5th Grade Science Facts
The Nature of Science and Engineering
1. Science is a way of knowing about the natural world, is done by individuals and groups,
and is characterized by empirical criteria, logical argument and skeptical view.
2. Scientific inquiry requires identification of assumptions, use of critical and logical
thinking, and consideration of alternative explanations.
3. Men and women throughout the history of all cultures, including MN American Indian
tribes and communities, have been involved in engineering design and scientific inquiry.
4. Tools and mathematics help scientists and engineers see more, measure more
accurately, and do things that they could not otherwise accomplish. (spring scale, metric
measurement, tables, mean/median/range, spreadsheets, and appropriate graphs)
Physical Science
1. An object’s motion is affected by forces and can be described by the object’s speed and
the direction it is moving.
2. Friction slows down a moving skateboard.
3. A greater force on an object can produce a greater change in motion.
4. Simple machines demonstrate how they change the input and output of forces and
motion.
Earth and Space Science
1. The surface of the Earth changes. Some changes are due to slow processes and some
changes are due to rapid processes.
2. Over time, rocks weather and combine with organic matter to form soil.
3. Slow processes, such as water erosion and rapid processes, such as landslides and
volcanic eruptions, form features of the the Earth’s surface.
4. In order to maintain and improve their existence, humans interact with and influence
Earth systems.
5. Water, iron ore, granite, sand and gravel, wind and forests are all renewable and
nonrenewable energy and material resources found in MN.
Life Science
1. Living things are diverse with many different characteristics that enable them to grow,
reproduce and survive.
2. Plants and animals adapt to their environment. Without various adaptations, they
would not be able to survive.
3. Natural systems have many parts that interact to maintain the living system.
4. Humans change environments in ways that can be either beneficial or harmful to
themselves and other organisms.
5. Recreation, pollution, and wildlife management are examples of helpful and harmful
human interaction with natural systems.
Academic Vocabulary
1. Explain=to make plain or understandable
2. Describe=to tell or write about; to give a detailed account of
3. Variable=any factor that can change in a controlled experiment, observation, or model
4. Control=any factor that stays the same in an experiment
5. Contrast=to compare in order to show differences
6. Classify=to arrange or organize according to a category
7. Determine=to settle or decide upon
8. Inference=process of drawing a conclusion by reasoning from something known
9. Hypothesis=an educated guess or explanation
10. Observation=the act of noticing, perceiving, or seeing
11. Structure=the arrangement of all of the parts of a whole
12. Function=the normal or characteristic action of anything; role; job
13. Prediction=prophecy; a guess of the expected results
14. Identify=to find out or to establish the identity of
15. Conduct=to do; to perform
16. Conditions=an existing state; the factors involved in a situation
17. Process=a series of actions by which something develops or is brought about
18. Response=answer or reply
19. Compare=to examine (2 or more objects, ideas, people, etc.) in order to note similarities
and differences
20. Analyze=to examine carefully and in detail so as to identify causes, key factors, possible
results, etc.
21. Organism=living thing: group of systems working together to fulfill a common purpose
22. Advantage=something that is favorable to success, a benefit, gain, or profit; a plus or
positive
23. Disadvantage=something that is unfavorable to success, not a benefit, gain, or profit;
not a plus; a negative
24. Conclusion=the final result, decision or outcome
25. Data=a set of facts, information, statistics or observations
Science Vocabulary
26. Adaptation=a characteristic that enables a living thing to survive in its environment
27. Amphibian=a vertebrate that lives part of its life in water and part of its life on land
28. Atmosphere=the blanket of gases that surrounds Earth
29. Bench mark=a plaque left by surveyors to tell the exact location and elevation of a place
30. Bird=a vertebrate that has both feathers and wings
31. Biome=one of Earth’s large ecosystems, with its own kind of climate, soil, plants, and
animals
32. Camouflage=an adaptation in which an animal protects itself against predators by
blending in with the environment
33. Carnivore=an animal that eats another animal
34. Chemical change=a change in matter that occurs when atoms link together in a new
way, creating a new substance different from the original substances
35. Classification=the science of finding patterns among living things
36. Compression=a movement of plates that presses together or squeezes Earth’s crust
37. Consumer=any animal that eats plants or eats other plant-eating animals
38. Contour plowing=preventing erosion by plowing across rather than up and down a slope
39. Coquina=a sedimentary rock formed from seashell fragments
40. Crop rotation=growing different crops each year so that the soil does not use up the
same kinds of minerals year after year
41. Crossbreeding=producing offspring by mating individuals from two distinct breeds or
varieties of the same species
42. Crust=the rocky surface that makes up the top of the lithosphere and includes the
