.
  • Focus: Laws of Motion; energy transfer; earthquakes/cyclones; matter particles; cell division/digestion; species conservation.

Grade 9

  • Skills: Learners have gained a a deeper understanding of the digestive, respiratory, and circulatory systems to promote overall health. Explain how new materials are formed when atoms are rearranged. They recognize that a wide variety of useful compounds may arise from such rearrangements.
  • Focus: Body systems; material formation; volcanoes; climatic phenomena; conservation laws.

Grade 10

  • Skills: Learners realize that volcanoes and earthquakes occur in the same places in the world and that these are related to plate boundaries. Ways to ensure safety and reduce damage during earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions.Learners will have completed the study of the entire organism with their deeper study of the excretory and reproductive systems.
    Explain the importance of controlling the conditions under which a chemical reaction occurs.
  • Focus: Volcanoes/earthquakes and plate tectonics; energy harnessing; excretion/reproduction; genetic information; chemical reactions/biomolecules.

Spiralling of Concepts

Matter (Grade 3 – Grade 10)

Grade 3
  • Properties of Matter:
    • Awareness: Observe different objects and materials and their different characteristics.
    • Grouping: Grouped into solids, liquids, or gases.
  • Changes That Matter Undergo:
    • Investigation: Ways in which solid turns into liquid, solid into gas, liquid into gas, and liquid into solid, as affected by temperature.
Grade 4
  • Properties of Matter:
    • Grouping: Materials grouped according to their ability to absorb water, ability to float or sink, and whether they decay or not.
  • Changes That Matter Undergo:
    • Observation: Changes in some characteristics of solid materials when these are bent, hammered, pressed, and cut.
Grade 5
  • Properties of Matter:
    • Critical Thinking: Decide whether these materials are harmful or not, ways in which they can use their knowledge of solids and liquids in making useful materials and products.
  • Changes That Matter Undergo:
    • Changes: Investigate changes that take place under the following conditions: presence or lack of oxygen (in air), and applying heat.
Grade 6
  • Properties of Matter:
    • Appearance: Describe the appearance of mixtures as uniform or non-uniform and classify them as homogeneous or heterogeneous mixtures.
  • Changes That Matter Undergo:
    • Separation: Investigate ways of separating these components from the mixture.
Grade 7
  • Properties and Structure of Matter:
    • Solutions: Investigate properties of solutions that are homogeneous mixtures.
    • Concentrations: Express concentrations of solutions qualitatively and quantitatively.
    • Distinction: Distinguish mixtures from substances based on a set of properties.
  • Changes That Matter Undergo:
    • Diversity: Recognize that materials combine in various ways and through different processes, contributing to the wide variety of materials.
    • Classification: Recognize the importance of a classification system.
Grade 8
  • Properties and Structure of Matter:
    • Particles: Learn that matter is made up of particles, the smallest of which is the atom.
    • Explanation: The properties of materials that they have observed in earlier grades can now be explained by the type of particles involved and the attraction between these particles.
  • Changes That Matter Undergo:
    • Motion: Particles are always in motion.
    • Explanation: Changes from solid to liquid, solid to gas, liquid to solid, and liquid to gas, involve changes in the motion of and relative distances between the particles, as well as the attraction between them.
Grade 9
  • Properties and Structure of Matter:
    • Atoms: Describe how atoms can form units called molecules and learn about ions.
    • Bonds: Explain how atoms form bonds (ionic and covalent) with other atoms by the transfer or sharing of electrons.
  • Changes That Matter Undergo:
    • Compounds: Explain how new compounds are formed in terms of the rearrangement of particles.
    • Rearrangements: Recognize that a wide variety of useful compounds may arise from such rearrangements.
Grade 10
  • Properties and Structure of Matter:
    • Carbon: Explain how covalent bonding in carbon forms a wide variety of carbon compounds.
  • Changes That Matter Undergo:
    • Reactions: Learn that the rearrangement of particles happen when substances undergo chemical reaction.

Living Things and Their Environment (Grade 3 – Grade 10)

