NB G4 Scientific Literacy study guide
NB G4 Scientific Literacy · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The New Brunswick Grade 4 Scientific Literacy Assessment is a provincial check-in on how well nine- and ten-year-olds can use science ideas, not merely recall them. Students in Grade 4 across the province write it during class time, and the questions grow out of the provincial science curriculum: living things, matter and energy, Earth and space, the skills of investigation, and the ways science connects to technology, society and the environment. The NB G4 Scientific Literacy study guide has 5 sections and about 1,697 words.
01Life Science: Living Systems, Energy Flow, and Inheritance
Living things share a set of observable characteristics: they are made of cells, obtain and use energy, grow and develop, respond to stimuli, reproduce, and maintain a stable internal environment. Viruses are a classic edge case - they reproduce only inside a host cell and are usually described as non-living outside one.
360 words, about 2 min02Physical Science: Matter, Forces, Energy, and Waves
Matter is anything with mass and volume. It has measurable properties - density, melting point, conductivity, solubility - that help identify substances.
343 words, about 2 min03Earth and Space Science: Earth Systems, Rocks, and Sky Patterns
Earth has a layered structure - crust, mantle, outer core, inner core - and its crust is broken into plates that move slowly over the mantle. Plate boundaries produce earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain ranges, and the fossil and rock record supports continental drift.
344 words, about 2 min04Scientific Inquiry and Process Skills: Fair Tests and Evidence
Scientific inquiry starts with a question and a testable prediction, or hypothesis. A fair test changes one independent variable, measures one dependent variable, and holds everything else constant as controlled variables.
321 words, about 2 min05Science, Technology, Society, and Environment: Design and Trade-offs
Science asks how the natural world works; technology applies knowledge to solve practical problems and meet human needs. Engineering design is iterative: define the problem, brainstorm solutions, build a prototype, test it, and improve it based on evidence - all while balancing criteria against constraints such as cost, safety, time, and materials.
329 words, about 2 min