continents and the ocean floor
43. Deciduous=said of a plant that loses its leaves each fall
44. Deciduous forest=a forest biome with many kinds of trees that lose their leaves each
autumn
45. Decomposer=any of the fungi or bacteria that break down dead plants and animals into
useful things like minerals and rich soil
46. Delta=fan-shaped region formed by deposits of sediments found at the mouth of a river
47. Deposition=the dropping off of bits of eroded rock
48. Desert=a sandy or rocky biome, with little precipitation and little plant life
49. Diversity=a wide variety of traits in individuals from the same population
50. Ecosystem=all of the living and nonliving things in an environment, including their
interactions with each other
51. Elevation=the height of a place above sea level
52. Erosion=the picking up and carrying away of pieces of rocks
53. Fault-a crack in the Earth’s crust whose sides show evidence of motion
54. Fault-block mountains=a mountain formed by blocks of Earth’s crust moving along a
fault
55. Fish=a vertebrate that lives its whole life in water
56. Flood plain=land that is likely to be underwater during a flood
57. Fold mountain=a mountain made up mostly of rock layers folded by being squeezed
together
58. Food chain=the path of energy in food from one organism to another
59. Food web=the overlapping food chains in an ecosystem
60. Force=a push or pull exerted by one object on another, causing a change in motion
61. Fossil=any remains or imprint of living things of the past
62. Fulcrum=the pivot point of a lever
63. Geologist=a scientist who studies rocks to tell how they formed and to predict when an
earthquake may occur
64. Grassland=a biome where grasses, not trees, are the main plant life
65. Herbivore=an animal that eats plants, algae, and other producers
66. Heredity=the passing down of inherited traits from parents to offspring
67. Humus=decayed plant or animal material in soil
68. Hybrid=an organism produced by the crossing of parents that have different forms of
the same trait
69. Hydrosphere=Earth’s water
70. Igneous rocks=a rock formed when melted rock material cools and hardens
71. Inherited trait=a characteristic that is passed from parents to offspring
72. Invertebrate= an animal that does not have a backbone
73. Lava=magma that reaches Earth’s surface
74. Lever=a simple machine made of a rigid bar and a fixed pivot point, called the fulcrum
75. Lithosphere=the hard outer layer of Earth
76. Magma=hot, molten rock deep below Earth’s surface
77. Mammal=a vertebrate that feeds its young milk
78. Meander=bends or s-shaped curves in a river
79. Metamorphic rock=a rock formed under heat and pressure from another kind of rock
80. Meteorite=a chunk of rock from space that strikes a surface of Earth or the Moon
81. Mimicry=an adaptation in which an animal is protected against predators by its
resemblance to another, unpleasant animal
82. Omnivore=an animal that eats both plants and animals
83. Permafrost=a layer of permanently frozen soil found in arctic and Antarctic regions
84. Physical change=a change of matter in size, shape, or state without any change in
identity
85. Plate=One of the moving pieces of Earth’s crust that has been broken by upward
pressure in the mantle
86. Plate tectonics=a scientific theory that Earth’s crust is made of moving plates
87. Predator=an animal that hunts other animals for food
88. Prey=a living thing that is hunted for food
89. Producer=any of the plants and algae that produce oxygen and food that animals need
90. Protective coloration=a type of camouflage in which the color of an animal blends in
with its background, protecting it against predators
91. Reptile=an egg-laying vertebrate with thick, dry skin
92. Rock=a naturally formed solid in the crust made up of one or more minerals
93. Rock cycle=rocks changing from one into another in a never-ending series of processes
94. Runoff-precipitation that flows across the land’s surface or falls into rivers and streams
95. Savanna=a tropical grassland with some trees and shrubs
96. Scavenger=a meat-eating animal that feeds on the remains of dead animals
97. Sediment=pieces of material carried and deposited by water or wind
98. Sedimentary rock=a rock made of bits of matter joined together
99. Shear=a movement of plates that twists, tears, or pushes one part of Earth’s crust past
another
100. Simple machine=a machine with few moving parts, making it easier to do work
101. Strip farming=trapping runoff by alternating tightly growing grasses with more widely
spaced plants
102. Surveyor=a specialist who makes accurate measurements of Earth’s crust
103. Taiga=a cool forest biome of conifers in the upper Northern Hemisphere
104. Temperate=free from extremes of temperature
105. Tension=a movement of plates that stretches or pulls apart Earth’s crust
106. Topsoil=the dark, top layer of soil, rich in humus and minerals, in which many tiny
organisms live and most plants grow
107. Tropical rain forest=a hot biome near the equator, with much rainfall and a wide
variety of life
108. Troposphere=the layer of the atmosphere closest to Earth’s surface
109. Tundra=Large, treeless plain in the arctic regions, where the ground is frozen all year
110. Variable=One of the changes in a situation that may affect the outcome of an
experiment
111. Vertebrate=an animal that has a backbone
112. Watershed=area from which water is drained, region that contributes water to a river
or river system
113. Weathering=breaking down rocks into smaller pieces