4-PS3-4: Designing a Device That Changes Energy
Also called NGSS 4-PS3-4 · Topic: Energy · Physical Science
The Official Wording
Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.
Clarification statement: Examples of devices could include electric circuits that convert electrical energy into motion energy of a vehicle, light, or sound; and, a passive solar heater that converts light into heat. Examples of constraints could include the materials, cost, or time to design the device.
Assessment boundary: Devices should be limited to those that convert motion energy to electric energy or use stored energy to cause motion or produce light or sound.
NGSS Lead States, 2013 · Read it on nextgenscience.org · checked October 15, 2026
What 4-PS3-4 Means in Plain English
Fourth graders use what they know about energy to design, build, test and improve a device that turns one kind of energy into another. A battery-powered alarm that buzzes, a light that switches on, or a car that a motor drives all count.
Devices stay simple: stored energy from a battery or a wound rubber band makes motion, light or sound, or motion makes electricity. Students work within limits like materials and time. It uses circuit ideas from 4-PS3-2 and the design steps in 3-5-ETS1-1.
4-PS3-4 I Can Statements
- I can design a device that changes energy from one form to another.
- I can test my device and explain what went wrong.
- I can improve my design using what my tests showed.
4-PS3-4 Worked Example
A design challenge a class can run with simple circuit parts: build an alarm that buzzes when someone opens a lunchbox.
How can we build an alarm that buzzes the moment a lunchbox lid opens?
Set It Up: A lunchbox, two AA batteries in a holder, a small buzzer, wires, a wooden clothespin, aluminum foil, a plastic tab and string.
- Define the problem and the limits: the alarm must fit inside and buzz as soon as the lid opens.Criteria and constraints listed
- Wrap foil on both clothespin jaws and wire them into the buzzer circuit.Jaws touch: buzzer sounds
- Slip the plastic tab between the jaws and tie it to the lid with string.Tab in: silent
- Open the lid five times and record whether the alarm buzzes.Buzzed 3 of 5 times
- Fix the weak spot, like a bigger foil contact, and test again.Buzzed 5 of 5 times
The improved alarm buzzed every time the lid opened, after the team made the foil contact bigger.
Why it works: Closing the switch completes the circuit, so energy stored in the batteries flows as electric current and becomes sound in the buzzer.
Common Mistakes with 4-PS3-4
Skipping repeat tests
“It worked once, we're done.”
Try this: Test the device several times and count the successes. A design that works 5 out of 5 times beats one that works sometimes.
Saying the battery makes energy
“The battery creates the sound.”
Try this: The battery stores energy. The circuit carries it to the buzzer, which changes electrical energy into sound energy.
Changing everything after a failure
A new buzzer, new wires and a new switch all at once
Try this: Change one part at a time and retest, so you know which change fixed the problem and can explain it.
Where 4-PS3-4 Fits
Practice 4-PS3-4
Quick Check
- In a flashlight, what energy change happens?
- Your alarm buzzes only sometimes. What should you do first?
- Why does the buzzer stay quiet while the plastic tab is between the jaws?