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Free 4th grade science worksheets

Written by Dr. Evan J. Hasson, DC — a dad of three who built this curriculum for his own kids.

50 questions with the answers, free to print and free to photocopy for your own students. Drawn across every topic in the grade rather than one — life science, earth science, physical science and engineering design.

Enjoy them. If you want more, or something we do not have yet, write to support@uponlylearning.com and ask — we read it.

Science — Grade 4

50 questions · answers marked

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  1. 1. Why generate more than one solution?
    1. A. Because one single idea is against the rules of engineering work
    2. B. To use up more paper
    3. C. So you can compare them ← Answer
  2. 2. In rock layers that have not been disturbed, which layer is usually the oldest?
    1. A. The bottom layer ← Answer
    2. B. The middle layer
    3. C. They are all the same age
    4. D. The top layer
  3. 3. What is weathering?
    1. A. Dropping sand in a new place farther down a hill
    2. B. Rain falling from clouds
    3. C. Moving soil to a new place
    4. D. The breaking down of rock into smaller pieces ← Answer
  4. 4. What is a structure in a living thing?
    1. A. The food it eats
    2. B. The weather around it
    3. C. A place where it lives out in the wild
    4. D. A part of it, like a root or a claw ← Answer
  5. 5. What is energy?
    1. A. How big something is
    2. B. The ability to cause motion or change ← Answer
    3. C. The color of an object
    4. D. How heavy something is when you hold it
  6. 6. What does the word transfer mean?
    1. A. To get bigger
    2. B. To disappear forever
    3. C. To move from one place or object to another ← Answer
    4. D. To stay in one place without ever moving at all
  7. 7. What is a wave?
    1. A. A kind of rock found on a beach down by the open sea
    2. B. A repeating pattern of motion that carries energy ← Answer
    3. C. A pile of sand that never moves
    4. D. A loud noise with no pattern
  8. 8. What is a light source?
    1. A. Something that is always dark
    2. B. Something that blocks all light at night
    3. C. Something that makes its own light ← Answer
    4. D. Something that bounces light
  9. 9. What is a brainstorm?
    1. A. A careful test of the one idea you have already decided to build
    2. B. A table of measurements
    3. C. A quick list of many ideas ← Answer
  10. 10. In undisturbed rock layers, is the top layer usually the oldest or the youngest?
    1. A. Youngest ← Answer
    2. B. Same as the bottom
    3. C. Oldest
    4. D. It has no age
  11. 11. What is erosion?
    1. A. Breaking rock into pieces
    2. B. Rock melting into lava deep underground in a volcano
    3. C. Rock forming in layers
    4. D. The moving of rock pieces and soil to a new place ← Answer
  12. 12. What does function mean?
    1. A. The name of a part
    2. B. The job a part does ← Answer
    3. C. The exact size of a part
    4. D. The color of a part
  13. 13. Which has more motion energy?
    1. A. Neither one has energy
    2. B. They have the same energy
    3. C. A skateboard rolling fast ← Answer
    4. D. A skateboard rolling slowly
  14. 14. Which is one way energy can travel from place to place?
    1. A. Size
    2. B. Sound ← Answer
    3. C. Shape
    4. D. Color
  15. 15. What is the highest point of a wave called?
    1. A. The rest line
    2. B. The crest ← Answer
    3. C. The wavelength
    4. D. The trough
  16. 16. Which of these is a light source?
    1. A. A spoon
    2. B. A book
    3. C. A pillow
    4. D. The Sun ← Answer
  17. 17. What goes in the rows of a comparison table?
    1. A. The ideas ← Answer
    2. B. The materials
    3. C. The dates
    4. D. The measurements you took during the final test of the model
  18. 18. What is a fossil?
    1. A. A kind of crystal
    2. B. Remains or traces of a living thing from long ago, preserved in rock ← Answer
    3. C. A tool that scientists use to break open hard rocks and dig in the ground
    4. D. A shiny new rock
  19. 19. What is sediment?
    1. A. Melted rock
    2. B. Small bits of rock, sand and soil ← Answer
    3. C. Ocean water
    4. D. Big tall mountains made of hard stone
  20. 20. What does internal mean?
    1. A. Inside the body ← Answer
    2. B. Under the ground
    3. C. Outside the body
    4. D. On the head
  21. 21. A basketball is sitting still on the gym floor. Does it have motion energy?
    1. A. Only if it is new
    2. B. Yes, because it is round and orange
    3. C. Yes, a lot
    4. D. No, because it is not moving ← Answer
  22. 22. How does energy from the Sun reach Earth?
    1. A. By light ← Answer
    2. B. By wires
    3. C. By sound
    4. D. By wind only
  23. 23. What is the lowest point of a wave called?
    1. A. The peak
    2. B. The amplitude
    3. C. The trough ← Answer
    4. D. The crest
  24. 24. What does reflect mean?
    1. A. To bounce off a surface ← Answer
    2. B. To soak in