Grade 3
  • Parts and Function of Animals and Plants:
    *Observation: Observe and describe the different parts of living things focusing on the sense organs of humans and the more familiar external parts of animals and plants.
    *Ecosystem:
    Living things depend on their environment for food, air, and water to survive.
Grade 4
  • Parts and Function of Animals and Plants:
    • Introduction: The learners are introduced to the major organs of the human body.
      *Ecosystem:
      learn that there are beneficial and harmful interactions that occur among living things and their environment as they obtain their basic needs.
Grade 5
  • Parts and Function of Animals and Plants:
    *Organs: The learners now focus on the organs of the reproductive systems of humans, animals, and plants.
    *Ecosystem:
    Learners are introduced to the interactions among components of larger habitats such as estuaries and intertidal zones, as well as the conditions that enable certain organisms to live.
Grade 6
  • Parts and Function of Animals and Plants:
    *Interactions: describe the interactions among parts of the major organs of the human body.
    *Ecosystem:
    *Learners are introduced to the interactions among components of habitats such as tropical rainforests, coral reefs, and mangrove swamps.
Grade 7
  • Parts and Function of Animals and Plants:
    *Levels: Learners are introduced to the levels of organization in the human body and other organisms.
    *ECOSYSTEMS
    *Learners learn that interactions occur among the different levels of organization in ecosystems. Organisms of the same kind interact with each other to form populations; populations interact with other populations to form communities.
Grade 8
  • Parts and Function of Animals and Plants:
    *Process : Learners gain knowledge of how the body breaks down food into forms that can be absorbed through the digestive system and transported to cells.
    *ECOSYSTEMS
    *Transformation: Learners learn how energy is transformed and how materials are cycled in ecosystems.
Grade 9
  • Parts and Function of Animals and Plants:
    *Relations: Learners study the coordinated functions of the digestive, respiratory, and circulatory systems.
    *ECOSYSTEMS .
    *Learners investigate the impact of human activities and other organisms on ecosystems.
Grade 10
  • Parts and Function of Animals and Plants:
    *Mechanisems: Learners learn that organisms have feedback mechanisms that are coordinated by the nervous and endocrine systems.
    *BIODIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION.
    *Learners revisit the mechanisms involved in the inheritance of traits and the changes that result from these mechanisms.

Force, Motion, and Energy (Grade 3 – Grade 10)

Grade 3
  • Force and Motion:
    *Awareness : Observe how things around them move and can be moved.
    *Energy
    *Observe and identify different sources of light, heat, sound, and electricity in their environment and their uses in everyday life.
Grade 4
  • Force and Motion:
    *Applications : Force is applied on an object, its motion, size, or shape can be changed.
    *Magnets can exert force on some objects and may cause changes in their movements.
    *Energy
    *light, heat, and sound travel from the source.
Grade 5
  • Force and Motion:
    *Measurement : Accurately measure the amount of change in the movement of an object in terms of its distance travelled and time of travel using appropriate tools.
    *Energy
    *(light, heat, and sound travel from the source.
    learn how different objects interact with light, heat, sound, and electricity (e.g., identifying poor and good conductors of electricity using simple circuits).
Grade 6
  • Force and Motion:
    *Affects Learners also learn about gravity and friction as other causes or factors that affect the movement of objects.
    *Energy
    *Transformation: also learn about the effects of light, heat, sound, and electricity on people.
    At this grade level, learners are introduced to the concept of energy. They learn that energy exists in different forms, such as light, heat, sound and electricity, and it can be transformed from one form to another.
Grade 7
  • Force and Motion:
    *Description : From a simple understanding of motion, learners study more scientific ways of describing (in terms of distance, speed, and acceleration) and representing (using motion diagrams, charts, and graphs) the motion of objects in one dimension.
    *ENERGY
    *Learners study more scientific ways of describing (in terms of distance, speed, and acceleration) and representing (using motion diagrams, charts, and graphs) the motion of objects in one dimension.
Grade 8
  • Force and Motion:
    *Scientific ways : They use Newton’s Laws of Motion to explain why objects move (or do not move) the way they do (as described in Grade 7).
    *ENERGY
    *Learners realize that transferred energy may cause changes in the properties of the object.
    *observable changes in temperature, amount of current, and speed of sound to the changes in energy of the particles.
Grade 9
  • Force and Motion:
    *Transformation: Momentum to further explain the motion of objects. From motion in one dimension in the previous grades, they learn at this level about motion in two dimensions using projectile motion as an example.
    *ENERGy
    *Learners explain how conservation of mechanical energy is applied in some structures, such as roller coasters, and in natural environments like waterfalls.
Grade 10
  • Force and Motion:
    *Extend :Extend their understanding of forces by describing how balanced and unbalanced forces, either by solids or liquids, affect the movement, balance, and stability of objects.
    *ENERGy
    *They further develop their understanding of transmission of electricity from power stations to homes.

Earth and Space (Grade 3 – Grade 10)

Grade 3
  • Geology:
    • description Landforms and bodies of water.
Grade 4
  • Geology:
    *Investigation: Soil and Water.
Grade 5
  • Geology:
    • ChangesOur surroundings do not stay the same forever
      infer that the surface of the Earth changes with the passage of time.
Grade 6
  • Geology:
    *Weathering learn that aside from weathering and erosion, there are other processes that may alter the surface of the Earth: earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Grade 7
  • Geology:
    *Explore And Discover: Using coordinate locations.
    *Discover that our country’s location near the equator and along the Ring of Fire influences elements of up Philippine environment (e.g., natural resources and climate).
Grade 8
  • Geology:
    *Earthquakes Prone of Earthquakes .
    *Using models, learners will explain how quakes are generated by faults.
    *They will try to identify faults in the community and differentiate active faults from inactive ones.
Grade 9
  • Geology:
    *Volcanoes Epicenters and Mountain Ranges .
    You will discover that volcanoes, earthquake epicenters, and mountain ranges are not randomly scattered in different places but are located in the same areas.
Grade 10
  • Geology:
    *Plate Tectonics:This will lead to an appreciation of plate tectonics—a theory that binds many geologic processes such as volcanism and earthquakes.