This correlation lists the recommended Gizmos for this state's curriculum standards. Click any Gizmo title below for more information.
NCES.4.P: : Forces and Motion
NCES.4.P.1: : Explain how various forces affect the motion of an object.
NCES.4.P.1.1: : Explain how magnets interact with all things made of iron and with other magnets to produce motion without touching them.
Magnetism
Drag bar magnets and a variety of other objects onto a piece of paper. Click Play to release the objects to see if they are attracted together, repelled apart, or unaffected. You can also sprinkle iron filings over the magnets and other objects to view the magnetic field lines that are produced.
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NCES.4.P.1.2: : Explain how electrically charged objects push or pull on other electrically charged objects and produce motion.
Charge Launcher
Launch a charged particle into a chamber. Charged particles can be added into the chamber to influence the path of the moving particle. The launch speed can be changed as well. Try to match a given path by manipulating the fixed particles in the chamber.
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NCES.4.P.2: : Understand the composition and properties of matter before and after they undergo a change or interaction.
NCES.4.P.2.1: : Compare the physical properties of samples of matter (strength, hardness, flexibility, ability to conduct heat, ability to conduct electricity, ability to be attracted by magnets, reactions to water and fire).
Circuit Builder
Create circuits using batteries, light bulbs, switches, fuses, and a variety of materials. Examine series and parallel circuits, conductors and insulators, and the effects of battery voltage. Thousands of different circuits can be built with this Gizmo.
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Drag bar magnets and a variety of other objects onto a piece of paper. Click Play to release the objects to see if they are attracted together, repelled apart, or unaffected. You can also sprinkle iron filings over the magnets and other objects to view the magnetic field lines that are produced.
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The Secret Service has arrested suspects accused of counterfeiting coins from the year 1915 valued at $50,000 each. The students act as a forensic scientist to investigate the crime scene and evidence. Students learn about the properties of matter to recreate the methods used to make the coins as evidence for the trial.
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NCES.4.P.2.2: : Explain how minerals are identified using tests for the physical properties of hardness, color, luster, cleavage and streak.
Mineral Identification
Observe and measure the properties of a mineral sample, and then use a key to identify the mineral. Students can observe the color, luster, shape, density, hardness, streak, and reaction to acid for each mineral. There are 26 mineral samples to identify.
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NCES.4.P.2.3: : Classify rocks as metamorphic, sedimentary or igneous based on their composition, how they are formed and the processes that create them.
Rock Classification
Try to classify a dozen different rock samples based on their appearance. Common characteristics of each major rock type are described. Rocks also can be classified by where they formed.
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Play the role of a piece of rock moving through the rock cycle. Select a starting location and follow many possible paths throughout the cycle. Learn how rocks are formed, weathered, eroded, and reformed as they move from Earth's surface to locations deep within the crust.
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NCES.4.P.3: : Recognize that energy takes various forms that may be grouped based on their interaction with matter.
NCES.4.P.3.1: : Recognize the basic forms of energy (light, sound, heat, electrical, and magnetic) as the ability to cause motion or create change.
Energy Conversions
Where does energy come from? How does energy get from one place to another? Find out how electrical current is generated and how living things get energy to move and grow. Trace the path of energy and see how energy is converted from one form to another.
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NCES.4.P.3.2: : Recognize that light travels in a straight line until it strikes an object or travels from one medium to another, and that light can be reflected, refracted, and absorbed.
Eyes and Vision 1 - Seeing Color
Observe how different colors of light are reflected or absorbed by colored objects. Determine that white light is a combination of different colors of light, and that one or more component colors may be reflected when white light is shone on an object. Understand that we see an object when light reflected from the object enters our eye.
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NCES.4.E.1: : Explain the causes of day and night and phases of the moon.
NCES.4.E.1.2: : Explain the monthly changes in the appearance of the moon, based on the moon’s orbit around the Earth.
Phases of the Moon
Understand the phases of the Moon by observing the positions of the Moon, Earth and Sun. A view of the Moon from Earth is shown on the right as the Moon orbits Earth. Learn the names of Moon phases and in what order they occur. Click Play to watch the Moon go around, or click Pause and drag the Moon yourself.
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NCES.4.E.2: : Understand the use of fossils and changes in the surface of the earth as evidence of the history of Earth and its changing life forms.
NCES.4.E.2.3: : Give examples of how the surface of the earth changes due to slow processes such as erosion and weathering, and rapid processes such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes.
Erosion Rates
Explore erosion in a simulated 3D environment. Observe how the landscape evolves over time as it is shaped by the forces of flowing water. Vary the initial landscape, rock type, precipitation amount, average temperature, and vegetation and measure how each variable affects the rate of erosion and resulting landscape features.
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Explore how river erosion affects landscapes in the short term and over long periods of time. Describe the features of mountain streams and meandering rivers, and use a floating barrel to estimate current speed. Witness the changes that occur as mountain streams erode downward and meandering rivers erode from side to side.
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Weathering is the breakdown of rock at Earth's surface through physical or chemical means. Students will learn about the different types of mechanical and chemical weathering, then use a simulation to model the effects of weathering on different types of rocks in varying climate conditions.
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NCES.4.L.1: : Understand the effects of environmental changes, adaptations and behaviors that enable animals (including humans) to survive in changing habitats.
NCES.4.L.1.1: : Give examples of changes in an organism’s environment that are beneficial to it and some that are harmful.
Pond Ecosystem
Measure the temperature and oxygen content of a pond over the course of a day. Then go fishing to see what types of fish live in the pond. Many different ponds can be investigated to determine the influence of time, temperature, and farms on oxygen levels.
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Observe the populations of grass, prairie dogs, ferrets and foxes in a prairie ecosystem. Investigate feeding relationships and determine the food chain. Bar graphs and line graphs show changes in populations over time.
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As a national park ranger, students must restore the ecosystem of a park back to normal. They interact with populations of many organisms including wolves, deer and bees. Students learn the importance of food chains and webs, and how human factors can impact the health of an environment.
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As an agricultural scientist, students help a strawberry farmer who is having problems with low fruit production. Students learn about the factors involved in fruit production including plant nutrients, pollination and bees, and the interaction with the environment.
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NCES.4.L.1.2: : Explain how animals meet their needs by using behaviors in response to information received from the environment.
Honeybee Hive
Explore life in the hive by meeting workers, drones, and the queen bee herself! Visit flower patches to determine the best sources of food, and then perform a waggle dance to let the other bees know where to go. Can you help the bees find enough food to save the hive?
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A farmer in Africa is having problems with elephants eating her corn and cotton crops. As a wildlife biologist, students learn about animal group behavior and relationships of elephants and humans with bees. Students collect data from the farm and elephants to hypothesize and test solutions that will protect the crops without hurting the elephants.
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NCES.4.L.1.4: : Explain how differences among animals of the same population sometimes give individuals an advantage in surviving and reproducing in changing habitats.
Natural Selection
You are a bird hunting moths (both dark and light) that live on trees. As you capture the moths most easily visible against the tree surface, the moth populations change, illustrating the effects of natural selection.
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Students assume the role of a scientist trying to solve a real world problem. They use scientific practices to collect and analyze data, and form and test a hypothesis as they solve the problems.