    3. C. To make your own bright light
    4. D. To get warm
  25. 25. What goes in the columns?
    1. A. The rows
    2. B. The colors
    3. C. The criteria and constraints ← Answer
    4. D. The names of the people who thought of each of the ideas
  26. 26. What is sediment?
    1. A. Living green plants and small animals
    2. B. Ocean water
    3. C. Tiny pieces of sand, mud and rock ← Answer
    4. D. Melted rock
  27. 27. What is deposition?
    1. A. Breaking rock with ice
    2. B. Rain soaking into soil
    3. C. When moving water or wind drops sediment ← Answer
    4. D. Plants growing in cracks in a big hard rock
  28. 28. What does external mean?
    1. A. Very old
    2. B. Outside the body ← Answer
    3. C. Very small
    4. D. Deep inside the body
  29. 29. What does the word speed mean?
    1. A. How heavy something is
    2. B. How tall something is
    3. C. How fast something moves ← Answer
    4. D. How hot something is to touch
  30. 30. What carries energy from a wall outlet to a lamp?
    1. A. Loud sound waves moving in the air
    2. B. Water
    3. C. An electric current in the wires ← Answer
    4. D. Wind
  31. 31. What is wavelength?
    1. A. The distance from one crest to the next crest ← Answer
    2. B. How tall a wave is
    3. C. The distance from crest to trough just below it
    4. D. How fast the water is
  32. 32. Is a book a light source?
    1. A. No, it only reflects light ← Answer
    2. B. Only if it is red and shiny
    3. C. Yes, it glows
    4. D. Yes, at night
  33. 33. An idea breaks a constraint. What happens to it?
    1. A. Nothing changes
    2. B. It wins if it scores highest on all of the other columns
    3. C. It is ruled out ← Answer
  34. 34. How do rock layers form?
    1. A. They fall from the sky
    2. B. Sediment settles, one layer on top of another, over a long time ← Answer
    3. C. Plants grow them
    4. D. All at once in one day in a single afternoon after a big storm passes
  35. 35. What does rate mean?
    1. A. How fast something happens ← Answer
    2. B. How big something is
    3. C. How heavy something is to lift
    4. D. What color something is
  36. 36. Is a bird's heart internal or external?
    1. A. Internal ← Answer
    2. B. Both
    3. C. External
    4. D. Neither
  37. 37. What is motion energy?
    1. A. Energy that only batteries have inside them
    2. B. Energy stored in food
    3. C. Energy an object has because it is moving ← Answer
    4. D. Energy that makes things cold
  38. 38. Which way does heat always move?
    1. A. It never moves
    2. B. From warmer things to cooler things ← Answer
    3. C. Only upward
    4. D. From cooler things to warmer things
  39. 39. What is amplitude?
    1. A. The color of a wave
    2. B. How many waves there are
    3. C. How tall a wave is, from the rest line to the crest ← Answer
    4. D. The distance between two troughs that are side by side
  40. 40. What part of the eye lets light in?
    1. A. The eyelid
    2. B. The eyebrow
    3. C. The pupil ← Answer
    4. D. The eyelash
  41. 41. How many ideas should you have before choosing?
    1. A. Exactly one, so that no time is wasted on ideas you will not use
    2. B. None
    3. C. At least three ← Answer
  42. 42. Which of these can become a fossil?
    1. A. A raindrop
    2. B. A shell ← Answer
    3. C. A plastic toy
    4. D. A cloud
  43. 43. Which can cause weathering or erosion?
    1. A. Music
    2. B. Moonlight
    3. C. Water ← Answer
    4. D. Shadows
  44. 44. What is the main job of a plant's roots?
    1. A. To make food from sunlight and from the air around it
    2. B. To attract bees
    3. C. To make seeds
    4. D. To take in water and hold the plant in the ground ← Answer
  45. 45. Mia rolls the same marble slowly and then quickly. When does it have more energy?
    1. A. Both times the same
    2. B. When it rolls slowly
    3. C. When it rolls quickly ← Answer
    4. D. Marbles never have energy
  46. 46. What is sound made of?
    1. A. Tiny lights
    2. B. Electric sparks
    3. C. Vibrations ← Answer
    4. D. Drops of water
  47. 47. Do waves carry energy?
    1. A. Only the big ocean waves
    2. B. No, never
    3. C. Yes, waves carry energy ← Answer
    4. D. Only sound waves
  48. 48. Can you see a toy in a completely dark room?
    1. A. Only if the toy is big
    2. B. Yes, if you stare long enough into the dark for a while
    3. C. Yes, always
    4. D. No, because no light reflects off it into your eyes ← Answer
  49. 49. What is evidence in a comparison?
    1. A. A measurement or observation ← Answer
    2. B. A drawing
    3. C. The opinion of the person who thought of the idea in the first place
    4. D. A guess
  50. 50. A layer has fish fossils. What was the area like when that layer formed?
    1. A. A dusty road
    2. B. A snowy mountain
    3. C. Underwater ← Answer
    4. D. A dry desert
UpOnly Learning · uponlylearning.com · free to print and photocopy for your own studentsScience — Grade 4
UpOnly Learning · uponlylearning.com · Science Grade 4
From the workbook

