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TIMSS 2019 Science Framework

Victoria A.S. Centurino and Lee R. Jones

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Science Content Domains–Fourth Grade

Three major content domains define the science content for the TIMSS Science fourth grade assessment: life science, physical science, and Earth science. Exhibit 2.2 shows the target percentages of testing time for each of the three content domains in the TIMSS 2019 Science assessment.

Exhibit 2.2: Target Percentages of the TIMSS 2019 Science Assessment Devoted to Content Domains at the Fourth Grade

Fourth Grade Content Domains Percentages
Life Science 45%
Physical Science 35%
Earth Science 20%

Each of these content domains includes several major topic areas, and each topic area in turn includes one or more topics. Each topic is further described by specific objectives that represent the students’ expected knowledge, abilities, and skills assessed within each topic. Across the fourth grade assessment, each objective receives approximately equal weight in terms of the number of assessment items. The verbs used in the objectives are intended to represent typical performances expected of fourth grade students, but are not intended to limit performances to a particular cognitive domain. Each objective can be assessed drawing on any of the three cognitive domains (knowing, applying, and reasoning).

Life Science

The study of life science at the fourth grade provides students with an opportunity to capitalize on their innate curiosity and begin to understand the living world around them. In TIMSS 2019, life science is represented by five topic areas:

  • Characteristics and life processes of organisms
  • Life cycles, reproduction, and heredity
  • Organisms, environment, and their interactions
  • Ecosystems
  • Human health

By the fourth grade, students are expected to be building a base of knowledge about general characteristics of organisms, how they function, and how they interact with other organisms and with their environment. Students also should be familiar with fundamental science concepts related to life cycles, heredity, and human health that in later grades will lead to a more sophisticated understanding of how the human body functions.

Characteristics and Life Processes of Organisms

  1. Differences between living and non-living things and what living things require to live:

    2. ARecognize and describe differences between living and non-living things (i.e., all living things can reproduce, grow and develop, respond to stimuli, and die; and non-living things cannot).

    BIdentify what living things require in order to live (i.e., air, food, water, and an environment in which to live).

  2. Physical and behavioral characteristics of major groups of living things:

    3. ACompare and contrast physical and behavioral characteristics that distinguish major groups of living things (i.e., insects, birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, and flowering plants).

    BIdentify or provide examples of members of major groups of living things (i.e., insects, birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, and flowering plants).

    CDistinguish groups of animals with backbones from groups of animals without backbones.

  3. Functions of major structures in living things:

    4. ARelate major structures in animals to their functions (e.g., teeth break down food, bones support the body, lungs take in air, the heart circulates blood, the stomach digests food, muscles move the body).

    BRelate major structures in plants to their functions (i.e., roots absorb water and nutrients and anchor the plant, leaves make food, the stem transports water and food, petals attract pollinators, flowers produce seeds, and seeds produce new plants).

Life Cycles, Reproduction, and Heredity

  1. Stages of life cycles and differences among the life cycles of common plants and animals:

    2. AIdentify stages of the life cycles of plants (i.e., germination, growth and development, reproduction, and seed dispersal).

    BRecognize, compare, and contrast the life cycles of familiar plants and animals (e.g., trees, beans, humans, frogs, butterflies).

  2. Inheritance and reproduction strategies:

    3. ARecognize that plants and animals reproduce with their own kind to produce offspring with features that closely resemble those of the parents.

    BDistinguish between features of plants and animals that are inherited from their parents (e.g., number of petals, color of petals, eye color, hair color), and those that are not (e.g., some broken branches in a tree, length of human hair).

    CIdentify and describe different strategies that increase the number of offspring that survive (e.g., a plant producing many seeds, mammals caring for their young).

Organisms, Environment, and Their Interactions

  1. Physical features or behaviors of living things that help them survive in their environment:

    2. AAssociate physical features of plants and animals with the environments in which they live and describe how these features help them to survive (e.g., a thick stem, a waxy coating, and a deep root help a plant survive in an environment with little water; the coloring of an animal helps camouflage it from predators).

    BAssociate behaviors of animals with the environments in which they live and describe how these behaviors help them to survive (e.g., migration or hibernation helps an animal to stay alive when food is scarce).

  2. Responses of living things to environmental conditions:

    3. ARecognize and describe how plants respond to environmental conditions (e.g., amount of available water, amount of sunlight).

