DepEd Science Curriculum Guide: Competencies by Grade

TL;DR: DepEd's current official Science Curriculum Guide is the MATATAG version for Grades 3-10, published August 2023 and available directly from deped.gov.ph. It organizes competencies into four domains that rotate one per quarter across every grade, creating a spiral structure where learners revisit Materials, Living Things, Force/Motion/Energy, and Earth and Space at increasing depth each year. With MATATAG's Phase 3 rollout covering Grades 6, 9, and 10 starting SY 2026-2027, this version now governs Science instruction across all of Grades 3-10.

This post is part of our DepEd curriculum guides hub, which indexes the official file for every subject. Science is one of the more structurally distinct subjects in the K to 10 curriculum because its competencies are organized into four rotating domains rather than a flat grade-by-grade list, a design decision aimed at deepening understanding through repeated, increasingly complex exposure. This guide covers how the Science CG is organized, what changed under MATATAG, and where to get the verified official file.

What Is the Current DepEd Science Curriculum Guide?

The current official Science CG is the MATATAG version covering Grades 3-10, dated August 2023 and titled "MATATAG Curriculum: Science (Grades 3-10)" on deped.gov.ph. It replaced the 2016 K to 12 Science CG under the same MATATAG curriculum overhaul that revised English, Math, Filipino, and every other K-10 subject.

MATATAG's rollout reached Science in three phases: Grades 4 and 7 in SY 2024-2025 (Phase 1), Grades 3, 5, and 8 in SY 2025-2026 (Phase 2), and Grades 6, 9, and 10 in SY 2026-2027 (Phase 3). Because Science has no Kindergarten, Grade 1, or Grade 2 component, its MATATAG transition is now complete across every grade the subject covers.

Disclaimer: DepEd periodically renames or relocates files on deped.gov.ph. If a link stops working, search "MATATAG Science curriculum guide" directly on the DepEd website rather than relying on a third-party mirror, which may be hosting an outdated version.

How Is the Science CG Organized?

The Science curriculum is organized into what the CG calls "discipline-oriented domains." For Grades 3-6, these are Materials, Force, Motion, and Energy, Living Things, and Earth and Space. For Grades 7-10, the same four domains carry more specialized names: Science of Materials, Force, Motion, and Energy, Life Science, and Earth and Space Science.

Each domain is assigned to one quarter per grade, and the assignment rotates from grade to grade rather than staying fixed. DepEd's own sequencing table shows the pattern:

This rotation is what the CG means by an "inquiry approach" built for depth: a Grade 3 learner and a Grade 7 learner both study Force, Motion, and Energy in their third quarter, but at very different levels of complexity, because each grade's competencies build on what was covered the year before.

What Are the Key Stage Standards for Science?

By the end of Grade 3 (Key Stage 1), learners are expected to use basic process skills, observing, communicating, comparing, classifying, measuring, inferring, and predicting, and to understand the properties of objects and the basic needs of living things. By the end of Grade 6 (Key Stage 2), learners are expected to design simple investigations, gather evidence with appropriate tools, and communicate observations accurately. By the end of Grade 10 (Key Stage 3), learners are expected to design scientific investigations addressing real-world problems and to evaluate scientific evidence in forming conclusions.

Disclaimer: exact competencies, content standards, and performance standards for a specific grade and quarter should always be checked against the official CG PDF, not summarized secondhand, since the full document runs to more than 70 pages of detailed tables.

How Does the Science CG Approach Assessment?

The CG frames classroom assessment as an ongoing process, not a one-time quarterly test, citing DepEd Order No. 31, s. 2020's definition of Classroom Assessment as "an ongoing process of identifying, gathering, organizing, and interpreting quantitative and qualitative information about what learners know and can do." For Science specifically, the guide asks teachers to check what learners already know before introducing a quarter's competencies, since instruction is meant to be inquiry-based, and to use both formal and informal checks throughout a unit rather than relying only on end-of-quarter exams.

This matters for lesson planning because the CG's content and performance standards are meant to be assessed holistically, in context, rather than broken into isolated recall questions. A Performance Task tied to designing a simple investigation, for instance, is meant to demonstrate several competencies from a domain at once, not just one isolated fact.

How Did MATATAG Change the Science CG?

The Science Shaping Paper that accompanies the CG names three specific changes from the 2016 curriculum: expanding technological literacy "to technology and engineering literacy," introducing explicit key stage and grade level standards that didn't exist in the same form before, and sequencing content based on learners' prior knowledge and "the cognitive and language demands of learning new science ideas." The paper also frames the redesign within DepEd's broader MATATAG agenda, describing it as work to make the curriculum relevant, accelerate delivery of basic education services, care for learner well-being, and support teachers as instructional leaders.

Where Can Teachers Download the Official Science CG?

The current, complete file is hosted directly on deped.gov.ph as "13-FINAL-MATATAG-Science-CG-2023-Grades-3-10.pdf," part of the Revised K to 10 Curriculum page. This is the version to use for SY 2026-2027, since it already includes the Grade 6, 9, and 10 competencies that became mandatory this school year under Phase 3.

An earlier, partial file limited to Grades 4 and 7 (from MATATAG's Phase 1 rollout) still circulates on some school and third-party sites. It is not incorrect for those two grades specifically, but it is incomplete for a Grade 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 class. Check the file name and grade range before treating a download as authoritative, and prefer the deped.gov.ph link over a reposted copy.

Tips for Teachers Using the Science CG

• Plan around the quarter-domain table, not just the grade level, since two different grades studying "the same" domain in the same quarter are actually at different depths of the spiral.
• Confirm you have the Grades 3-10 file, not the older Phase 1 file limited to Grades 4 and 7, especially for Grade 6, 9, or 10 classes new to MATATAG this school year.
• Cross-check domain names by key stage. "Materials" in Grades 3-6 becomes "Science of Materials" in Grades 7-10; they're the same domain lineage, not two different subjects.
• Use the key stage standards as a planning anchor for year-end targets, then work backward to quarterly content and performance standards.
• Bookmark the deped.gov.ph source page, not just the PDF link, since DepEd occasionally reissues files with corrections under the same title.

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Sources

• DepEd — Revised K to 10 Curriculum (official)
• DepEd — MATATAG Curriculum: Science (Grades 3-10) (official PDF)
• DepEd — MATATAG Science CG, Grades 4 and 7, Phase 1 version (official PDF)
• DepEd Order No. 010, s. 2024 — Policy Guidelines on the Implementation of the MATATAG Curriculum (official)
• SchoolFinderPH — DepEd Curriculum Guides Hub
• SchoolFinderPH — MATATAG Curriculum Guide
• SchoolFinderPH — K-12 Curriculum in the Philippines
• SchoolFinderPH — DepEd Grading System Guide
• SchoolFinderPH — DepEd Math Curriculum Guide
• SchoolFinderPH — STEM Strand Guide