A real page of Science · Grade 4

Three Ideas Before One Choice

Students will generate at least three different solutions to one design problem and compare them in a scoring table against the stated criteria and constraints before choosing one. · 40 min

Warm-up — say this

“The first idea is rarely the best one. Engineers get at least three on paper first.”

Worked example

Idea A scores high on strength but needs 50 cm of tape when only 30 cm is allowed. What happens to it?

Answer: It is ruled out by the constraint, no matter how strong it is.

A mistake students make

The idea you thought of first is the one to build.

How the book fixes it

Score the first idea in the table beside two later ideas. The first one usually loses at least one column.

Note to the parent

Insist on three ideas on paper before any building starts. The comparison is the lesson, not the finished object.

That is one topic of many. The free questions above check a skill; this is the part that teaches it.

Practice is not teaching. Science · Grade 4 is the part that teaches.

These questions check a skill your student has already met. They do not explain anything, and they are not meant to — that is what the workbook is for, and it is the whole difference between the two.

  1. It teaches.Each topic is a forty-minute lesson that tells you what to say, in order: a five-minute warm-up, twelve minutes of teaching, ten minutes guided, ten minutes on their own, three minutes to close. Written for a parent who has never taught.
  2. It explains.Two worked examples per topic, and the two mistakes students actually make on that exact skill — named, with how to correct each one. When a student is stuck, the book already knows why.
  3. It reviews.Every answer comes with a short explanation, not just a key. And every topic has its own question bank, so a student who needs another go gets different questions rather than the same page again.
  4. It is a plan, not a pile.Every topic names the standard it addresses, in teaching order, so you can see the whole year before you start.
$9.99 Buy Science · Grade 4 — $9.99 Read a free sample first Everything else we give away

Not sure which grade to start in? Write to support@uponlylearning.com and tell us about your student. We will tell you honestly, including if the answer is a grade below the one they are in.

Why this exists

I was spending thousands a month on tutors, and when I asked about enrolling a second or third child the answer was the same everywhere: that will be double. So I built the thing I could not find — nine subjects, kindergarten through grade 5, every topic in the order a student should actually meet it.

Dr. Evan J. Hasson, DC — Founder · Read the whole story

Other grades

KindergartenFree kindergarten science questionsGrade 1Free 1st grade science questionsGrade 2Free 2nd grade science questionsGrade 3Free 3rd grade science questionsGrade 5Free 5th grade science questions

Grade 4, other subjects

MathFree 4th grade math questionsReadingFree 4th grade reading questionsWritingFree 4th grade writing and grammar questions

Further reading

Science at the Kitchen Table, With Things You OwnHomeschool science without a lab: the one idea that carries K–5, eight experiments using household items, and what to write down.

Questions parents ask

Are these science worksheets really free?

Yes. All 50 questions and their answers are on this page, free to print and free to photocopy for your own students. There is no account, no email address and no card.

Can a teacher or a tutor use these with a class?

Yes. Print and photocopy them for the students you teach. The only thing we ask is that you do not republish them as your own or sell them.

Where are the answers?

Marked beside each question on this page, so it prints as its own answer key. If you want a clean copy for a student, print it and cover the answer column, or use the sample workbook instead.

What grade are these for?

Grade 4. Every other grade from kindergarten to grade 5 has its own page, linked at the foot of this one. If your student finds these hard, try the grade below — that is normal and it is not a problem.

What do the paid workbooks add?

These questions check a skill. The workbook teaches it: a forty-minute lesson that tells you what to say, two worked examples, the two mistakes students actually make on that skill and how to correct each one, and an explanation beside every answer rather than a bare key.