    BRecognize and describe how different animals respond to changes in environmental conditions (e.g., light, temperature, danger); recognize and describe how the human body responds to high and low temperatures, exercise, and danger.

  3. The impact of humans on the environment:

    4. ARecognize that human behavior has negative and positive effects on the environment (e.g., negative effects of air and water pollution, the benefits of reducing air and water pollution); provide general descriptions and examples of the effects of pollution on humans, plants, and animals, and their environments.

Ecosystems

  1. Common ecosystems:

    2. ARelate common plants and animals (e.g., evergreen trees, frogs, lions) to common ecosystems (e.g., forests, ponds, grasslands).

  2. Relationships in simple food chains:

    3. ARecognize that all plants and animals need food to provide energy for activity and need raw materials for growth and repair; explain that plants need sunlight to make their food, while animals eat plants or other animals to get their food.

    BComplete a model of a simple food chain using common plants and animals from familiar ecosystems, such as a forest or a desert.

    CDescribe the roles of living things at each link in a simple food chain (e.g., plants produce their own food; some animals eat plants, while other animals eat the animals that eat plants).

    DIdentify and describe common predators and their prey.

  3. Competition in ecosystems:

    4. ARecognize and explain that some living things in an ecosystem compete with others for food or space.

Human Health

  1. Transmission, prevention, and symptoms of communicable diseases:

    2. ARelate the transmission of common communicable diseases to human contact (e.g., touching, sneezing, coughing).

    BIdentify or describe some methods of preventing disease transmission (e.g., vaccination, washing hands, avoiding people who are sick); recognize common signs of illness (e.g., high body temperature, coughing, stomachache).

  2. Ways of maintaining good health:

    3. ADescribe everyday behaviors that promote good health (e.g., a balanced diet, exercising regularly, brushing teeth, getting enough sleep, wearing sunscreen); identify common food sources included in a balanced diet (e.g., fruits, vegetables, grains).

Physical Science

At the fourth grade, students learn how many physical phenomena that they observe in their everyday lives can be explained through an understanding of physical science concepts. The topic areas for the physical science content domain at fourth grade are:

  • Classification and properties of matter and changes in matter
  • Forms of energy and energy transfer
  • Forces and motion

Fourth grade students should have an understanding of physical states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas), as well as common changes in the state and form of matter; this forms a foundation for the study of both chemistry and physics in the middle and upper grades. At this level, students also should know common forms and sources of energy and their practical uses, and understand basic concepts about light, sound, electricity, and magnetism. The study of forces and motion emphasizes an understanding of forces as they relate to movements students can observe, such as the effect of gravity or pushing and pulling.

Classification and Properties of Matter and Changes in Matter

  1. States of matter and characteristic differences of each state:

    2. AIdentify and describe three states of matter (i.e., a solid has a definite shape and volume, a liquid has a definite volume but not a definite shape, and a gas has neither a definite shape nor a definite volume).

  2. Physical properties as a basis for classifying matter:

    3. ACompare and sort objects and materials on the basis of physical properties (e.g., weight/mass, volume, state of matter, ability to conduct heat or electricity, ability to float or sink in water, ability to be attracted by a magnet). [Note: Students in the fourth grade are not expected to differentiate between mass and weight.

    BIdentify properties of metals (i.e., conducting electricity and conducting heat) and relate these properties to uses of metals (e.g., a copper electrical wire, an iron cooking pot).

    CDescribe examples of mixtures and how they can be physically separated (e.g., sifting, filtration, evaporation, magnetic attraction).

  3. Magnetic attraction and repulsion:

    4. ARecognize that magnets have two poles and that like poles repel and opposite poles attract

    BRecognize that magnets can be used to attract some metal objects.

  4. Physical changes observed in everyday life:

    5. AIdentify observable changes in materials that do not result in new materials with different properties (e.g., dissolving, crushing an aluminum can).

    BRecognize that matter can be changed from one state to another by heating or cooling; describe changes in the state of water (i.e., melting, freezing, boiling, evaporation, and condensation).

    CIdentify ways of increasing how quickly a solid material dissolves in a given amount of water (i.e., increasing the temperature, stirring, and breaking the solid into smaller pieces); distinguish between strong and weak concentrations of simple solutions.

  5. Chemical changes observed in everyday life:

    6. AIdentify observable changes in materials that make new materials with different properties (e.g., decaying, such as food spoiling; burning; rusting).

