Grade 4 · Human Systems Science IV
Grade 4 learners reason about constraints, rates of change, and comparisons across systems. They work with more formal models, organize multi-variable data, and explain tradeoffs. Sustainability is treated as a systems necessity, not a moral idea.
Continuing Anchor Ideas
Revisited and extended all year, used as recurring reference points across domains.
Water, energy, materials, and food are limited resources.
Students reason about finite supply, rates of use, and consequences of shortage.
Systems can be stable or unstable depending on how resources are managed.
Students compare stability across contexts and explain what pushes systems toward failure.
Human systems are designed and can be redesigned.
Students use criteria and constraints to improve designs, then justify changes with evidence.
Choices create tradeoffs that affect people and environments differently.
Students identify winners, costs, and unintended effects, then explain why tradeoffs occur.
Evidence and data are used to compare solutions.
Students organize multi-variable data and defend decisions using measured comparisons.
Students can reason about constraints, rates of change, and comparisons across systems. They can work with more formal models, organize multi-variable data, and explain tradeoffs. They treat sustainability as a systems necessity.
What Grade 4 adds to the system: systems are explicitly finite, students reason about limits and resilience, data comparison and justification are expected, design includes constraints and evaluation criteria, students are prepared for upper elementary system integration.
Grade 4 Standards by Domain
Students compare systems under constraints, analyze tradeoffs, and justify designs with organized data and evidence.
4-HS1
Water Availability, Use, and Management
Clean Water & Sanitation
Limits
Management
- 4-HS1.1 Students explain how water availability differs by location and season.
- 4-HS1.2 Students analyze how human water use affects natural systems.
- 4-HS1.3 Students investigate methods for conserving or managing water.
- 4-HS1.4 Students design and evaluate a water management system under constraints.
Hands-on STEM expectation
Water budget simulations, rainfall and runoff models, conservation testing.
4-HS2
Energy Resources and Efficiency
Affordable & Clean Energy
Efficiency
Tradeoffs
- 4-HS2.1 Students compare renewable and nonrenewable energy sources.
- 4-HS2.2 Students analyze how energy choices affect environments and communities.
- 4-HS2.3 Students investigate efficiency in energy use and transfer.
- 4-HS2.4 Students design solutions that reduce energy waste.
Hands-on STEM expectation
Energy audits, efficiency testing, insulation and transfer experiments.
4-HS3
Health, Resources, and Environmental Change
Good Health & Well-Being
Equity
Intervention
- 4-HS3.1 Students explain how access to resources affects health outcomes.
- 4-HS3.2 Students analyze how environmental changes impact health.
- 4-HS3.3 Students investigate how public health solutions address system-wide problems.
- 4-HS3.4 Students design interventions to improve health in changing environments.
Hands-on STEM expectation
Case studies, data comparison, intervention modeling.
4-HS4
Infrastructure, Resources, and Reliability
Industry, Innovation, & Infrastructure
Reliability
Resilience
- 4-HS4.1 Students analyze how infrastructure systems depend on resources.
- 4-HS4.2 Students investigate causes of infrastructure failure.
- 4-HS4.3 Students compare infrastructure designs across contexts.
- 4-HS4.4 Students design resilient infrastructure solutions under constraints.
Hands-on STEM expectation
Stress testing, failure analysis, redesign challenges.
4-HS5
Community Design and Resource Balance
Sustainable Cities & Communities
Balance
Planning
- 4-HS5.1 Students analyze how communities balance growth and resources.
- 4-HS5.2 Students investigate how design affects community sustainability.
- 4-HS5.3 Students compare community systems for efficiency and equity.
- 4-HS5.4 Students design community features that balance needs and limits.
Hands-on STEM expectation
City planning simulations, resource allocation modeling.
4-HS6
Production Systems and Resource Limits
Responsible Consumption & Production
Efficiency
Reduced impact
- 4-HS6.1 Students explain how production depends on natural resources.
- 4-HS6.2 Students analyze environmental impacts of production choices.
- 4-HS6.3 Students investigate methods for reducing resource use.
- 4-HS6.4 Students design improved production systems with reduced impact.
Hands-on STEM expectation
Life cycle analysis, redesign challenges, waste reduction modeling.
4-HS7
Water Ecosystem Change and Protection
Life Below Water
Stability
Restoration
- 4-HS7.1 Students analyze factors that affect water ecosystem health.
- 4-HS7.2 Students investigate human-caused changes to water ecosystems.
- 4-HS7.3 Students compare ecosystem responses to change.
- 4-HS7.4 Students design protection or restoration strategies.
Hands-on STEM expectation
Ecosystem modeling, impact simulations, restoration planning.
4-HS8
Land Ecosystem Change and Conservation
Life on Land
Biodiversity
Management
- 4-HS8.1 Students analyze land ecosystem responses to change.
- 4-HS8.2 Students investigate human land-use impacts.
- 4-HS8.3 Students compare conservation strategies.
- 4-HS8.4 Students design land management solutions under constraints.
Hands-on STEM expectation
Land-use modeling, erosion testing, conservation planning.
Grade 4 throughline: students treat resources as finite, compare options under constraints, analyze tradeoffs, and justify designs with evidence and multi-variable data.
Design and Practice Standards
Applied throughout the year, students ask comparative questions, analyze data, evaluate solutions, and communicate using models and structured writing.
- 4-DSP1 Students ask comparative and constraint-based questions.
- 4-DSP2 Students collect and analyze data to identify patterns.
- 4-DSP3 Students evaluate solutions using evidence and criteria.
- 4-DSP4 Students communicate explanations using models, charts, and structured writing.
What Grade 4 accomplishes
Systems are explicitly finite, students reason about limits and resilience, data comparison and justification are expected, design includes constraints and evaluation criteria, students are prepared for upper elementary system integration.