Next Generation Science Standards - Grade 4

In fourth grade, students should develop an understanding of the definition of energy, how it is transferred, and its relationship to motion; the ways in which the use of renewable energy and fuels impacts the environment; the characteristics of waves and how they can be used for information transfer; the internal and external structures that allow plants and animals to survive, grow, and reproduce; how animals receive information through their senses and respond to it in ways that increase survival; the causes and effects of weathering and erosion; how rock layers and fossils can reveal changes in a landscape over time; and the challenges that natural Earth processes pose for humans.