Forms of Energy and Energy Transfer

  1. Common sources and uses of energy:

    2. AIdentify sources of energy (e.g., the Sun, flowing water, wind, coal, oil, gas), and recognize that energy is needed to move objects and for heating and lighting.

  2. Light and sound in everyday life:

    3. ARelate familiar physical phenomena (i.e., shadows, reflections, and rainbows) to the behavior of light.

    BRelate familiar physical phenomena (i.e., vibrating objects and echoes) to the production and behavior of sound.

  3. Heat transfer:

    4. ARecognize that warmer objects have a higher temperature than cooler objects; describe what will happen when a hot object and a cold object are brought into contact (i.e., the temperature of the hot object decreases and the temperature of the cold object increases).

  4. Electricity and simple electrical systems:

    5. ARecognize that electrical energy in a circuit can be transformed into other forms of energy (e.g., heat, light, sound).

    BExplain that simple electrical systems (e.g., a flashlight) require a complete (unbroken) electrical pathway.

Forces and Motion

  1. Familiar forces and the motion of objects:

    2. AIdentify gravity as the force that draws objects to Earth.

    BRecognize that forces (i.e., pushing and pulling) may cause an object to change its motion; compare the effects of these forces of different strengths in the same or opposite directions acting on an object; and recognize that friction force works against the direction of motion (e.g., friction working against a push or a pull makes it more difficult to move an object along a surface).

  2. Simple machines:

    3. ARecognize that simple machines, (e.g., levers, pulleys, gears, ramps) help make motion easier (e.g., make lifting things easier, reduce the amount of force required, change the distance, change the direction of the force).

Earth Science

Earth science is the study of Earth and its place in the Solar System, and at fourth grade focuses on the study of phenomena and processes that students can observe in their everyday lives. While there is no single picture of what constitutes an Earth science curriculum that applies to all countries, the three topic areas included in this domain are generally considered to be important for students at the fourth grade to understand as they learn about the planet on which they live and its place in the Solar System:

  • Earth’s physical characteristics, resources, and history
  • Earth’s weather and climates
  • Earth in the Solar System

At this level, students should have some general knowledge about the structure and physical characteristics of Earth’s surface, and about the use of Earth’s most important resources. Students also should be able to describe some of Earth’s processes in terms of observable changes and understand the time frame over which such changes have occurred. Fourth grade students should also demonstrate some understanding about Earth’s place in the Solar System based on observations of patterns of change on Earth and in the sky.

Earth’s Physical Characteristics, Resources, and History

  1. Physical characteristics of the Earth system:

    2. ARecognize that Earth’s surface is made up of land and water in unequal proportions (more water than land) and is surrounded by air; describe where fresh and salt water are found, and recognize that water in rivers or streams flows from mountains to oceans or lakes.

  2. Earth’s resources:

    3. AIdentify some of Earth’s resources that are used in everyday life (e.g., water, wind, soil, forests, oil, natural gas, minerals).

    BExplain the importance of using Earth’s renewable and non-renewable resources responsibly (e.g., fossil fuels, forests, water).

  3. Earth’s history:

    4. ARecognize that wind and water change Earth’s landscape and that some features of Earth’s landscape (e.g., mountains, river valleys) result from changes that happen very slowly over a long time.

    BRecognize that some remains (fossils) of animals and plants that lived on Earth a long time ago are found in rocks and make simple deductions about changes in Earth’s surface from the location of these remains.

Earth’s Weather and Climates

  1. Weather and climates on Earth:

    2. AApply knowledge of changes of state of water to common weather events (e.g., cloud formation, dew formation, the evaporation of puddles, snow, rain).

    BDescribe how weather (i.e., daily variations in temperature, humidity, precipitation in the form of rain or snow, clouds, and wind) can vary with geographic location.

    CDescribe how average temperature and precipitation can change with the seasons and location.

Earth in the Solar System

  1. Objects in the Solar System and their movements:

    2. AIdentify the Sun as a source of heat and light for the Solar System; describe the Solar System as the Sun and the planets that revolve around it.

    BRecognize that the Earth has a moon that revolves around it, and from Earth the Moon looks different at different times of the month.

  2. Earth’s motion and related patterns observed on Earth:

    3. AExplain how day and night are related to Earth’s daily rotation about its axis, and provide evidence of this rotation from the changing appearance of shadows during the day.

    BDescribe how seasons in Earth’s northern and southern hemispheres are related to Earth’s annual movement around the Sun.